Website Migration: How to Move Your Website Without Losing Traffic

Worried about downtime and SEO while switching hosts? Fortunately, many experience the same fear, but the truth is that a smooth migration boils down to preparing backups, DNS timing, and a couple of last-minute checks in Google Search Console.

Introduction

If you are well-prepared, you’ll be able to transfer your site without annoying your users and without the risk of losing search ranking. If you’ve never changed domains or moved hosts, it’ll sound like a pretty intimidating experience. However, you can tackle this step by step to make this feel manageable and less overwhelming.

Lost domain, changed provider, changed platform. Whatever the case is, you most likely started this because of the same issues many experience: bad support, rising costs, slow performance, or simply unreliable uptime. These clearly serve as a frustration trigger, but in the end the goal is the same: prioritize the safety of your site, traffic, SEO, and overall user experience.

This information will explain how to perform migrations, such as what you should back up, how to stage your site, when to change DNS, and what steps you should take afterward to check that everything is running smoothly and correctly. We will also explain what managed migrations are and how they are a low-stress decision. This is especially tailored to eCommerce stores, big content websites, and even agency clients. Everything is practical, calm, and action-based, without jargon or panicking.

Why Businesses Migrate Websites

There are often easily visible reasons triggered when a website needs to be migrated. It is often essential when there is a drop in performance, an increase in costs, and when support is not available. The general reasons that cause an organization to migrate rapidly are shown below:

Performance Issues

Increased downtimes, unresponsive sites, and slow loading sites can drop a business’s trust with its customers and lead to a loss in conversions. Positive metrics can often be a result of reduced support tickets and a happier customer base.

High Cost

A reassessment is often seen when there is a spike in renewal pricing for services, a lack of support, or if the support that is available is unhelpful. Predictable pricing and 24/7 support is often more beneficial than long wait times.

Security Expectations

Modern companies ask for daily backups, a DDoS wall, new PHP or OS files up to date, and help to fix in just a second. If that host hasn’t met your requirements, then migrating is the best thing you can do.

Scalability

As you grow, your site will also get more visitors, more traffic, so you need more RAM, CPU, or a larger worldwide CDN footprint. Migrating can help to optimise your site for the big season and get it ready for the world.

Rebranding

Maybe you have a new name for your site, you want to put all pages under one URL, or it’s just time for a clean new start with the right redirects, and your site will work perfectly and stay in good shape.

Prerequisites for a Website Migration

A move is not just a technical thing for your site. It is a business move. If you want more scalability and reliability, you should do it in a way that doesn’t feel disruptive but more like an upgrade.

Here is a practical CMS plan anyone can follow:

Inventory

Before you do a thing, you should check the list of what you are moving:

• Your CMS and its version (WordPress 6.x, Joomla, a custom PHP app).
• Plugins or add-ons with their versions.
• Themes or your custom code.
• DB type and size.
• The storage you are using, the media for uploading, and a backup of the site content.
• Email setup, whether you are on the same server or any external provider.

If you are a WordPress user this step helps to find out all the compatibility issues early

Compatibility

Next, you need to check that your new hosting has what you actually need.

• PHP version.
• Database type (MySQL/MariaDB/PostgreSQL).
• PHP extensions.
• Memory limits (CPU or RAM) to make sure your host is capable enough for your heavy sites.

This will avoid any last-minute errors while moving the themes, etc.

Backup

Now, back it all up, your site content, and upload your database tables and your email if you have it on the same server.

Follow the CISA 2025 guidelines, ‘create and test backups before migration’.

After you create a backup, perform a test restore before proceeding.

Credentials Access

Make sure you have:

• Domain registrar and DNS server.
• Your old host panel or cPanel.
• New hosting account.
• File manager or FileZilla/FTP.
• Access to your database.

Never cut off what you are moving until you are ready for it.

Low-Traffic Window

Pick a time your site is not busy, warn your team or your client so they do not add content during the move.

• DNS propagation.
• Redirect testing.
• No error appears.

Make sure you do not cut the old site off before all of the above is done. If the new site is ready and you have not cut off the old site, then your site will remain active on the old host in case you need to get things back.

Manual Website Migration: Step-by-Step (CMS-agnostic)

Here is a walk-through of a clean and practical migration flow for WordPress, Joomla, sites that use custom PHP, or other popular CMS.

