Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • SEO Q&A
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • Case Studies
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • Case Studies

        Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. Digital Marketing
    3. Web Design
    4. Website rankings drop significantly after moving to new hosting provider

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Website rankings drop significantly after moving to new hosting provider

    Web Design
    3
    7
    3011
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • IsaCleanse
      IsaCleanse last edited by

      My website - www.isacleanse.co.nz has dropped from being top10 rankings for all of my keywords to not even being in top 50 after just checking now.

      It used to be hosted on: www.1stdomains.nz
      It got migrated to Sitground servers about a month ago

      See attached screenshot - would moving hosting provider cause such a huge drop? Or would there be anything else I should be looking at ?

      J2ahi

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • IsaCleanse
        IsaCleanse @FrankViolette last edited by

        Now that I check rankings for isacleanse.co.nz (without the www.) the keywords are all ranking in the same spot they used to be... so what I can gather there is no issue but instead my 'rank tracker' for keywords within MOZ was updating the rankings for a www. when the rankings have now moved to the non www. site?

        Does that make sense? I've now reinstated back the www. before the domain name as I prefer it this way.

        I will still make those changes that you've mentioned above! Much appreciated

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • FrankViolette
          FrankViolette @IsaCleanse last edited by

          Make sure that you are doing 301 redirects from your www links to your new non-www links. This will tell search engines where the new pages are.

          IsaCleanse 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • PenaltyHammer
            PenaltyHammer @IsaCleanse last edited by

            Not as important reason as the rest I mentioned. Correct all and will be fine.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • IsaCleanse
              IsaCleanse last edited by

              Thanks for your responses Frank & Krzysztof!

              From what I can tell the site has been migrated and is now showing as isacleanse.co.nz and it used to have a www. before it - would this be the reason for the drop?

              PenaltyHammer FrankViolette 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • PenaltyHammer
                PenaltyHammer last edited by

                Hi Sandi Matic.

                Indeed, server location is in US and that matters.

                On the other hand I see in google search result versions of your website: with www and without www. I see also this at the end of google results:
                "In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 89 already displayed.
                If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included."
                so this means you have some amount of similar content.

                In code I see this: but your website is dedicated to New Zealand right? Change this (and all other) to en-NZ. Setting hreflang can help too.

                Also you have little amount of linking domains (weak or weaker domains after new penguin 4). Worth to do is linkbuilding.

                Another errors are meta descriptions are part of main content, heading h1 doubled, etc. To check all, page by page seo audit is needed. Even if you had it before, now you have to fix those onpage things to get better serps/traffic.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                • FrankViolette
                  FrankViolette last edited by

                  I only see 2 reasons for your rank to drop like this after switching servers. Your site is slower after the move and your servers location(not sure about this one, maybe someone else can confirm).

                  #1 - Site speed is a key factor  for ranking so if you had excellent speed and you switched to average speed, this could be one of the cause.

                  Did you notice if your site is slower after the move? And how long after the move did your rank start dropping?

                  #2 - If your server was in New Zealand and now it's, lets say in the US, there is an added respond time for people looking for you website in New Zealand.

                  Do you know in which country is the new server located in? A good CDN might help if that's the issue.

                  I hope this points you in the right direction to get your issue resolved!

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                  • 1 / 1
                  • First post
                    Last post

                  Got a burning SEO question?

                  Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                  Start my free trial


                  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.

                  • See all categories

                  Related Questions

                  • ScottOlson

                    Does moving Server (IP) affect rankings?

                    I work for a pretty large company with an established web domain with thousands of pages. We are working on a new website and they talked about moving the site onto a new server. What is the impact ranking wise of going to a new server? Does Google care so long as it's the same domain, or is there some equity lost? Thanks in advance!

                    Web Design | | ScottOlson
                    0
                  • InvoqMarketing

                    Duplicate content on websites for multiple countries

                    I have a client who has a website for their U.S. based customers. They are currently adding a Canadian dealer and would like a second website with much of the same info as their current website, but with Canadian contact info etc. What is the best way to do this without creating duplicate content that will get us penalized? If we create a website at ABCcompany.com and ABCCompany.ca or something like that, will that get us around the duplicate content penalty?

