Will changing servers affect my Google page rank?

Google Page Rank

[Alliee]

Hi, I need some expert advice. My website is currently hosted on a shared server. I require a lot of storage space and need to buy more, but my host tells me that in order to do that, I'll need to more to a different server and my site will be down for 24 hours.

Will either of these (new server, site down 24 hours) affect my Google page ranking?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[vnsampat]

Changing servers did not affect my rankings. However what we did was, setup the site on the new server first, changed the DNS records, and then took down the old servers 48 hours later. So there was no downtime.

[Alliee]

Hi, sounds good, but my ISP host is telling me the site has to be down for 24 hours anyway because that's how long it takes to get the dns switched. Are they feeding me a line?

[Gus_R]

The worst you can get is bots visiting while downtime, and they will retry later. No problem.

[skipfactor]

I'll need to move to a different server and my site will be down for 24 hours.

Tell your host to copy your files to the new server then remove your files on the old server when the switch propogates.

If they can't handle that, personally, I'd find a new host, copy files over, point to the new nameservers, and cancel the old account when the DNS fully propogates--zero downtime.

24 hours might turn into days which could affect your Google ranking, but I'd be more concerned with reader/customer attrition.

[bunltd]

The site shouldn't have to go down at all. Assuming they manage their own DNS: Your host should be able to manipulate the TTL so that the DNS info for your domain won't be cached - they should do this 2-3 days prior to your planned move... Then they point the domain to the new IP and they can reset the TTL to a more normal level.

My host did this for me when we moved servers (included multiple sites) we had no downtime.

LisaB

[Alliee]

Thanks so much guys, I really appreciate the advice!

[capsmaster]

Alliee did you do the switch yet? I am trying to do the same thing except I am trying to upgrade my account to get mysql added on but the host is telling me that I have to close my account and create a new one and that there will be 24-48 hrs of down time. I am thinking about moving to a new company but fear of losing rankings in google is also my fear. Let me know how this went for you.

[Alliee]

No, I haven't done it yet. I'm thinking of starting the switch on Monday, if they can do it as explained above by skipfactor and bunltd. I'll let you know how it goes.

I also need to bargain with them for more space, my site is a space hog. They are charging me $50 a month for 1.5 gigs and I've seen other ISP's advertising that much or more for $19.99. Anyone else seen these types of rates?

[Small Website Guy]

Bandwidth is actually more expensive than storage space. If a significant percentage of your visitors were accessing a significant part of that massive content, your hosting costs would be through the roof.

[ThatAdamGuy]

Alliee,

Site costs are generally a factor of four things:
- SPACE: How much disk space your site takes up.
- BANDWIDTH: How much you transfer, not only via HTTP, but via FTP and POP3 as well
- INTENSITY: There's a big difference between a site that serves up a lot of static HTML pages vs. one that does a lot of mySQL hits, php parsing, cgi scripts, etc.
- ASSISTANCE: If you require lots of handholding... a 24-hour toll-free support line, etc... then that increases the costs as well.

---

I was previously with a host that offered 3 gigs of space and 20 gigs of bandwidth for ~$20/month. In many ways, I was thrilled, but after two years, I'm now switching to a new host that offers far less space and bandwidth for the buck, but will not pre-filter all my mail (and cause me to lose mail!), will not have servers down with no notification or explanation, etc.

If your site is not mission critical, then I'd invite you to use the megahost that I previously used. But if your site is more important to you, then I'd recommend asking around to learn about reliable hosts which -- while certainly offering you a better deal than $50/month -- will not offer rock-bottom prices.

[Alliee]

Hi thanks for the info guys, so far bandwidth has not been a problem, only storage space. Since I have an e-commerce photo site, I need all the space to store my products, i.e., high resolution images, which are large files. The searchable portion of the site has thumbnail images, so bandwidth has not been a problem yet. You can purchase and download right from my site, so I have no choice but to store image products on my host's server. (Unless you guys have some brilliant method you could pass on to me!) If my site starts doing the business I want it to, bandwidth could very easily become a problem, but I'll gladly cross that bridge when I get to it.

In most respects the IP host has been acceptable, except when I have a snag, I can only reach the NT administrator by email, which is frustrating, but that doesn't happen very often and their servers are rarely down. I do however think that they are expensive and I should be able to get a better deal. If anyone has any great hosts that offer good service and reasonable prices, sent me a sticky mail.

[benc007]

Although you can minimize downtime when switching servers, will switching affect your SERPS and Google PageRank?

Lisa, what exactly is TTL and how does it work?