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The SEO implications of a website hosting move



This is a useful question. In general, web page addresses and most other factors remain the same when changing hosts. This means that implications for search optimising are reduced to zero in most cases. However, it is possible that there will be a change in one or more of the factors that affect search - and a search engine's reaction to changes at your website - and so we'll work through the list of those factors.


These are the areas to consider:

Server configurations
Links
PageRank
URL changes
IP change
Domain name
Host change
Physical location
Search engine reaction
Check off all items in SEO hosting list (Part 1)
DNS changeover speed
SEO implications
Additional points: email

And in addition:
SEO implications of changing domain name

 

Server configurations
We have to assume that the website is being moved to a host with equal or better servers, in the area of server off-lines (related to downtime), server speed, facilities, and support. If by some chance these factors worsened, then search success might be affected.


Links
When changing hosts, assuming that the URLs (web page addresses) will stay exactly the same, you won't lose your links.


PageRank
Again, you won't lose any PR if your URLs stay exactly the same. Note that exactly means precisely that: even the smallest change will mean the address is different.


URL changes
If your site's page addresses change for some reason, then depending on the scale, you will lose out. It depends on precisely why the URLs would change. If a root directory address changes, then every URL on the site will change - and that's bad. You lose everything, the whole shebang. On the other hand a simple htaccess redirect will fix that - so no need to worry.

If some URLs will change, but not others, then you should redirect the old pages to the new pages with a 301 (permanent) redirect in htaccess. If you do this, then the backlinks to the page will keep working, and the PR will transfer to the new page (this takes time but eventually transfers across).

Note that search engines don't like a chain of redirects. The critical number is two, so that if you redirect from old page to new page, that's one hit. If you then want to redirect for another reason, perhaps to do with your CMS internal workings (which often affects the index page URL), or because you want to change the page title or something - that's two hits and you're out: you can't do that. They really don't like it. In some cases (with some applications, in some circumstances) if you redirect from a raw dynamic URL to a SEF URL that will count as an iteration as well. There are cases where you will escape with two redirects - but three is most definitely out.


IP change
Your IP will change, even if you have your own dedicated IP at present. IPs are not (normally) transferable between hosts. However, this is of no consequence as the domain name is much more important.

If you currently share an IP, but on moving will gain a unique IP, then in some circumstances you will receive an SEO boost.

There are huge numbers of people who will argue this, both for and against - including the search engine operators, who would most likely deny any effect - but we can show you the results. In any case, for a cost of $20 or thereabouts, you'd have to be mad not to take a punt.


Domain name
Your domain name is independent from your hosting. A domain is best retained separately at a domain registrar. Then, you simply point the DNS at whichever host you wish. If by some chance you were unaware that domains should not be held by your host, then when you come to move you may well find problems; though these will not be in the SEO area.


Physical location
Assuming the host is in the same country, there is no effect due to a move. If the host is in a different country, that is an entirely different matter - there will certainly be an SEO implication here. It may be that the hosting is being changed for this very reason, in order to improve matters.

A website should normally be hosted in the same region the business operates in. Therefore, if you are not hosted in the geotargeted location currently but intend to move your hosting there, the website SEO will definitely receive a boost. And vice versa of course.


Search engine reaction
The reaction from search engines, when all factors remain the same except the IP and the name of the host, is zero. If there are changes to other factors, then the nature of those changes will affect the SEs' reaction.


Check off the points on the SEO hosting list
In addition, of course, you will need to check off all items in SEO Hosting 1. Those items clearly set out what you need from a host.

It is reasonable to expect that this will be a good time to make changes. Try to make these for the better, not for the worse. However, this is a very bad time to do any testing - or for making changes that you need to look for a reaction to, for site tuning - as it may be difficult to pull the result out from the background noise.


DNS changeover speed
There is a wide variation in the speed that your new IP will be recognised when the DNS is changed over to point toward it. The fastest we have seen was instantly - or so it seemed, but was probably around 15 minutes. The longest was three days over Christmas one year. The average is 12 - 24 hours.

