How to Migrate Your Website to a New Host

To migrate your website to a new host, take a full backup, lower your DNS TTL a week ahead, copy your files and database to the new server, and test the site there. Then point your domain at the new server and keep the old hosting running until all the traffic has moved. The part that catches most people out is email, not the website.

This guide covers what you are moving, the steps in order, how to avoid downtime, the common mistakes, and what a move means for your Google rankings.

What You Are Actually Moving

Before you start, list everything your current hosting provider does for you. It is often more than the website itself:

• Website files: the code, images and uploads that make up your site

• The database: if your site has a CMS, blog, shop or contact forms, the content usually lives here

• Email: many hosting plans include email, and it has to move too

• DNS: the records that point your domain at your server, which may be managed by your host or your domain registrar

• SSL certificate: the certificate that keeps your site on https

• Scheduled tasks and settings: anything that runs on a timer, and server settings your site relies on

If your site runs on WordPress, a WordPress migration also has to bring across your plugins, theme and media library, and update any settings that still point at the old server.

Check where your domain is registered, too. Moving your hosting does not mean you have to move your domain, and it is usually simpler to leave the domain where it is.

How to Migrate Your Website to a New Host, Step by Step

1. Take a full backup. Back up your website files and database, and download a copy so it is not stored only on the old server.

2. Lower your DNS TTL. The TTL controls how long other networks cache your DNS records. Google suggests lowering it to a few hours at least a week before the move, so the change spreads faster when you make it.

3. Set up the new hosting. Create the account, then copy your files and import your database onto the new server.

4. Test on a temporary address. Check every page, form and download on the new server before any visitors see it. Set the test copy to noindex so Google doesn't index it by mistake.

5. Sort out email. Find out where your email is hosted. If it is moving, set up the mailboxes on the new service and plan the switch of your MX records.

6. Set up SSL. Make sure the new server has a valid certificate ready, so your site doesn't show a security warning after the switch.

7. Freeze changes and copy the database again. Anything added to the old site after your first copy, such as orders or form entries, will be lost unless you copy it across just before switching.

8. Update your DNS. Point your domain at the new server.

9. Monitor both servers. Watch traffic fall on the old server and rise on the new one, and check the site from different networks.

10. Cancel the old hosting last. Google's advice is to shut down the old hosting once its traffic reaches zero. Until then, keep paying for it.

How to Move a Website Without Downtime

Downtime during a hosting move usually comes from the DNS change. For a while after you update your records, some visitors reach the old server and some reach the new one. If the two are out of step, or the new server isn't ready, people see errors or old content.

We can usually move a site with no downtime, although it depends on how the current hosting is set up. A few days before go-live, we put the site behind a load balancer and point the domain at it, so the DNS change has already spread before the move itself. On the day, the switch is a change of IP address behind the load balancer, which takes effect straight away. The database is kept in step the same way, so nothing added on the day is lost.

If you are doing it yourself, you can get close to the same result by lowering your TTL early, testing the new server fully before switching, and making the final database copy immediately before the DNS change.

Common Website Migration Mistakes

• Forgetting email. If your email was part of your old hosting plan, cancelling the plan can cut off your email.

• Cancelling the old host too early. DNS changes take time to reach everyone. Keep the old hosting until its traffic has stopped.

• Losing recent changes. Orders, bookings or form entries made after your first database copy won't exist on the new server unless you copy the database again.

• Breaking Search Console verification. If you verified your site with an HTML file, Google notes that the file needs to come across with the rest of the site.

• No SSL on the new server. Visitors see a security warning the moment DNS switches.

• Skipping the backup. If the move goes wrong, a backup you have downloaded is your safest way back.

Will Changing Host Affect My SEO?

If your web addresses stay the same, a change of host shouldn't hurt your rankings, and you don't need any redirects. Google's guide to moving a site without changing its URLs notes that it is normal for Googlebot to crawl your site less right after the move, then build back up over the following days as long as the new server is fast and reliable.

Before you switch, check that Googlebot can reach the new server; the URL Inspection tool in Search Console will show you. If your URLs are changing as well, for example because you are also moving to a new domain, that is a different kind of move with its own steps, covered in Google's guide to site moves with URL changes.

Want Us to Move Your Website for You?

We move websites onto our managed cloud hosting in UK data centres. Every move is priced per job, because the work depends on how your current site and hosting are set up, and we can usually do it without downtime. If we find a problem along the way, such as signs that the old site has been compromised, we'll tell you before it comes across; our guide to the signs of a hacked website explains what to look for.

Our website hosting page explains what is included, and our pricing page shows the plans. If you are still deciding what kind of hosting you need, start with our guide to the types of web hosting.

Website Migration FAQs