Back Up and Export

Download site files

Use FileZilla to copy all files, or use the old host file manager, which usually has files inside the public HTML or app folder.

Export the database

Export the database with:

• phpMyAdmin.
• Adminer.
• Use a command line.

Verify Archives

Copy CISA guidelines, zip files, backup, and store them safely on your computer or Google Drive.

Prepare the New Environment

Basic setup

On your new host, add your domain, create a new database, choose the right PHP version, and turn on the needed extensions.

Upload the files

Upload the site files you got from before via SFTP or File Manager.

Import Database

Use phpMyAdmin or the CLI to import the SQL file you exported.

Apply the correct permissions

Make sure you set the right file permissions and install the SSL certificates so HTTPS works from day one.

Update Configuration

Edit DB credentials

Change your app settings file with the new DB name, user, and password. Here are some places where you need to check WordPress, wp-config, PHP, Joomla, Laravel, or a custom PHP app.

Environment settings

Make sure you have all environment variables in your config file, watch your email flow, and check your crons and scheduled jobs.

Staging Test

To see if the site is right, you need to test it with a temporary URL or preview link, or you have to edit your hosts file on your work computer to point your domain to the new server.

Verify functionality

When you test it check:

• Forms and submissions.
• Admin login.
• Media file paths.
• E-commerce or paid flows.
• Any plugins or add-ons that can hit your database.

HTTPS issues

Fix mixed content errors from HTTP assets that give you a warning, and check whether your auto HTTPS redirect is working or not.

Go-live DNS

When it all looks good, you can:

Update DNS

point A/AAAA record at the new server.

Expect propagation variance

When you switch it over, your site should run great, as you never skipped any steps. Here are the Cloudflare 2025 notes:

• The new resolver could update in minutes.
• Your cache is likely to hold on to the old value until the TTL is up.
• Users in different parts of the world can have the old then the new site for hours.

Post-Launch Checks

Monitor stability

You need to watch your error logs all the time, see how busy your CPU and RAM are, and watch uptime and page speed.

• Major redirects on all the pages.
• Need to see sitemaps in Google Search Console.
• Get rid of those 404s and redirect errors.
• Look at index coverage changes.

Active old host

Maintain your old hosting account for a couple of weeks until everything is stable.

SEO and Website Migration: Protecting Visibility

A successful migration isn’t just about getting the site online, it’s about getting your traffic levels back to where they should be in your rankings. Most people miss a big step or two during a migration; it costs them so much that they end up losing time. Google has a policy for 2025:

URL Structure

Always keep your URLs identical to avoid SEO loss:

• Set 301 redirects from old to new.
• Use the URL Inspection Tool within Google Search Console to review each modified URL for inspection to verify that the correct URL redirects function.
• Verify that the redirects go to the correct pages, not the homepage.

This avoids resets in ranking and confusion in crawling.

New Domain

In the case of changing domains, it is necessary to:

• Carry out full 301 redirect mapping.
• File a Change of Address with Google Search Console.
• Both domains must remain verified during the transition.

Google, however, states that this is not necessary for moves that are HTTPS-only (HTTP → HTTPS).

SEO Signals

Review and adjust:

• Canonical tags (as they should match the new, final URLs).
• XML sitemap (resubmit revised sitemap in GSC).
• Robots.txt (check for any unwanted blocks).
• Hreflang tags (for any multilingual sites).

In this instance, the slightest discrepancy can create a mismatch on the index.

After Launch

As soon as the DNS propagates:

• Verify the Search Console coverage to check for any possible errors.
• Watch for increases in 404 errors or any unexpected redirect errors.
• Over the next 2 to 3 weeks, check indexation.
• Use Screaming Frog to create a full crawl of the site to check for any internal link issues.
• Keep an eye on the rankings of the main pages and monitor any changes in traffic using Google Analytics or GSC.

Catch problems early for easier repairs.

Legal / Official Guidance

1. Backups & Resilience for SMBs: “Run automatic, regular, and tested backups.” — CISA, 2025.
2. Domain Transfers: “Registrants can transfer domain names between ICANN-accredited registrars… domains may be subject to a 60-day lock following registration or transfer.” — ICANN, 2024.
3. GDPR Article 32: “Controllers and processors shall implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk.” — EU GDPR, 2016.
4. Changing Hosts: Follow Google’s official site-migration guidance to minimise search impact. — Google for Developers, 2025.

