Switching servers - consequences?

.....Advice very much needed..

[matthew]

We are being forced to switch servers on little notice as our previous host is shutting down... will this effect our google rankings at all?

[seindal]

It shouldn't if the domain name remains the same. A change in IP address should be handled without problems, provided the DNS changes are done properly.

If possible, try to keep both the old and new host up to date until the DNS changes have propagated throughout the net, that will probably be at least some days are the changes are done.

René.

[matthew]

how does the crawl factor in? wil this hurt my "crawl response"

[rmjvol]

It would be ideal to put a 301 permanent redirect on the old site once the new site is up and the dns change has propagated itself across the general web.

Google maintains their own dns info and it seems to lag behind a little. So don't be surprised if googlebot comes a calling to the old ip.

If the old host shuts down with very, very little notice, there's a small chance that you could fall bewteen the cracks for a month, maybe 2. Hope you make it.

Good luck,
rmjvol

[Bradley]

To Google and other major search engines:

Regarding this subject matter, I wonder how many email inquiries are generated into corporate headquarters regarding this issue. I've noticed that it seems to be a major concern when companies decide to switch to new hosting providers.

I wonder how feasible and useful it would be to create an online tool to allow companies to submit requests to update their Google DNS information. This way, companies can proactively notify Google of the DNS change when they move to a new hosting provider, and could potentially cut down on the number of "help" emails sent to Google.

Just a thought I had.

[Marcia]

If the site will be on a unique IP, you can set up a link to it using the IP number, and/or use the submission that way.

[matthew]

i didnt have a unique ip before i dont believe...it was virtual..the domain name will remain the same...should i try to wait until after it is deep crawled at this host or try to get it to the new one first or it doesnt really matter?

[nancyb]

Don't know about timing for you because the deep crawl for Dec has apparently already started, but the fresh bot comes around all month :).

My experience: I moved to a new host, put up an .htaccess file with 301 permanent redirects at the old host and googlbot was at the new host crawling two days later.

That said, if the deep crawl is done on your old host, then the host shuts down (without enough time to keep an .htacacess there) you may lose out for awhile.

[matthew]

yeah the host is shutting down (i.e. closing completely) the 5th. So even if i have the same domain i may lose out?

[rmjvol]

Yes, your site may get lost in the shuffle for a month or two. bad hosts suck.