Moved Host and Lost Rankings

Is it possible to loose SE ranking if you move host

[TravelGirl]

I tried to find answer for this on forums but without success.
Problem:
I moved host 2 weeks ago. In this week I noticed about 40% less visits than usual.
I didn't change anything on my site since I moved host.
Do you think it is possible that simply moving host would affect your ranking, or is it coincidence?

Thnaks for any suggestion!

[kevinpate]

I've found it advisable to make a change in hosting three times in the last four years. There was a fairly temporary drop-off in rankings the first time, but there was also what I would now consider to be an excessivly long period of down time. let's just say it's doubtful I'll ever again permit a site to be down for several weeks.

The next two host changes came in 2004 and 2005. Each went off without any noticable blips burps hiccups or hitches and that includes no changes in the rankings.

If it were me, I'd look at a different explanation.

[kamakaze]

The only reason that I could think of that this would be related to changing hosts is if the new server happens to be slower in performance. If a bot or spider attempts to spider your website and experiences performance problems it stops the attempt and trys again later.

Another thought is that it took awhile for the nameserver changes to replicate across the internet.

[Lorel]

Did you have a 301 redirect on the old site changing the non-www.domain.com to www.domain.com? If so it needs to be set up on the new host site also. That could cause your site to drop in rank. Or possibly you never had one but now you need one. It will cause a split domain and Google will think you have two websites with same content.

[TravelGirl]

hi everybody,

thanks for all these useful hints.

Lorel, i don't remember i ever set up such redirection unless it was set by hosting company.

i checked my other site - still hosted at that old host, and when i type mysite.com in browser, it redirects me to www version, so i guess it was the same case with site i moved to new host.

i just checked at google - site is indexed in www.mysite.com version, but nothing is indexed in non www version.

what i should do to sort this?

thanks for help!

[piskie]

It could be a Geographic thing.

For example if you have a .com site hosted in the UK and performing well for UK searchers, it would suffer badly if the hosting relocation put it in another country such as the US for instance.

However if the same site were a .co.uk and was relocated from the UK to the USA, there would be negligable if any difference.

[TravelGirl]

piskie, i think that might be the case.

it is .com site.

old host was easypace from uk (iomart), i'm not shure where their servers are based, but i guess it is uk.

new host is in florida usa....

[longen]

new host is in florida usa

... mind those hurricanes ... have a backup plan for being offline for 10+ days.

[TravelGirl]

longen, are you serious or you are joking?

[longen]

serious,
in 2004 with the double hurricane whole regions had no power.
What if your host had been based on New Orleans.

[piskie]

TravelGirl
If your target is UK, it is essential to have either
A .co.uk domain if you host outside the UK.
OR
If you use a .com domain you must host on a server Geographically located in the UK.

The difference is immense and I suggest your 40% drop in about 2 weeks is only part way down the slope to oblivion.

[TravelGirl]

hi longen and piskie,

thanks for your suggestions.

i realise now i made mistake and i will point my domain to uk host with servers based in uk.

thanks again...

[piskie]

Good decission.
Your little excursion will not matter in the medium term onwards. Full recovery to previous performance should take about 3 to 5 weeks (ish) with a following wind.
Good luck.

[caran1]

For one of my sites I lost ranking after shifting hosts. The new host had some old version of windows server installed and was down every week. From nearly 1000 visitors from SEs, it was down to 200. I had prepaid for a year (where I stay, no hosting company offers monthly payment options) but decided to shift again.

[TravelGirl]

ok, found new home and repointed... will see and report here how it performes in the future...

now, new question for you guys if you can help:

i have 2 other sites that are much, much more important than this one, i made mistake with.

as my current host don't support a lot of features i need to further develop my sites ( mysql, php,mod_rewrite) i am considering to find a new host for them.

reffering to my unplesant experience with moving host, i am now reluctant to do anything about this :-(

can you help with suggestion how properly manage host move to avoid any mistakes.

thanks again guys for your help and time!