Moving your website from one hosting provider to another is one of the highest-stakes technical tasks a site owner can undertake. If a migration goes wrong, you can lose search rankings, traffic, and revenue within hours. If it goes right, nobody notices.
This guide gives you a practical, step-by-step website migration checklist designed to protect your SEO through every stage of the process.
What This Website Migration Checklist Covers
This checklist applies to moving a live website between hosting providers. It does not cover replatforming (changing CMS), domain-only transfers, or server upgrades with the same provider. The steps assume you have access to your current hosting control panel and can make DNS changes. If you are moving from a legacy platform, some steps may vary between control panels such as cPanel and Plesk.
Phase 1: Pre-Migration Preparation
Audit Your Existing Website
Before you change anything, document what you have. Run a full site crawl using a tool such as Screaming Frog or Sitebulb. Export every indexed URL from Google Search Console and note your current rankings for key landing pages. This baseline is the only way to confirm the migration worked.
Back Up Everything
Create a complete backup of your website files and database. Download a copy to your local machine. Most control panels offer backup tools, but verify the backup by restoring it to a staging environment before you rely on it. A backup you cannot restore is not a backup.
Check Domain and DNS Settings
Confirm your domain renewal status and remove the transfer lock from your domain at your current registrar if needed. Note your current DNS records (A, CNAME, MX, TXT) so you can recreate them at the new host. Reduce the TTL on critical records to 300 seconds (5 minutes) at least 48 hours before the migration. This speeds up DNS propagation when you point the domain to the new server.
Phase 2: Setting Up the New Hosting Environment
Provision your new hosting account and configure the server environment before you move any data. Match the PHP version, MySQL version, and any server modules your site requires. If you are unsure which versions your site needs, check the application requirements or the current hosting dashboard.
Create the same add-on domains, subdomains, email accounts, and databases on the new server that exist on the old one. Install an SSL certificate on the new environment. Heart Internet includes AutoSSL on all hosting plans, so certificates are issued automatically once DNS points to the new server.
Phase 3: Transferring Your Website Data
Migrate Website Files
Upload your website files to the new server. The method depends on your setup:
- For cPanel-to-cPanel migrations, use the built-in cPanel migration tool, which transfers accounts in full.
- For manual transfers, use FTP or SFTP to upload files to the correct directory on the new server.
- For large sites (over 1GB), use rsync or a compressed archive transfer to avoid timeout issues.
Migrate Databases
Export your database from the old host using phpMyAdmin or the command-line mysqldump tool. Import it to the new server and update your application configuration files (typically wp-config.php for WordPress, or a .env file for Laravel-based sites) to point to the new database.
Test in a Staging Environment
Before switching DNS, test the site on the new server using a hosts file entry on your local machine, or a temporary URL if your host provides one. Check every page type, contact form, checkout flow, and admin login. Confirm that all uploaded files are reachable and that the SSL certificate works.
Phase 4: Going Live
Set Up 301 Redirects
If any URLs have changed during the website migration, create a map of old URLs to new URLs and implement 301 redirects. This transfers ranking authority from the old paths to the new ones. For a same-URL migration (the same domain, same paths), redirects are not needed, but you should still verify that your .htaccess or nginx configuration has not introduced any unintended rewrites.
Update DNS Nameservers
Point your domain to the new host by updating the nameservers at your domain registrar. DNS propagation can take anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours, depending on TTL settings and ISP caching. During propagation, some visitors will see the old site and some the new site. This is normal and should not cause SEO harm if both versions are fully functional.
Submit a New Sitemap
Once DNS has propagated, generate a fresh XML sitemap and submit it to Google Search Console. Also use the URL Inspection tool to request indexing of your most important pages. This tells Google your site has moved and helps minimise indexing delays.
Phase 5: Post-Migration Monitoring
The work does not end when DNS propagates. The first 30 days after a website migration are the most critical period for SEO recovery.
Week 1: Daily Checks
Check Google Search Console for crawl errors, 404s, and index coverage issues. Monitor organic traffic in your analytics platform and test email delivery for all mailboxes. Verify that forms, payment gateways, and logins still function on the live site.
Weeks 2-4: Weekly Checks
Compare your ranking positions against the pre-migration baseline. A temporary fluctuation is normal in the first two weeks and usually recovers. If rankings drop sharply and do not recover, check for missing redirects, broken internal links or delayed indexation of the new server’s content.
When to Ask for Help
If you are not comfortable managing DNS records, database exports or server configurations yourself, consider using a managed website migration service. Heart Internet’s support team can assist with internal migrations and help you plan the move. Some hosts also offer paid migration services that handle the full transfer on your behalf.
Common Website Migration Risks and How to Avoid Them
No backup: Always take a full backup and verify it before making any changes.
Missing DNS records: Export your DNS zone file before cancelling the old hosting account.
Broken forms: If your site uses server-side email (PHP mail function), the new server may not be configured for outbound email. Use SMTP or a transactional email service instead.
Mixed content warnings: Hard-coded HTTP URLs in your database will break after website migration if you have an SSL certificate installed. Run a search-and-replace on the database to update any absolute URLs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Does changing hosting affect SEO?
Q: Should I keep my old hosting active during the website migration?
Q: What is the most common mistake during a website migration?
Q: Do I need a developer to migrate my website?
Q: Will email stop working during the migration?
Explore Heart Internet’s web hosting plans to find the right setup for your next hosting move. All plans include AutoSSL, UK-based data centres and 24/7 support.
