moving my site to a new server

tr3nt · #1 (**permalink**) 09-20-2004, 02:17 PM

One of our sites is going through a redesign. When we put the new site live, we plan on moving servers because of constraints that exist with our existing hosting situation.

What are the important things to keep in mind when doing this in order to maintain my SE rankings?

The naming convention of my URLs will remain the same.

Can having my site associated with a new IP affect my rankings?

Is there a time that is best to do this? On a Friday night when traffic is at its lowest?

What are the other issues associated with this?

I appreciate any feedback you have.

Thanks
tr3nt

Blackicicle · #2 (**permalink**) 09-20-2004, 04:09 PM

When I had to switch servers I uploaded the site to the new server and did all my tests on the new server using the basic servers url. I think it looks somthing like this but im not sure? http://server.com:xxxx/myusername/ I did this over a period of 2-3 days running all my tests and making sure that everything worked perfect.

Then when I saw that everything worked perfectly on the new server I just changed the dns records... The dns pointed to the old server for about a day after that then changed to the new server seamlessly. To tell you the truth I didn't even know the exact time it changed over to the new server.

my 2 cents...

tr3nt · #3 (**permalink**) 09-20-2004, 05:17 PM

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate the feedback.

Did you pay attention to your PR or indexed pages during this phase? Did it seem to affect it?

bhartzer · #4 (**permalink**) 09-20-2004, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Did you pay attention to your PR or indexed pages during this phase? Did it seem to affect it?

As long as the site doesn't go down for a period of time, your PR and pages that are indexed won't change. That's essentially the benefit to having your own domain name, as you can change hosting companies whenever you want and not really be effected.

I would, though, keep your old host for a period of time (30 days or so just to be safe), as well making the the data available, because some search engines are rather slow in indexing.

I would also make your server change at a different time than the redesign. In fact, it's preferable to have at least 30 days between the two changes. Your search engine rankings are more likely to be effected as a result of your redesign than your server change.

tr3nt · #5 (**permalink**) 09-20-2004, 08:34 PM

Its a bit unclear to me how I keep the data available on my own host if I am moving by domain to a new server. Can you explain this. This was something that we heard at the last SEO conference in SSan Fran and failed to get details on.

This was actually the most important question we having regarding this change.

Thank you for replying.

rescom · #6 (**permalink**) 09-21-2004, 12:57 PM

Keep your existing account active. Then upload your content to the new host and change your DNS settings to point to the new host.

After 30 days or so, cancel your old hosting account.

tr3nt · #7 (**permalink**) 09-21-2004, 05:48 PM

Thanks to everyone who replied. I appreciate it.

mantawebsolutions · #8 (**permalink**) 09-22-2004, 03:48 AM

Quote:

Did you pay attention to your PR or indexed pages during this phase? Did it seem to affect it?

i don't see a reason why you will lose PR or indexed page listings. You domain name is not chaning at all and you are not renaming your URL pages, so no reason for worry...

I agree with rescom, setup your domain on the new server, copy your site files to it, then transfer the domain and leave the old account for a month or so. I takes anything from 24 to 72 hours for the DNS settings to propogate anyway.
Test and make sure all is fine.

Good advice from bhartzer is that you should not let your website go down for any period of time. Keep it alive at all times (i am talking in number of days/weeks)

Blackicicle · #9 (**permalink**) 09-22-2004, 02:22 PM

This only works if you are controling the domain records and the site hosting yourself, if your hosting company is controling your dns records AND your hosting, I relly don't know what you can do in this case.

But if you registered your domain with... say http://www.bluerazor.com and you are being hosted at say http://www.ehostpros.com, which I am, then when you log into your domain name account on Bluerazor, you will have the option to change the DNS records to poing the the ehostpros servers, which is somthing like 126.ehostpros.com.

As long as this is set, when ever someone opens their browser to yoursite.com the dns records will send them to ns126.ehostpros.com where your site is hosted and voila!

If you open a new hosting account at say uselesshost.com they will send you the info to log in and upload your site on their servers, which would probally be ns66.uselesshost.com and you would probally be able to view your new site at the servers url which would be somthing like http://uselesshost.com/server66/~yoursite

As long as you visit that server url you will be able to find your new site. This will not affect your other site at ehostpros.com

When you are ready however you can change your DNS records at bluerazor.com, to point your domain yoursite.com from the ehostpros server to the server where your new site is located, which would be ns66.uselesshost.com and after 24-48hours (usually less) when ever someone types in your domain name in the browser, it will go to the new site and not the old.

Hope this helps. Please tell me if I omitted something anyone.