How to move a site to new hosting

Before you start

• Access to both hosts
• DNS control
• A complete current backup

The steps

1. 1

   Step 1: Take a full backup first

   Files, database and DNS zone. Non-negotiable before touching anything.

2. 2

   Step 2: Set up the new host completely

   Upload files, import the database, install the certificate, configure PHP or the runtime.

3. 3

   Step 3: Test on a temporary URL

   Most hosts provide one, or use a hosts-file entry. Check every template, every form and the checkout.

4. 4

   Step 4: Lower the DNS TTL

   To 300 seconds, at least 24 hours before the switch, so the change propagates quickly if you need to revert.

5. 5

   Step 5: Switch the DNS record

   Point the A or CNAME record at the new host.

6. 6

   Step 6: Watch for an hour

   Errors, missing assets, broken forms. Check from more than one network.

7. 7

   Step 7: Confirm the certificate

   HTTPS must work on the real domain, not only the temporary one.

8. 8

   Step 8: Keep the old host for a week

   Then cancel. Restore the TTL to its normal value once you are settled.

The step people skip

Lowering the TTL in advance. Switch DNS with a 24-hour TTL and a problem takes a day to undo. Lower it first and the same mistake costs five minutes.

What does not change

Your URLs. A host move should not change a single URL, which is why it is far simpler than a migration. If URLs are changing too, treat it as a migration and build a redirect map.

The background behind this

Migrating a site without losing what it took years to earn covers the reasoning in about 3 minutes — free, ungated, written from client work.

Who wrote this

Anas Bin Masud builds e-commerce sites and does technical SEO for businesses in the UK, Canada, Ireland and Pakistan. These procedures are the ones I run on client work, written down rather than invented — including the ones where the honest answer is that the fix is not available on your current hosting.