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I was forced to move my site at the beginning of December due to bandwidth constraints. Is it possible that the move somehow screwed things up with Google? How can I fix it?
HELP!
Welcome to WebmasterWorld!
The answer to your questions lies in your log files: Did google crawl your new site or your old site in early December?
I assume you're looking for your backward-links in www2 or www3, and not seeing them. If your site was moved before the early-December crawl, and you see that Google's deep-crawler picked up the new site, then you should be OK. If not, then if your old site was taken down before the new site was crawled, then it is possible Googlebot may have missed you. In this case, PPC programs such as Adwords may be required to sustain your site for the next month. There is the possibility that the Google's "fresh" crawler may also help in this regard, but you'll need to keep the site updated often to keep the freshbot interested in returning often enough to keep you in the search results.
One fact to bear in mind for the future: While it is true that we as Webmasters seek to provide "instant gratification" for our visitors, we must deal with the fact that we ourselves get none from the search engines; almost everything having to do with pure search (non-PPC) listings takes a month - or longer. Probably a third of the threads here in the WebmasterWorld Google forum are a result of the fact that new webmasters don't realize that it can take Google two months to find and list their new site... And Google's one of the faster ones, too.
When moving a site, is it recommended to leave the old site up until the new site is thoroughly spidered and appears in the search results. And to get (almost) all of your incoming (backward) links updated before shutting down the old site. Google is rather slow about updating their cached DNS info, and this sometimes leads to delays measured in months.
Best of luck to you, I hope this info helps.
Jim
P.S. Also, remember that the update takes several days; If your new site did get deep-crawled, then it ain't over 'til it's over... You may indeed be included at the last minute.
I think the early December crawl may be the problem. Our old host left us in a tight spot and gave us notice the Tuesday before Thanksgiving that they would be shutting us off. I was given basically no notice and no time to move. They would not leave the site up while I was getting things switched over to the new host.
It took some time getting the site moved due to the holidays and the time off everyone was taking. As a result, the site was down until late on the 6th of December. I lost nearly a full week of traffic and revenue (not to mention alot of credibility with my users) as a result of the hosting company's actions.
But wait - it gets better... when I posted a notice about why we were down, the old host received some complaints and launched a Denial of Service attack on my site which took me down for another full day on the 8th. The log files clearly show they did this but pursuing it is a bit scary because they still currently host 3 of my other sites which are still small enough for them to handle.
I'd post the info about the old host but I am afraid they would try another attack against my large site.
Looks like I'll have to build up some Adword campaigns to get me through the next month. This sort of kills everything I've been working for though. Because of the downtime, the site went from 335K page views in November to 155K in December... now it's looking like I'll lose even more in January.
A terrible situation - Once you've found a new host that is reliable, professional, and won't play mickey-mouse games with your livlihood, move all of your sites off your old host. Of course, get the new sites up for a couple of months before you pull the plug, and don't tell them you're moving until you've been crawled. :)
Anybody who is looking for hosting should specifically ask about bandwidth overrun policy - Your old host seems to have a rather draconian one, "punish for success". And never have the hosting company control your DNS! - In other words, don't register your domain name with your hosting company, do it independently, so that you maintain control. And web hosting, like open-heart surgery, should not be selected on the basis of who's the lowest bidder! I used to go with the $9.95 a month plans, but now I gladly pay $25 and more for service, reliability, and control.
Try the adwords approach, and lay out some nice tasty fresh-bot bait - Hang in there, and best of luck!
Jim
The idea of leaving them up until they're crawled is a great one.
Google needs to update their DNS records before they do each crawl.
This host didn't give me an option - I got a letter the Tuesday before Thansgiving (11-26) that they were cancelling service on the 30th. With the holiday, everyone was on vacation both there and at Hostway so the dedicated server wasn't available until the 6th of December.
The best was their DoS attack on my new server... I have the logs to prove it, but pursuing it further will just cause me more problems.
Great! Ask them to post a "How to move your site" tutorial in their webmaster help pages. The slow DNS cache update continues to be a problem, and since only they know the secrets of how it's done, they could at least give people a clue of how long it should take...
Glad you're gettin' some help,
Jim