Common Migration Mistakes

Here are the most important steps most people get wrong, which might impose a high risk on your website’s overall health, SEO, and revenue.

Skipping Backups

You don’t have your backup plan, and the best way to do it is to have it ready, well planned, and tested. Most times, the backup file you think you have on your server or in cloud backup is sometimes broken because it didn’t get uploaded correctly.

Launching without Test Environment (Staging)

Using a staging environment is a quick way to find issues: Ripped apart forms, plugin fights, PHP version mismatch, media path bugs, and more. The 10-15-minute staging check can save hours of effort.

DNS Records

When the site goes live, being down is one of the silliest surprises you can get during migration. Too many sites have missed copying MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, missing subdomains, or A/AAA CNAME records, or not re-issuing / auto-provisioning SSL.

Always export your full DNS zone before you move hosts.

301 Redirect Mapping

If you change URLs, you need a good, tested 301 redirect setup. Google will require it to keep your rankings stable.

Common mistakes include redirecting everything to the home page, missing deep URLs, leaving old XML sitemaps active, and not testing at scale with good crawling tools.

Google is saying that getting those redirect paths right is a key factor required if you want to keep your rankings safe.

Changing Everything

Changing CMS + design + host all at the same time is way too risky. When something breaks, it is almost impossible to know what it is. We recommend changing one layer at a time, migrating the host first, and your design/CMS later.

When Manual Migrations Become Risky (Choose Managed)

For simple sites or blogs, manual migration can be successful. There comes a point when the risk, work, and time start outweighing the savings. If these sound familiar, definitely consider a managed migration.

Complex Sites

Retail sites, stores, sub-portal sites, learning systems, and multilingual sites all have:

• Live database writes.
• Logging in users.
• Unfinished carts.
• Multiple checkout pages.
• Multiple language folders, and more.

Manual migration while live carries the risk of lost orders, broken sessions, and delays. They also add the risk of messing up your SEO and user experience.

Downtime

If your business depends on uptime or you do not have a team of engineers in-house, manual migration will become a nightmare. A managed migration will keep you safe if:

• You do not have experience editing configs,
• You do not understand DNS, MX, database import/export,
• You want a zero-downtime migration with staging and validation,
• You need issues fixed for you immediately.

Domain Changes

When you are changing: domain names, URL structure, info pages, or menu system slugs, you are doing something that is bound to hit Google and your rankings in a major way. This requires 301 pointing, sitemap updates, and GSC validation, all of which an expert team can accomplish without costly errors.

Compliance Requirements

If your site contains sensitive information or is regulated by law, even minor errors can lead to legal consequences.

Managed teams will help you:

• Keep data secure.
• Encrypt transmissions.
• Maintain uptime for regulated systems, and prevent accidental mishaps with config files and imports.

When multiple triggers hit, like ecommerce + domain change or membership service + no tech staff, it is no longer optional and completely unavoidable to do this with a managed team.

Major CMS Platforms

UltaHost experts know how to help with:

1. WordPress
2. Joomla
3. Magento
4. Drupal
5. Custom PHP apps

This reduces issues with plugin versions and store functionality.

Global Data Centers

You can pick a data center closer to your audience in order for your site to run faster and remain stable after you switch.

Manual vs Managed Migration

Factor	Manual Migration	Managed Migration
Completion Time	Hours to days	Fast
Risk of Error	High	Low
SEO	Depends on knowledge of redirects/GSC	Guided, safer transitions
Rollback plans	Manual	Handled by the UltaHost team
Support	Self-service	24/7 human support
Cost	Depends on you	Free migration included

Testing & Post-Migration QA

When your site goes live on the new host, you want it to be steady, right, correct, and safe for Google searches. The more you test now, the smoother things will be. And the fewer questions you have, the calmer you feel about it.

Below is a list you can print out and check off with easy stuff to do:

Crawl and spot-check redirects

Run a full crawl with Screaming Frog, Sitebulb or any other web crawler and make sure:

1. All your URLs work correctly.
2. 301s work and match up.
3. No chains of 301 or loops.
4. No 404 pages that are not supposed to be there.

Check some big pages by hand, like your home page, your blog posts, and your product pages.

