I would love your view on what would be the better SEO setup: dedicated IP with generic name servers (ns1.bluehost.com, for example) OR shared hosting with personal namer servers (ns1.mydomain.com, for example) would you hold the same opinion if there were multiples sites?
Depends. Depends on whether the other sites on the IP are penalized in any way, whether you have any control over whether they (the other sites) will indulge in risky activities that may cause them to be penalized. Depends on whether you're are after anonymity whatever your reasons may be. I would personally try to be as anonymous as possible and leave as few footprints as possible interlinking any two sites I own. No particular reason for this every time, just best practice. Different dedicated IPs & nameservers are a no brainer.
It really depends on the activity of the sites within the dedicated IP or shared IP's. There are plenty of sites that ranks good in shared IP's though it is risky coz once a site is penalized in SE, other sites may also suffer..
I don't know if having a static IP is beneficial or not. I would lean toward it being beneficial toward SEO.
thanks all. reps added. freedriver: could you clarify what you are saying is irrelevant to SEO? because i can see the perspective that says a shared IP is slightly risky, if one of the other sites gets black listed. Which, in turn then suggests there is some benefit to a dedicated IP.
Well it is not like there is no risk, but search engines can basically detect IF a black listed site is somehow related with the rest of the sites on that IP or not, in any case, if you can afford and if that makes you feel more comfortable than it is worth. There are some other aspects on seo and web hosting that I would worry instead, but if your site gets accidentaly effected from a backlist that another site on the same IP received, having a dedicated IP will save lots of hassle.