Changing web designer or host without losing anything

You’ve decided to move your website to a new designer or a new hosting company. The worry is what breaks on the way: email that stops arriving for a week, or Google rankings that took years to build and drop overnight.

Every one of those is avoidable. They happen when the move starts before you hold the keys, or when steps are done in the wrong order.

Gather everything before you tell anyone

Do this quietly, while your current supplier is still being helpful. Check each item works by logging in, not by finding an old email with a password in it.

• Domain registrar login. The company your domain name is registered with, which may not be your host.
• DNS records. A screenshot or export of every record, including the ones for email. Your registrar or DNS provider shows them in one list.
• Hosting and website admin logins, plus any FTP or database access if the site runs on WordPress or similar.
• Email setup. Which provider runs your email (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, your host) and who holds the admin login.
• Google Analytics and Search Console. You want to be an owner or administrator, not a user someone else can remove.
• Google Business Profile. Make sure you are listed as the owner.
• A full copy of the site. Files, database, images, and every page of text. Even if the new site will be rebuilt, the old content is your reference for what to keep.

Our guide to setting up users and access covers how to add yourself to these accounts properly.

Get the domain into your own name

If your designer registered the domain in their name or their company’s, it isn’t legally yours, and they control where it points. Ask them to change the registrant to you or your business before anything else. Most will do it without fuss.

Then move it to a registrar account you control, if it isn’t in one already. The new registrar will ask for a transfer code from the current one. Some registrars block transfers for a period after the owner details change, so ask about this before you start. Our article on setting up a domain properly explains the rest, and owning your website covers why it matters.

Keep email running

Email is the thing most likely to break, because it depends on the same DNS settings as the website. The MX records tell the world which provider receives your mail. If they’re lost or changed during the move, mail can bounce or go nowhere until someone notices.

So copy every DNS record before you change any of them. When the domain or DNS moves, recreate the MX records and the related ones (SPF, DKIM and DMARC, which stop your mail landing in spam) exactly as they were. If your email is hosted by the old hosting company, plan that move as its own job with its own date.

Protect your Google rankings

Google ranks individual pages, at their addresses. If the new site keeps the same URLs, the move is mostly invisible to search. If addresses change, every old page needs a permanent (301) redirect to its nearest new equivalent.

Google’s own guidance on site moves says permanent redirects don’t cause a loss in PageRank, and recommends keeping them in place for at least a year so all signals transfer. Expect some movement in rankings for a few weeks while things settle. Our website redesign checklist has the full list of what to check.

A sensible order

1. Gather the logins and copies listed above, and check each one.
2. Get the domain in your name and in an account you control.
3. Build the new site, or set up the new hosting, while the old one stays live.
4. Map old URLs to new ones and set up the redirects.
5. Recreate DNS records for email at the new provider, if DNS is moving.
6. Switch the website’s DNS records to the new host, ideally early in the week.
7. Check the site, send and receive a test email, and submit the new sitemap in Search Console.
8. Cancel the old hosting only after a couple of weeks of everything working.

Step eight is the one people rush. Keep the old account until you’re sure nothing still depends on it.

Stay on good terms with the old supplier

You’ll probably need something from them halfway through: a file, or a login that turns out not to work. Tell them plainly that you’re moving, give them a date, and ask for what you need in one written list. Pay any outstanding invoices first. Most suppliers handle a clean handover well when they’re asked politely and given time.

If you’d like a hand planning the move, or someone to take it on for you, tell us what you’ve got.