Be advised that Google will have your new IP within an hour or so, irrespective of the time it takes to filter down through the rest of the network. They will be spidering the new IP much sooner than you think. This may affect the way you arrange some matters. For example you need to be running live on both IPs or you will get 404s, which you don't want.


SEO implications
It's fairly clear, then, that if the new hosts are very similar then it's all much of a muchness. Nothing changes enough to worry about, and the impact on search optimising is zero.

The most likely factor to affect website hosting SEO when moving is the location, if the host is in a different country. If your page addresses (URLs) have to change, there is usually a way to mitigate this by redirects. An htaccess file can contain several thousand lines if necessary, for a short time at least - although this is certainly not good practice.


Other Points: Email
Lastly, don't forget your email. This is an important part of a site's function, though many forget this subject when planning a move. All holders of email addresses on the site domain will have to reset their email clients for the new access details (and ditto for FTP). Don't arrange anything for the time of the move that involves detailed email conferencing - things might be delayed here.

Test your new email server by sending test messages to and from it. After the changeover, access your old email server via webmail and get any last messages off it (by this time you will most likely have changed your email client access details to the new server, so you may not be able to use POP3 easily). Also check everyone's old accounts there before you shut down and wipe the server.


SEO implications of changing domain name

The answer here is very different to the previous one: essentially, if you change your domain name, you lose everything and there is no way to mitigate it.

The domain name is the business; it is the license to operate a website in that name; and it is the identifier that search engines know you by. If you lose it or change to another, you start from scratch again.


There are two ways of looking at this:

  • 1: It's a disaster and all is lost.

Or:

  • 2: We can start out with a better name and concentrate on regaining our position; long term prospects should be better.

Starting with viewpoint (1), it's hard to argue - you'll be starting from Day 1 again. You can't transfer page rank to another domain; if that were possible, it would open a massive can of worms.

That is why everything possible should be done to protect your domain name. Of course, if it was a bad choice in the first place, then you might well be better off rid of it. The domain name is a vitally important part of the SEO equation; and the points you can pick up by choosing the right one are normally lost, because that's far in the past by the time you come to speak to an SEO advisor.

So as far as (2) goes - you may be right. If the name was wrong and holding you back, then by all means start from scratch again if it means that long term prospects are better. Ideally, the old domain will be linked to the new one, so some benefit may be transferred. There are ways of managing links and redirects in this situation for maximum benefit. Sometimes, of course, the old domain name (and therefore any kind of web presence) has been relinquished for some reason; here, you really do have to start from scratch.

Another valid point is that the PageRank versus Page Relevancy seesaw that determines a webpage's SERPs position is now weighted toward page relevancy, as far as the most accurate search engines are concerned. That is to say if your pages are good, links are less important now. If your site is really good - and fully deserving of the position - you can place at #1 on the largest search engine within three months, ethically, and stay there. We have proved this and don't have anything to lose by stating this openly, as it is easily checked. In very tough markets it would be optimistic to hope for such a high position - but page 1 is certainly possible. In effect this means that a domain name change (especially if an improvement), when combined with first class search optimising skill, might only impact a few months' operational results.

This level of achievement is possible for masters but not journeymen - though it isn't a cheap option since a lot of time needs to be expended on perfect optimising. There are no shortcuts here because this task demands ultimate skill (and also the freedom to develop the site to its maximum potential - which is not always easy to get).

Again, a PageRank of PR4 is achievable within 6 months, and this will allow you to compete strongly in many markets, provided the site is optimised correctly.

You could therefore take the view that, with sufficient funds available to improve the website beyond the normally-expected level for a new site, then good results are achievable quite rapidly. Especially with the new, correct domain name.


Normally, the last thing you would want to do is change your domain name; but nevertheless there can be one or two compelling reasons for doing so.


 
 
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