Site Moving DayField notes on moving a website without breaking it

Note 06

Planning the switch-over day

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In brief

  • The switch is one small step. The planning around it is the real work.
  • Prepare a week ahead, test the day before, switch at a quiet time.
  • Keep the old host running until the move is finished.

The switch itself

Visitors reach your site through the domain name. On switch day, you change where that name points. Google describes it plainly: change the DNS settings of your domain name to point to the new hosting.[1] DNS is the system that connects a name to a host. How it works is covered elsewhere, so here we only use it.

Everything else is preparation, so nothing surprising happens.

A timeline with four dots: a week before, lower the TTL; the day before, final copy and test; switch, point to the new host; after, watch both sites.
The plan for switch-over, in four moments.

A week before

Ask whoever looks after your DNS settings to lower the TTL. That is the time computers remember the old answer. Google suggests a low value, such as a few hours, at least a week before the move.[1] Then the change spreads quicker.

Two bars. A long TTL shows a long period when some visitors still see the old host. A short TTL of a few hours shows a brief period.
A shorter TTL means a quicker switch.

The day before

  • Make a final copy of the site, so new posts or orders are included.
  • Run your test checklist again.
  • Make sure no firewall blocks Google. Google says to check that it does not block Googlebot's ability to reach the DNS or the host's servers.[1]
  • Write the plan on one page, with who does what.

Choose a quiet time

Google says to time the move for lower traffic, if possible.[2] Look at your visitor stats. Pick the quietest day and hour. Fewer people are affected if something goes wrong.

Switch day

  1. Take off any test blocks. Google says to remove temporary blocks from the new copy when you start the move.[1]
  2. Turn on your redirects, if addresses changed.
  3. Change the DNS settings.
  4. Open the live site on a phone and a laptop.

Small and medium sites should move all pages at once, Google advises.[2] Moving in pieces is for large sites.

Expect an overlap

For a short time, some visitors still reach the old host and others reach the new one. That's normal. It is why you keep the old host running.

Two bars for old host and new host. The old host goes from busy to quieter, the new host from quiet to busy, and for a short while both overlap.
For a little while, both hosts answer visitors.

Switching off the old host

Wait. Google says to shut the old hosting down only when you're confident of two things. First, everyone, Googlebot included, gets the right content from the new host. Second, nobody still uses the old one.[1]

Then run the checks for after the move.

Sources

  1. Changing Your Web Hosting and SEO, Google Search Central (accessed 2026-11-05)
  2. Site Moves and Migrations, Google Search Central (accessed 2026-11-05)