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Three parts, three moves
A website is three parts that each move separately: your domain at a registrar, your site at a host, and often your email with yet another provider. Mix them up and you switch off your email while only meaning to move the site. Moving just the domain to another registrar is covered in can you transfer a domain name without email downtime.
With the same URLs a move is small work: Google advises lowering your DNS TTL to a few hours at least a week ahead, testing the site on the new host through a temporary address, then switching the DNS and keeping the old host running until no traffic arrives there. When URLs change, it is another story: Google wants a 301 or 308 for every old URL, for as long as possible and at least a year, and a mid-size site needs a few weeks or more before everything is processed. With a new domain you also file the change of address in Search Console.
A move on a timeline
- A week aheadLower the TTLTo a few hours.
- The days beforeTest the new siteOn a temporary address.
- Moving daySwitch the DNSTake MX, SPF and DKIM along.
- Weeks afterWatch Search ConsoleA few weeks for a mid-size site.
- At least a yearKeep the redirectsIdeally forever.
What you check on moving day
| Check | How you test it |
|---|---|
| The new site works fully | Through the temporary address, forms and a test order included |
| Every old URL has a 301 | Open ten random old links from your sitemap |
| Your email keeps flowing | A test mail out and back, after the switch |
| Google knows the new site | Submit the new sitemap in Search Console |
| The old host is still on | Cancel only when the logs show no more visits |
Pull the pages of your current site from its sitemap or from Search Console, and measure your starting point with the SEO checker. After the move, check with the website not showing on Google tool that Google still finds you. The full checklist for a move with new URLs is in our article on website migration and SEO. Cannot reach your site because your developer vanished? Start with my web designer disappeared.
Rankings, Wix and email
Will I lose my Google rankings when I move?
With the same URLs, hardly. With new URLs, some for a while, and for good if you forget the redirects. With a 301 per page it usually settles within a few weeks.
Will my email go down during the move?
Not if you copy the MX records to the new DNS before you switch. Moving the mailboxes themselves is a separate job, best done on a quiet day.
Where a move costs you rankings
Listing your old URLs is an hour of work. Skip it and your most visited pages return a 404, and Google drops them from its results after a while. They only come back once Google finds and trusts the new addresses, which can take months. Leaving a site builder is where it goes wrong most: Wix and Squarespace URLs have their own pattern, and a new site almost never copies it. Read Wix pricing and Wix or WordPress before such a move.
Three things often forgotten. A new host is a new processor of personal data, so your privacy policy moves along. New scripts can set cookies that were not there before; check that your cookie banner still fits. And moving away from a slow WordPress, read why is WordPress so slow: the cause moves with you if you bring the same plugins. How long Google takes to pick up a new site is in how long until my website shows on Google.