Validate SSL/HTTPS and HSTS

Make sure:

1. Your SSL is on, and your sites are safe and trusted. All your URLs move to HTTPS.
2. No mixed content warnings pop up.
3. If you had HSTS from before, make sure it’s still on.

This keeps people safe and shows your site’s signals are strong.

Validate forms, logins, and payments

Double-check:

1. Forms on your site.
2. Newsletter or sign-up forms.
3. User logins or account stuff.
4. Your shopping cart checkout and payments.
5. Your API or webhook setups.

Some of these might break because of path issues, permissions issues, or PHP version problems after switching sites.

Resubmit sitemaps

Following what Google says to do in 2025:

1. Resubmit your XML sitemap files.
2. Look at the Coverage Redirect Server error and Page index reports.
3. Check some important URLs one at a time.
4. Watch for weird things for a few days.

PowerDMARC says keep an eye out for domain stuff after the DNS update, especially if you went from one email provider to another with your domain name.

Monitor uptime

For the first three days, make sure:

1. You frequently check that your website is live.
2. See your error logs for PHP and your web server.
3. Watch your server CPU and RAM usage.
4. Keep an eye on Google Search Console’s early warnings.

A lot of issues come up right after someone switches sites in those first few days.

Website Migration Checklist

Here is a list you can print out and check off from start to finish, when you change sites
This list is all you need to keep on hand. It’s right in case you get stuck on some step.

Pre-flight

• Inventory all your CMS, plugins, themes, database, and email.
• Make sure older things work on the new host.
• Get all your passwords and logins for DNS registry, hosting, and SFTP.
• Pick a low-traffic migration window.
• Have a rollback plan in case it fails.

Backup & Export

• Make a full copy of everything ZIP or tar.gz.
• Download your database as a .sql file.
• Save your copies in two different places just in case.
• Test restore on the staging site.

New environment setup

• Add your domain and make a database with your database user.
• Set the right PHP version.
• Upload files and import your database.
• Fix up the SSL certificate.
• Fix permissions.

Staging & QA

• Test your site link by link on your new site from your hosts file or preview link.
• Check forms, logins, and shopping carts.
• Check media files, plugins, and custom code.
• Fix the mixed content warnings and HTTPS redirects.

DNS & Launch

• Change A/AAAA records or switch your nameservers.
• Find your TTL.
• Keep the old host active temporarily.

SEO & GSC

• Keep the same URLs where possible.
• Use the 301 redirect tool to move users from the old URL to the new URL.
• Update the sitemap XML file and resubmit it to Google.
• Submit a Change of Address in Google Search Console if you switch domains.
• Check GSC for errors and warnings.

Post-Launch Monitoring

• Check your traffic for the next 72 hours.
• Watch for error messages or 404 error pages that show up by accident and look at your redirections.
• Make sure your email works and MX records, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC settings.
• Monitor index count on your site over a few weeks to make sure nothing is broken.

How UltaHost Helps with Website Migration

UltaHost has a set of website migration principles to reduce risk, save customers time and give businesses, freelancers, and growing companies a smoother, safer transition.

Customer-First

UltaHost engineers take care of the entire migration process and help 24/7. This removes the extra need for manual steps and the headaches of trying to solve troubleshooting issues and errors afterwards, especially during the DNS and staging process.

Free Website Migration

UltaHost handles it all, copying files, moving databases, changing servers, getting a new SSL on, checking it all over, and making sure it works. This is the part where most people make mistakes, and it is the most likely to cause downtime once it is done.

NVMe SSD Performance

Once you move, your site runs on NVMe SSD storage and has a minimum 99.9% uptime, which makes your site load faster and can support better user experience and SEO.

DDoS Protection

Best of all, all this is done with safety nets to protect your daily backups and DDoS protection on all the plans’ servers. Even if you are moving to a new server location, it does not matter. We keep your site safe and fast the moment you are deployed.

Performance

After the migration, your site gets to enjoy UltaHost’s fast NVMe SSD storage and dependable uptime, instantly improving site performance, load times, user experience, and SEO.

Safety

All sites get to enjoy the protection and automated daily backups during the migration process. The site also gets protection from unexpected traffic spikes and other nefarious actor disruptions through DDoS protection.

Assurance

Migrating hosts for the first time can be tricky. UltaHost gives you a 30-day refund window for your peace of mind. This lets you step back from the migration without taking a financial loss if the experience or service doesn’t end up being the right fit for you.

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