Hello Susan,
It’s nice to hear from you again!
YES, a domain with it's "own unique IP", a.k.a. Static IP (Internet Protocol) address is looked upon favorably by search engines. When you purchase hosting services, by default, you will share an IP with many other domains (perhaps even a competitor, ugh!) hosted by the service provider.
Its seems like I fell short of the mark with my previous “own” versus “rent” analogy – so, let’s try again!
From the search bot / search engine perspective, having a unique IP in cyberspace gives you the appearance of a larger, more stable, "in it for the long haul" type organization rather than one that "just arrived", "may or may not be here next month". Since, everyone knows the latter group is quite large, a Static IP a simple and effective way to distinguish yourself.
Acquiring and maintaining a Static IP is a very simple one-time "issue" unlike most other search engine optimization techniques which can be better described as on-going in nature. In summary, when the search engine bot encounters your Static IP, it puts you a step closer to the goal of attaining an acceptable page rank.
Let me know if I can help further. It’s always a pleasure to assist!
Best regards,
Craig
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