Thread: Switching Webhosts

Has anybody here ever changed the web host for your website? If you have, did it have any negative impact on your site or site rank?

GREAT question..... I did once and it had no real impact.... but I was in the cellar anyway so I wouldn't have really noticed. My current SEO guy says it would cause a problem but I haven't nailed him down as to just how much or why. I am going to have to address it at some point so I'm curious to see where this thread goes.

You might try running this by Dominic from Inspector Pro or at least checking on his message board. I haven't spent a lot of time there but took a CE class from him recently in Las Vegas and if anyone knows, he will.

We moved all our sites to godaddy and there was no affect on our ranking. Still top 1-3. This was 4 months ago.

Marc, was the change involved or difficult? Everything I've read about changing webhosts appears to be pretty straight forward and simple but since you have experience doing it, I'd like to see what you have to say. It seems that as long as you maintain your site hosting in tact with the current company through the switch, it can be seemless. My site is really nothing more than text and pictures with some basic links and e-mail links. I have nothing fancy or dynamic on my site.

Do you need to change domain names or re-register the name?

Originally Posted by Nick Ostrowski

Has anybody here ever changed the web host for your website? If you have, did it have any negative impact on your site or site rank?

Yes and No(negative effect). Domain name was registered by me. Tucows still has the domain registration. Renewed for max 5 year period. When you change, look for the host speed rating, down time rating, as well as customer service rating. I moved to InMotion hosting a couple of years ago and they have provided very good service.

Dom has answered this question in the past and says it will not effect rank.

Do not use Go Daddy as I may consider moving mine away from them due to their support of SOPA.http://www.nachi.org/forum/redirect-...3ixzz1iXfIN6n6

Originally Posted by Bob Elliott

Do not use Go Daddy as I may consider moving mine away from them due to their support of SOPA.

Bob, they changed their position on that issue:

Go Daddy No Longer Supports SOPA

Dom.

Originally Posted by Dom D'Agostino

Bob, they changed their position on that issue:

Go Daddy No Longer Supports SOPA

Dom.

Only because of a Boycott at the end of last month.(they actually lost business)
Other reasons include higher fees .

Nick,

I have always had the same web host site when I was franchised and now independently for all of my businesses.

Chester County Website Hosting, Chester County Web Hosting, Chester County Hosting, Chester County Internet Services,Chester CountyÂ* ISP

Rich Goldberg (Owner)
I have been working him with for many years.....

610-280-2274 local to Exton
1-888-423-3638 toll free

Originally Posted by Nick Ostrowski

Marc, was the change involved or difficult? Everything I've read about changing webhosts appears to be pretty straight forward and simple but since you have experience doing it, I'd like to see what you have to say. It seems that as long as you maintain your site hosting in tact with the current company through the switch, it can be seemless. My site is really nothing more than text and pictures with some basic links and e-mail links. I have nothing fancy or dynamic on my site.

Do you need to change domain names or re-register the name?

I was very straight forward. But I have to disclose that I was just sitting in the chair next to the guy doing it. It required getting access to the "other guys" server and then bringing over the files, which was a PITA... It took a only a few minutes to actually move the files and there was no downtime or email interference. And like I said, our ranking didnt skip a beat and had only gotten stronger since. Oh yea...the godaddy people even offered to do the whole transaction for me..
I have 4 sites on there and its only like $20 a month or something like that..

Sounds good. I have the entire site file on my computer since I built it so switching should not be an issue.

Originally Posted by Dom D'Agostino

Bob, they changed their position on that issue:

Go Daddy No Longer Supports SOPA

Dom.

They "say" they changed positions BUT. only after massive pressure from Reddit.com members and others. Due to grass roots action by Redditors, GoDaddy lost thousands of domain registrations and the campaign is continuing and expanding. They helped write the damn (SOPA) thing and are conveniently exempt from its provisions. I'm moving all 10 or my domains elsewhere.

There should be no user impact from a hosting company change if done properly. Here are some of the details:

1) Make sure you know what tools/languages were used to build your website so you get the right kind at the new host - primarily do you need a windows or linux server.

Your new host will be able to allocate space on their server for your new website. The new website will have an IP address that is different from your existing one. You can then move all of your existing content to the new website using FTP and test to make sure it is setup properly before making it "live".

Once everything is good call the new host and have them update the DNS entry. DNS is what links your domain name to the actual IP address of your website. It takes about a day for the DNS change to propogate throughout the internet so leave your old host content in place for a while.

You will have to update your email accounts in your mail reader if you use them through the hosting company.

You will want to create your new site separately in advance. Setup the new pages with the same paths or create a 301 redirect from the old path to the new path for each page. That way Google will see that you renamed your pages. You will experience a temporary drop if you don't do this. You'll bounce back up once Google indexes the new pages.

If you are moving over the exact same site and all the same pages there will be no impact at all.

Originally Posted by Dominic Maricic

You will want to create your new site separately in advance. Setup the new pages with the same paths or create a 301 redirect from the old path to the new path for each page. That way Google will see that you renamed your pages. You will experience a temporary drop if you don't do this. You'll bounce back up once Google indexes the new pages.

If you are moving over the exact same site and all the same pages there will be no impact at all.

What he said....