How to Move Your Website to a New Host Without Downtime

To move your website to a new host without downtime, set the new hosting up and test it fully while the old site keeps running, lower your DNS TTL a week before the move, copy a final version of the site and database, then point your domain's DNS at the new server. Keep the old hosting live until traffic to it stops, and don't touch your email records unless you are moving email too.

Done in this order, visitors never see a broken site and Google barely notices the change.

Before you start: what are you actually moving?

A "website" on a typical hosting account can include several separate things. List them first:

• Website files: the code, themes, plugins, uploads and images.
• Database: content, orders, users and settings, if your site uses one.
• Email: mailboxes on the same hosting account, such as info@yourdomain.
• DNS: the records that point your domain at the website and email.
• SSL certificate: the padlock for HTTPS.
• Scheduled tasks: cron jobs for backups, reminders or imports.
• Other services: subdomains, staging sites, forms that send email.

Email is the one most often broken in a move. If your mailboxes live on the old host and you only plan to move the website, leave the email (MX) records exactly as they are.

Step 1: Choose and prepare the new hosting

Make sure the new server matches what your site needs: the same or a newer supported version of PHP, Node.js or Python, the same database type, enough storage and memory, and the extensions your platform requires. Check whether the host includes backups, SSL and support at the hours you need.

Step 2: Lower the DNS TTL a week ahead

DNS records have a TTL (time to live) that tells internet providers how long to cache them. If your TTL is a day, some visitors could still reach the old server for up to a day after you switch.

Google's guidance on changing hosting suggests lowering the TTL to a conservative low value, such as a few hours, at least a week in advance of the move. Many teams go lower, to around five minutes, for the move itself. Change it in your DNS provider's panel, then wait for the old TTL to expire before switching.

Step 3: Copy the site and test it on the new server

• Copy all files and export and import the database.
• Update configuration files with the new database details.
• Recreate scheduled tasks and any server settings, such as redirects or PHP limits.

Then test the new copy before any real visitors reach it. You can do this by:

• adding a temporary entry to your computer's hosts file that points your domain at the new server, or
• using a temporary URL from the new host.

Check every important page, forms, logins, checkout or booking, search, image uploads and emails sent by the site. Fix anything that differs from the live site.

Step 4: Plan the switch

Pick a quiet time, such as an evening or weekend, outside your busiest hours. To avoid losing new orders, bookings or form submissions made during the switch:

• put the old site into maintenance mode, or pause activity briefly
• take a final copy of the database
• import it on the new server

For simple brochure sites with no new data, this step can be skipped.

Step 5: Update DNS

Point your domain's A record (and AAAA if you use IPv6), and the www record, at the new server. Leave MX and other email-related records alone unless email is moving too.

Then:

• Issue or install the SSL certificate on the new server, as many hosts do this automatically once DNS points to them.
• Check the site loads over HTTPS on several networks and devices.
• Use an online DNS propagation checker to see which regions see the new address.

Step 6: Monitor, then retire the old hosting

Google recommends watching server logs on both the old and new servers and only shutting down the old provider once traffic to it reaches zero. It also notes that a temporary drop in Googlebot's crawl rate right after a move is normal, followed by a steady increase over the following days.

For the first week:

• Watch Google Search Console for crawl errors or indexing drops.
• Check forms, emails sent by the site and scheduled tasks are working.
• Keep the old hosting for a few weeks as a fallback, then cancel it after taking a final backup.

If your URLs or domain are changing too

Moving hosting with the same URLs is the easy case. If you are also changing domain, restructuring pages or switching platform, you need redirects. Google recommends server-side permanent redirects from each old URL to its new equivalent, based on a mapping of old to new URLs, and keeping them in place for as long as possible, generally at least a year.

Avoid doing everything at once if you can. Moving hosting first, then changing structure later, makes problems easier to trace.

Moving nameservers vs changing records

There are two ways to "point your domain" at a new host, and they behave very differently:

• Changing individual records (A, AAAA, www) at your current DNS provider only moves what you change. Email and other services stay where they are. This is the safest option for most moves.
• Changing nameservers hands your whole DNS zone to the new host. Every record, including email, verification records for Google or Microsoft, and any subdomains, must be recreated there first, or they will stop working.

If you do switch nameservers, copy the full list of existing records before you start and recreate them exactly, then check email delivery straight after the change.

Common migration mistakes

• Forgetting email: changing nameservers or MX records and losing incoming mail.
• Not lowering TTL, so some visitors see the old site for a day or more.
• Cancelling the old hosting too early, before every visitor and service has moved.
• Missing scheduled tasks, so backups or reminder emails silently stop.
• No final database copy, losing orders or form submissions made during the switch.
• Moving domain and hosting together without redirects, and losing search rankings.

Migration checklist

Frequently asked questions

If you'd rather not risk it yourself, our hosting and cloud migration team plans and carries out moves without downtime, and our managed maintenance plans keep the site healthy afterwards.