Host migrations go wrong in predictable ways: DNS switched before the new site was ready, an email outage nobody anticipated, a database left behind on a server that has already been cancelled.
Done in the right order, a migration is uneventful and invisible to visitors. The order is the whole job.
- 1
Take a complete backup and verify it
Files and database, downloaded and stored somewhere that is not either host. Then open the backup and confirm it contains what you expect. An unverified backup is a guess, and the moment you discover it is incomplete is always the worst possible moment.
- 2
Write down every current setting
All DNS records — A, CNAME, MX, TXT — plus PHP or runtime version, cron jobs, redirect rules, environment variables and SSL configuration. Screenshot the DNS zone. This document is what you rebuild from and what you fall back to.
- 3
Deal with email separately and first
If email runs on the same domain, establish exactly where MX records point before touching anything. Email outages cause far more damage than website outages. If email is hosted with the old provider, migrate it separately and finish that before the website move.
- 4
Build and test on the new host with DNS untouched
Upload everything to the new host and test using a temporary URL or a hosts file entry on your own machine. Click every page, submit every form, check the admin login. The old site stays live and serving throughout — this is the whole point of the order.
- 5
Lower the DNS TTL a day ahead
Reduce the time-to-live on your records to 300 seconds at least 24 hours before the switch. Resolvers then cache for five minutes rather than a day, so the cutover propagates quickly and a rollback takes minutes rather than being effectively impossible.
- 6
Switch, then watch
Update the A or CNAME record. Check the site from several devices and networks — mobile data as well as your own broadband — because propagation is uneven. Confirm the SSL certificate has issued on the new host; a browser warning undoes an otherwise perfect migration.
- 7
Keep the old host running for two weeks
Do not cancel immediately. Keep it until you are certain nothing was missed, DNS has fully propagated and no forgotten subdomain still points there. The saving from cancelling a fortnight early is never worth the risk.
Afterwards
Raise the TTL back to something sensible once you are confident. Submit the sitemap in Search Console, check for a spike in crawl errors, and monitor traffic for a fortnight. A migration that loses rankings usually did so through changed URLs or missing redirects rather than the move itself.
If URLs change
They should not, but if they must, map every old URL to its new equivalent with 301 redirects before switching. This is the single most common way a migration costs a business its search traffic.
Frequently asked questions
With a lowered TTL, usually minutes to a couple of hours. Without one, up to 48 hours, which is why the TTL step matters more than any other preparation.
Would rather we did it?
These guides are here so you can do it yourself. If you would rather hand it over, that is what we do.
Start a conversation