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
-
What domain name do you think is better for SEO: sirocco-webdesign.com or sirocco-web-design.com?
Hello, I would appreciate it very much if you share with me your thoughts on what domain name I'd better pick out in terms of productive SEO: sirocco-webdesign.com or sirocco-web-design.com? I know hyphens are not good, but second domain looks better, I think.
Technical SEO | | kirupa0 -
Changing URLs for SEO
Hi, Currently we have a page, /business, but we have shifted our strategy to optimize for this page for the keyword "enterprise" instead of "business". The page authority of this page is 18 and our domain authority is 35. I've already updated content and title tags to more of an enterprise focus. Would it be wise to move the page to /enterprise and create a 301 redirect from /business to /enterprise? Or is this too risky from an SEO standpoint? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | mikekeeper0 -
WMT Change of address when moving to subdir
A client is moving their site that has had its own domain for years to their main domain under a subdir. So, product.com is going to brand.com/product with all pages and paths staying the same, no content is being removed. We have 301 the old domain to brand.com/product however, should we also submit a change of address in Google's WMT? The reason I ask is because the site wont be located at brand.com but at brand.com/product and do not want to confuse Google, as the 301 redirects will not match the change of address exactly.
Technical SEO | | piperis0 -
Web server locations for international seo
We have a site that is currently hosted in the far east for the far eastern market. We are having issues with the hosting co. so we are considering bringing the site back onto our servers in the UK. However, we don't obviously want to damage too much the bit of uplift we get from local hosting. What is our best approach? Is it ok just to have the site in the UK even though its aimed at the Far East? Or is the use of a proxy server good? Or should we look for other local hosts? Any help very gratefully received. Iain
Technical SEO | | iain0 -
Changed URLs from Upper to Lower Case, and lost page authority should we switch back?
During an overhaul of our site architecture we switched from having capitals in our urls to all lower case, we did the 301's but the page authority is not nearly what it was should we switch back? (new) http://www.usleaseoption.com/rent-to-own/florida vs (old) http://www.usleaseoption.com/rent-to-own/Florida/
Technical SEO | | mjo1360 -
URL Folders and Naming Convention Changes?
1. We’re looking for some clarification in regards to our URL structure. Currently, at our product level we have http://www.ties.com/v/a/elite-solid-black-black-tie however the parent URL is http://www.ties.com/black-ties. a. So here are the question. How much is this hurting because semantically the naming convention of this URL and weird and doesn’t follow logical patterns. In other words. Should the product page for this be http://ties.com/black-ties/elite-solid-black-tie. How bad is this hurting us? b. If we were to change the ULR structure, should we do it in phases or all at once? We don’t want to get penalized. We have well over 3,000 product pages.
Technical SEO | | Ties.com0 -
Change name of directory
How can I best change the name of a directory on my website (example: http://www.website.com/nameofdirectory/)? The directory has lots of content included in it which has links from all over my website. I guess I have to adjust those links? How do I easily collect all of the links? Which is the code I should use in my htacces? Thank you! With kind regards,
Technical SEO | | wellnesswooz
Dieter0 -
Worth Changing Redirect From 302 to 301?
Hi, I'm doing an audit on a site that had a redesign in Dec 2009. For some reason I looked to see what kind of redirects were used from the old pages to the current ones, and it looks like they used 302s, which obviously isn't ideal. Given that it's been so long and those pages have looong since been de-indexed, is it worth me suggesting that they change those old redirects to 301s? My thinking is that if those old pages were linked to externally then I should recommend it, but I can't find any link info on Linkscape/OSE, Majestic SEO or YSE. Any comments appreciated.
Technical SEO | | The_Heavies0