The basics

Web hosting

Example: A Brooklyn pizzeria moves off a cramped shared server to hosting that includes free HTTPS and global caching for about $15 a month, and its already-optimized pages finally load fast for customers across the country.

where your site actually lives

The server, somewhere on the internet, that sends your website to a visitor's phone when they type your domain. Small-business hosting runs $5–$30/month (Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, SiteGround, DreamHost); restaurant-specific builders like Squarespace bundle hosting into their subscription.

Why it matters

Bad hosting makes every other optimization pointless — a fast site on a slow host still loads slowly. Good hosting gives you free HTTPS, free global caching, and 99.9%+ uptime without you thinking about it.

Frequently asked

What is web hosting?

Web hosting is the server, somewhere on the internet, that sends your website to a visitor's phone when they type your domain. Small-business hosting runs $5–$30/month (Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, SiteGround, DreamHost); restaurant-specific builders like Squarespace bundle hosting into their subscription.

Why does web hosting matter for a restaurant?

Bad hosting makes every other optimization pointless — a fast site on a slow host still loads slowly. Good hosting gives you free HTTPS, free global caching, and 99.9%+ uptime without you thinking about it.

Glossary

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Plain-English definitions for every term in your audit, organized by category.