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Changing Web
Hosts
Everyone worries
about what will happen to their site in the search engines
if they ever have to change hosts. Here are the steps I've
taken:
1. Obviously,
the first step you need to take is to find a new host,
which is of course easier said than done. There are probably
millions of hosting recommendations on various sites and
boards on the Internet. I would guess that ninety percent
or more of the posts are nothing more than fake advertising
in disguise. Web hosting is a very lucrative business which
tends to bring out lots of fake posts and fake review sites.
To find a good host you can petty much forget any information
on "web hosting review sites". They almost always
are getting paid a commission to recommend certain hosts,
so any recommendations they have are dubious at best. (See
my related section on finding a
reliable web host.)
2. After you
have selected your host, do not change the nameservers
at your registrar just yet. First make sure your account
is set up correctly. Then copy all of your files to
your new hosting account. Remember to keep your directory
structure the same as your old host to avoid problems. Then
run a test accessing the site by its IP address using different
browsers. Then test, test and test some more. Make sure
everything is working as it should. When you are sure that
everything looks good, then and only then modify the nameserver
record of your domain so it points to the new nameservers.
I've found it
is best to keep your domain name registered at a different
place than you have your web hosting account. It helps
a bit with the check and balances and may save some work
over the long run. A lot of web hosts can be pretty flaky,
so you'll probably find a need to change web hosts more
often than domain registrars. It is relatively straight
forward to change web hosts, but more involved to change
registrars, so I think it is best to keep your site hosted
and your domain registered at separate places.
3. Once you
have changed the nameservers, it may take a day or so to
propagate across the Internet. During this time I leave
up two copies of my site - one at my old host and one at
my new host. Then I monitor the logs at my old host until
there is no more traffic. Then I delete the files from the
old host.
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