Changing Web Hosting
-
We're about to change web hosting providers and I'm wondering whether there's an "optimal" way to do this without losing any SEO value. Is it as simple as changing hosts without SEO in mind - point the domain to the new host?
-
As long as as the hosting change goes smoothly - i.e. no extended downtime during the transition - there should be no SEO impact.
The file that's even more important than the robots.txt is the .htaccess file. You need to make sure it's migrated to the new site as well as it could contain significant numbers of redirects that need to be preserved in the new setup. It's a frequently missed element if the hosting transfer is done manually.
Paul
-
By page names I mean the URL, so for example
www.yoursite.com/about.htm must not be changed to www.yoursite.com/aboutus.htm or anything else.
There is nothing in the transfer process that would cause the URL to change but often website owners take the transfer as an opportunity to make changes that they have been planning for a while.
-
What do you mean by page names? Titles of pages? And yes I'll make sure the robots.txt file is on the new host after we point the domain. Thanks Sean.
-
There should be no issue, just make sure you have a back up of the site before you change anything.
Do not change page names and make sure you have the Robots txt file is on the site once you have moved
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Migration + Change of Address Tool used - previous site de-indexed!!
OMG disaster! Recently migrated my site womencycles.com to moonrise.health. Painstakingly went through each URL manually to map out redirects, notified Google via change of address tool. Bam. My old website has disappeared from Google and my new site has thus lost all it's organic (i.e. redirected) traffic. I don't get it. I think I have done everything by the book, but it seems my old site has disappeared and no authority or link juice has been passed to my new site by the 301s, as the new site isn't ranking either. Some examples: https://www.google.com/search?q=women+cycles&oq=women+cycles&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i65j69i61l2j69i60.1834j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 'women cycles' previous position 1
Technical SEO | | tikitaka
https://www.google.com/search?q=chaffed+vagina&oq=chaffed+vagina&aqs=chrome..69i57.2370j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 - chaffed vagina, previous position 1 https://www.google.com/search?q=how+long+does+it+take+turmeric+to+shrink+fibroids&oq=how+long+does+it+take+turmeric+to+shrink+fibroids&aqs=chrome..69i57.1355j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 - how long does it take turmeric to shrink fibroids, previous position 1. Biggest traffic source pages were: https://womencycles.com/blog/top-10-home-remedies-that-claim-to-tighten-vagina-do-they-work/
https://womencycles.com/blog/sore-breasts-after-period-has-finished/
https://womencycles.com/blog/what-is-vaginal-gas-queefing/
https://womencycles.com/blog/tired-during-ovulation/
https://womencycles.com/blog/how-to-get-rid-of-saggy-vag-without-surgery/
https://womencycles.com/blog/vagina-chafing-causes-treatments-to-prevent-it-from-coming-back/
https://womencycles.com/blog/vaginal-dryness-during-pregnancy/ New blog articles on new site, with 301 redirect in place, but not ranking Screenshot shows my search traffic for my new site. Site migrated 13 June. Any ideas anyone??!Screenshot 2022-06-28 at 13.27.41.png0 -
What is the risk of changing underscores to hyphens in URLs that are ranking
Client wants to change URL structure from underscores to hyphens - reason for doing this is a cosmetic move. What is the risk of changing underscores to hyphens for URLs that that have been around since 2012 and have a lot of keywords ranking in the top 5 in the SERPS? When the created the site - they structured the URL using dashes and underscores. Here is an example of what an URL looks like: /programs-degrees**/clinical-psychology/clinical_phd_kansas****-city****/** *This page ranks for many high volume keywords in the top 5 of the SERPS. I have started to compile a list on why the URL should not be changed... Building trust and authority from scratch 301 redirects do not pass 100% of the link juice 301 redirecting from underscored to hyphenated versions of the same content is an unnecessary risk to some of that link equity. Good chance rankings/traffic will drop because of the URL change
Technical SEO | | The-frank-Agency0 -
Secure HTTP Change - No Links in WMT
Website was changed over to secure HTTP about twp months ago. Just looked in Google Webmaster Tools and it only shows about 8 inbound links. We did a permanent 301 redirect for all URLs. There are over 800 links according to Open Site Explorer. Is it just that they are showing only the HTTPS inbound links? Should I add the HTTPS version in WMT? Thanks for any assistance
Technical SEO | | EBI0 -
Using Web Applications for SEO
I am in the sign/banner business, for years I have had a flash based web application that I developed which allows customers to design their own signs/banners online. With the demise of flash i am prompted to begin developing an HTML5 based application to take it's place. Developing this software is a rather expensive endeavor so many local sign shops, which don't sell on the web, don't bother to develop such an application, but what if i gave it to them? I assume a fair amount would find great value in such an application thereby allowing their clients to communicate a design idea without having to drive to the store front. The application would actually run embedded on my site thus earning me a link back to my site. Question is this: Is this a bad idea. If dozens of sign shops are running my application embedded on their sites will the help or hurt me? Thanks.
Technical SEO | | RocketBanner0 -
Moving site between hosts over short time scale
Hi Does anyone know if moving your website between hosts & server location 3 times in a relatively short time frame (say 2 months) can have a negative impact from an seo perspective ? Cheers
Technical SEO | | Dan-Lawrence
Dan0 -
Changed URL of all web pages to a new updated one - Keywords still pick the old URL
A month ago we updated our website and with that we created new URLs for each page. Under "On-Page", the keywords we put to check ranking on are still giving information on the old urls of our websites. Slowly, some new URLs are popping up. I'm wondering if there's a way I can manually make the keywords feedback information from the new urls.
Technical SEO | | Champions0 -
Best way to host new product?
Hi guys We are launching a new product, the web pages are being built by a 3rd party and fall outside our current CMS. We're considering either hosting it on 1) sub domain 2) folder within existing site (although will be tricky to implement) or 3) a different URL altogether. What would you say is the best for SEO? Many thanks in advance.... Nigel
Technical SEO | | Richard5550 -
How much will changing IP addresses impact SEO?
So my company is upgrading its Internet bandwidth. However, apparently the vendor has said that part of the upgrade will involve changing our IP address. I've found two links that indicate some care needs to be taken to make sure our SEO isn't harmed: http://followmattcutts.com/2011/07/21/protect-your-seo-when-changing-ip-address-and-server/ http://www.v7n.com/forums/google-forum/275513-changing-ip-affect-seo.html Assuming we don't use an IP address that has been blacklisted by Google for spamming or other black hat tactics, how problematic is it? (Note: The site hasn't really been aggressively optimized yet - I started with the company less than two weeks ago, and just barely got FTP and CMS access yesterday - so honestly I'm not too worried about really messing up the site's optimization, since there isn't a lot to really break.)
Technical SEO | | ufmedia0