                    Web Design | | InvoqMarketing
                    0
                  • Bill_K

                    Old site to new WordPress site - Client concerned about Yahoo Ranking

                    Hello, Back Story I have a client (law firm) who has a large .html website. He has been doing his own SEO for years and it shows. I think the only reason he reached out to a professional is because he got a huge penalty from Google last fall and fell very far down in rankings. Although, he still retains a #1 spot in Yahoo for his site for the keyword phrase he wants. I have been creating a new WordPress theme for the client and creating all new pages and updating the formatting/SEO. From the beginning I have told the client that when we delete the old site and install a new WordPress site (same domain name, but different page hierarchy) he will take a bump in the search engines until all the 301 redirects get sorted out. I told him I can't guarantee any time frame of how long the dip in SEO will last. Some sites bounce right back while others take longer. Last week, during a discussion, he tells me that if he loses his #1 ranking on Yahoo for any length of time he thinks he will go out of business. Needless to say I was a little taken back. When it comes to SEO I use best practice techniques, do my research, stay on top of trends but I never guarantee rankings when moving to a new site. I'm thinking of ways I can help elevate any type of huge SEO drop off and help the client. Here is what I was thinking of suggesting to the client and I would love some feedback. Main Question He has another domain he isn't doing anything with. It's pretty much his domain name with pc added. I was thinking about using that domain to create a simple 1-2 page WordPress website with brand new content (no duplicate content) aimed at attracting his keyword phrase. I would do as much SEO as I could with a 1-2 page site and give it a month or so to see if this smaller site can get into the top #10 in Yahoo, or higher. Then, when we move the site he will still have a website on the first page of Yahoo for his keyword phrase. I hope I explained it clearly 🙂 I would be open to any suggestions anyone may have. Thanks

                    Web Design | | Bill_K
                    0
                  • WebmasterAlex

                    How to make sure category pages rank higher than product pages?

                    Hi, This question is E-Commerce related. We have product categories dividing products by color. Let's say we have the category 'blue toy cars' and a product called 'blue toy car racer', both of these could rank for the keyword 'blue toy car'. How do we make sure the category 'blue toy cars' ranks above the product 'blue toy car racer'? Or is the category page automatically ranked higher because of the higher page authority of that page? Alex

                    Web Design | | WebmasterAlex
                    0
                  • RPD

                    Does having a Blog link in the top level navigation provide any better SEO value, or would having it in a footer or top navigation work just as good?

                    Trying to decide on whether placing a link to the blog in our top level navigation would have a better SEO value than just placing it in top or footer navigation. I have an ecommerce site.

                    Web Design | | RPD
                    0
                  • roberthseo

                    Does a loading homepage animation effect rankings?

                    Our website ( panphoenix dot com) has a Javascript animation when you load it for the first time which takes just over 2 seconds to load. Does having this animation effect rankings negatively? Would appreciate your thoughts!Thanks Rob

                    Web Design | | roberthseo
                    0
                  • josh-riley

                    WordPress blog hosted on GoDaddy domain mapping help

                    We set up a WP blog that's hosted through GoDaddy. For various reasons, we purchased a URL to use to get through the technical build and set up and are trying to map that to a subdomain of our company website. (We can't host it on our own server, unfortunately). My question is: for WP blogs hosted via WP you can buy a domain mapping upgrade and I'm trying to find a similar plugin that could offer the same thing that would apply to our GoDaddy hosting and point to our subdomain (GD apparently doesn't offer the domain mapping). Anyone have any thoughts, please?

                    Web Design | | josh-riley
                    0
                  • James77

                    Recommended Website Monitoring Tools

                    Hi, I was wondering what people would recommend for website monitoring (IE is my website working as it should!). I need something that will:
                    1/. Allow multiple page monitoring not just homepage
                    2/. Do header status checking
                    3/. Do page content checking (ie if the page changes massively, or include the word "error") then we have an issue!
                    4/. Multiple alert possibilities. We currently use www.websitepulse.com and it is a good service that does all the above, however it just seems so overly complex that its hard to understand what is going on, and its complex functionality and features are really a negative in our case. Thanks

                    Web Design | | James77
                    0

                  Get started with Moz Pro!

                  Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                  Start my free trial
                  Products
                  • Moz Pro
                  • Moz Local
                  • Moz API
                  • Moz Data
                  • STAT
                  • Product Updates
                  Moz Solutions
                  • SMB Solutions
                  • Agency Solutions
                  • Enterprise Solutions
                  Free SEO Tools
                  • Domain Authority Checker
                  • Link Explorer
                  • Keyword Explorer
                  • Competitive Research
                  • Brand Authority Checker
                  • Local Citation Checker
                  • MozBar Extension
                  • MozCast
                  Resources
                  • Blog
                  • SEO Learning Center
                  • Help Hub
                  • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                  • How-to Guides
                  • Moz Academy
                  • API Docs
                  About Moz
                  • About
                  • Team
                  • Careers
                  • Contact
                  Why Moz
                  • Case Studies
                  • Testimonials
                  Get Involved
                  • Become an Affiliate
                  • MozCon
                  • Webinars
                  • Practical Marketer Series
                  • MozPod
                  Connect with us

                  Contact the Help team

                  Join our newsletter
                  Moz logo
                  © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                  • Accessibility
                  • Terms of Use
                  • Privacy

                  Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.