How to move your website to a new host without losing Google rankings

Websites move for ordinary reasons: the hosting contract is up, the developer is changing platforms, or the business has a new name. Google publishes detailed guidance on doing it without hurting search visibility. This guide sets out what Google says, and flags where we add our own practical reading.

First, work out which kind of move it is

• Hosting only, same URLs. Google’s guide to changing your hosting covers “switching hosting providers or moving to a content distribution network (CDN)”, and is “only for migrations that don’t affect the user-visible URL”.
• URLs change. Google’s guide to site moves with URL changes covers moving from HTTP to HTTPS, changing domain name, and changing page paths, such as example.com/page.php?id=1 becoming example.com/widget.

On our reading, a move to a new platform can change page addresses even on the same domain. Ask your developer: “Will any page address change?” If the answer is yes, follow the second path.

If only the host is changing

1. Copy and test the site on the new host. Google suggests reviewing “pages, images, forms, and downloads (such as PDF files)”. If you use a temporary test address, Google says to add a noindex rule so it doesn’t get indexed by accident.
2. Check Google can reach it. Google recommends the URL Inspection Tool in Search Console, and warns that firewall or denial-of-service protection must not block Googlebot.
3. Lower the DNS TTL in advance. DNS settings are cached for their “Time to Live”. Google suggests lowering it to “a conservative low value (for example, a few hours) at least a week in advance of the move”.
4. Keep Search Console verification working. If you verify with an HTML file, a meta tag or Google Analytics, Google says to make sure the new copy of the site includes it.
5. Remove temporary blocks, then switch DNS. Take out any robots.txt or noindex blocks used during the build, then point the DNS records to the new host.
6. Watch both servers, then shut down the old one. Google says to shut the old hosting down only “once the traffic to the old provider reaches zero”. Until then, keep it running.

Google also says it’s “normal to see a temporary drop in Googlebot’s crawl rate immediately after the launch, followed by a steady increase over the next few days”.

If URLs are changing

Google’s guidance, roughly in the order you’ll need it:

1. Change one thing at a time. Google’s example: if you want a new domain, a new CMS and a new layout, “do them one at a time”. Where possible, it also suggests moving during a seasonal or weekly traffic dip.
2. List your old URLs. Google notes that the simplest moves, such as a domain change handled with a wildcard redirect, may not need a list. Otherwise it suggests starting with the important ones: those in your sitemaps, the pages with the most traffic in your analytics, and pages with links in Search Console’s Links report. Include images, PDFs and other files, which “might already be getting traffic from Google Search or links”.
3. Map each old URL to its new one. Illustrative example only: /services/blocked-drains.html might become /plumbing/blocked-drains/. Google says content you’re not moving should return a 404 or 410 error on the new site.
4. Set up permanent redirects. Google recommends “server side permanent redirects”, such as 301 and 308. It says 301s “don’t cause a loss in PageRank”. Its redirects documentation explains that a permanent redirect tells Google to show the new URL in results, while a temporary one (such as a 302) usually keeps the old URL showing.
5. Don’t send everything to the home page. Google says redirecting many old URLs to one irrelevant page “can confuse users and might be treated as a soft 404 error”. Redirect straight to the final page, not through a chain.
6. Update the new site. Each new page should have a self-referencing canonical tag, internal links should use the new URLs, and noindex or robots.txt blocks from the build should be removed.
7. Test the redirects with the URL Inspection Tool or a crawling tool. Google says it frequently sees redirects to non-existent URLs, and suggests checking Search Console for unusual numbers of “Not found” errors.
8. Submit the new sitemap in Search Console. Google says this “will help Google learn about the new URLs”.
9. Update links: change your Facebook and LinkedIn profiles and ad campaigns, and ask the sites behind your most-visited inbound links to update them.

New domain: use the Change of Address tool

Google’s Change of Address tool is only for moving from one domain or subdomain to another. Google says not to use it for HTTP to HTTPS, www to non-www, path changes within the same site, or a hosting change with no visible URL changes.

To use it, you must own both the old and new sites in Search Console, using the same Google account. Google says to submit it for every variant of the old domain, including www and non-www, even if you don’t use them, and to make sure each variant is verified in Search Console first. The tool checks for 301 redirects on a few pages before it accepts the request. Its effects continue for 180 days.

How long to keep redirects

Google’s two pages differ slightly. The site-move guide says: “Keep the redirects for as long as possible, generally at least 1 year,” and suggests users may benefit from keeping them indefinitely. The Change of Address help page says to maintain them “for at least 180 days”, longer if Google Search still sends traffic. It also recommends paying for the old domain “for at least a year” so no one else can buy it and misuse it. On our reading, plan for at least a year and keep renewing the old domain.

What to expect afterwards

Google says: “you may experience ranking fluctuations while Google recrawls and reindexes your site.” For medium-sized sites, “it can take a few weeks or more” for Google to start showing the new URLs, and longer for larger sites. Google calls temporary fluctuation “normal” and says rankings “will settle down over time”. Sites that combine a move with a redesign of content and URL structure will “probably see some traffic loss”, according to the Change of Address help.

Don’t lose your email with the website

Your domain’s DNS also tells the world where to deliver email (the MX records), and holds the SPF, DKIM and DMARC records that help your email reach inboxes. Google’s site-move guides don’t address email. On our reading, the risk arises if the move includes changing who hosts your DNS, for example by switching nameservers to the new web host. Records that aren’t recreated at the new DNS host stop working.

Cloudflare’s onboarding guide, as one example, notes its automatic scan “is not guaranteed to find all existing DNS records”, tells you to review them, and lists email records as a category to check. Before any DNS change, export or screenshot every existing record and confirm the new DNS host has matching entries.

If you’re still deciding whether to move at all, our guide to finding out what’s broken before you rebuild your website covers that question first.

Checklist

• Ask whether any page address will change. If yes, the move usually needs an old-to-new URL map and 301 redirects, not just a DNS switch.
• Record every existing DNS record before the move. Include MX and SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, so email keeps working if the DNS host changes.
• Lower the DNS TTL at least a week ahead. Google suggests a low value, such as a few hours, at least a week before switching.
• If URLs change, map old URLs to new ones. Start with pages in your sitemap, top-traffic pages and linked pages, plus images and PDFs.
• If URLs change, use permanent server-side redirects to matching pages. 301 or 308, straight to the final page, never all to the home page.
• Check Search Console verification carries over. Make sure the HTML file, meta tag or Analytics tag is on the new site.
• If URLs change, submit the new sitemap in Search Console. Then check for unusual numbers of “Not found” errors.
• Use the Change of Address tool only for a move to a new domain or subdomain. Verify and submit every variant of the old domain, including www and non-www.
• Keep the old host running until its traffic reaches zero. Google says to shut it down only then.
• If the domain changes, keep redirects and the old domain for at least a year. Google’s site-move guide says generally at least 1 year for redirects, and its Change of Address help recommends paying for the old domain for at least a year.

Sources 5 sources

1. Google Search Central: Site moves with URL changes
2. Google Search Central: Changing your hosting (site move without URL changes)
3. Google Search Central: Redirects and Google Search
4. Search Console Help: Change of Address tool
5. Cloudflare Fundamentals docs: Onboard a domain (example of a DNS provider's guidance)

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