Changing hosting server

What affect will changing hosting company have

[vinove]

Hi All,

I have a client who has hosted his site with the company who designed his website for him but now he wants to change the hosting server.. I mean he wants to host his site with some other company..

My question on this is that the website already has PR4 so will this change affect his PR or what affects it will have on its SE rankings...
Or will it have any negative impact on his website from seo point..

Anybody please advice..

Thank you

[shigamoto]

I'm not that much into SEO, but if you keep the domain name and preserve all names, URLs and content on the site and move it over to the new company it should have no impact at all.

I might be wrong, but..

[vinove]

Hi Shigamoto,

Thank you for your time.. Actually I am new to this forum so I didn't know where to post this question. But anyway its great to have your suggestions on this..

Anybody having experienced in seo could please reply..

Thank you once again

[Kona_Dave]

I transferred my sites from one host to my own web hosting company. My page rankings didn't change at all. I feel that it has to help in some way though since my sites were down so often with my old host I am sure there were days that Googlebot didn't get a chance to crawl my sites because they were down. And Googlebot visits most of my sites every day. I don't know what your particular circumstance is but it should not affect your page rank in any way.

[bennyandthejets]

Hi vinove,
It should make any difference to your site, or PR, just because the company desiged the the site it doesn't mean they are obliged to host with them, unless thet have signed an agreement or contract with full rights to the site, or a disclaimer.

If the hosting has expired or up for renew, what most do is upload all files to the new host so it's ready to go, then change the named servers of the new host (DNS)if they have full control of the domain ther shouldn't be any probs,

[george123]

There will problems -perhaps- depending on geolocation of the host company.In other words if your site needs UK traffic and you host your site in Italy then probably you will rank well in Italy but not in the UK ,I am not so sure but I have seen that with some sites .

[leadegroot]

A properly managed move should not cause any problems.
There are issues to be considered, such as quality and location of service and timing of move, but beyond that a move in hosting a site should not make any difference to its rankings.

[Stefan]

What leadegroot said.

Unless the new hosting company is flagged as dodgy because it hosts a lot of penalized sites, which is unlikely, it shouldn't be any problem at all as long as you do the change properly. Make sure there's an overlap on the two servers, so the DNS change has time to go through. A few days should do it, but allow for a few weeks just in case. (I'm not an expert on this, but I've moved my main site through 4 different companies over the last few years, with no problems whatsoever.)

[G_Smitty]

I changed Hosts for my large high PR and ranked site earlier this year with no problems. As long as you research your new hosting company and make sure you follow the standard transfer procedures you will be fine.

[edited by: G_Smitty at 2:35 am (utc) on Aug. 1, 2006]

[vinove]

Hi All,

Thank you so much for your time and comments...That was so helpful.

Yes I was also thinking it wouldn't have any effect on ranking and PR as the domain name will remain same..

The hosting company here is also running a portal of its own and it has given a link to my site from that. So I presume if I change the host server it would remove that link and my PR will be affected..

Also there is one problem they have full right of my server... they created the files uploaded it... Everything they did for my site to from scratch to making it online.. Now I want to know if I change the host how can I secure my files, how will I be able to stop them from accessing my files?

Also will it matter if they host my site on some other domain after I end the contract for their benefit?

I have so much to learn from you guys please help?

[bennyandthejets]

Hi vinove
You really need to to speak to these guy's and explain what you want to do, at present reading your comments, they have almost complete control of your site, with the files, ftp passwords, and server control, unless you have any copies of your site in html or php, you might not be able to transfer to a new host.

If You contact them , ask about the rights over your site, the contract with them and the agreement of your site, also who owns your domain? the admin& contact details. until you have resolved the above you can start moving your site, Sticky us if you need more help

[tbear]

If you have ftp access to the site you would be able to download the whole thing and put it up wherever you like, assuming you can agree ownership.
Generally, if you paid them to make you a site, it 'should' belong to you, in the absense of any contract to the contrary....

[vinove]

Hi all,

Thanks a lot for your kind support.. Yes I am talking to the company to give me the rights of my website so that I can manage it own my own...

In case if they won't I have to take legal action against them..

Anyway could any one let me know if they remove my link from their portal will my PR go down...

please advice

Thanks again guys

[Pibs]

One point you should check carefully - does the site function OK on the new host?

My site was doing fine, until a user couldn't upload a photo, then another couldn't access the forum, then another couldn't..

It came down to 3 main problems

1. New server was using an older version of Linux (4.0, not 4.2 or something)

2. Root directory thingy was different, on old host is was:

/domain/public_html/www

new host was

/user-name/www/www

Screwed up all the scripts, membership thingy etc.

Third problem was the core software was only licensed to one domain and even though the domain was the same it deliberately didn't allow changing ROOT directories via the back-end interface, until I spoke to their support peeps who did it for me.

Nevertheless it was a great day when it finally worked and I got away from the hideous old host.

Cheap as chips but wasted a year of my site and drove away my members with frequent downtime.

Oh and check the control panel, old host has Cpanel but new host didn't accept Cpanel backups.

P.