Stepforth has posted an easy method of discovering what’s sitting on a server that I wasn’t aware of by simply using MSN search:

SEO Tip :: MSN Search by IP Number

Have you ever wanted to know what other sites share an IP number with your client? A search conducted using this format at MSN: ip: ###.###.###.###, will reveal all the sites in the MSN index hosted at that IP.

You can also use an advanced whois service like this one:

WebHosting.Info’s Power WHOIS Service. Once you submit a domain, click on the linked number in the Reverse IP Lookup and it will show you all the domains on that server.

Reasons why you might want to check out what’s sitting on a server:

• You’re investigating a new webhost – don’t want your site sharing a server with some porn heaven. I found some great deals on hosting and ended up running fast and far away when I checked out what they were currently hosting.

• You want to check competition out. Many of the bigger webmasters have their own dedicated servers to host their websites – you can see all their sites sitting pretty. If they’re on a shared server, chances are they have some freebie addon domains attached to their account – will take some digging though.

• You occasionally spot check the shared server you’re sitting on to watch you’re not being squeezed on all sides by blackhat SEO sites, porn sites, spam sites, all that jazz.

Some really good reasons to spread your websites around and not have everything on one hosting account.