moving to another server - SERPS issues ?

[scrawnybob]

hi all

I need to get some advice from some of you more savvy webmasters

Its a good thing in a way but I want to be sure not to drop a clanger in the process

4kingpoker has outgrown its server - apparently

which in itself cant be good for image of the site if sometimes visitors arent getting it properly

I've been told its a good idea to move servers -

this may sound like a daft question but does moving servers in itself affect SERPS ??

Also I have the option of US or UK hosted server - pro's / cons ?

and a dedicated IP address - pro's / cons ?

any feedback suggestions what to spec up for a move or not

cheers scrawnybob

[bahh]

Originally Posted by scrawnybob

this may sound like a daft question but does moving servers in itself affect SERPS ??

Cant you just do a 301-redirect?

Originally Posted by scrawnybob

Also I have the option of US or UK hosted server - pro's / cons ?

If you target UK players I think you should host it in the UK. The site will load faster if the servers are in the same country as the traffic. I have my server in another country and when I pinged my site I noticed that it was a bit slower than other Swedish sites even if it was marginal.

Originally Posted by scrawnybob

and a dedicated IP address - pro's / cons ?

A dedicated IP adress is a bit more expensive but better in a SEO-point of view. You dont share ip with other sites. Easy as that.

[losercore]

Originally Posted by scrawnybob
this may sound like a daft question but does moving servers in itself affect SERPS ??
Cant you just do a 301-redirect?

Actually you don't need to any redirect here. you just change the DNS server (NameServer). No impact on SERP's unless your site is down for some long period during the move.

[scottmc]

I recently moved servers and saw no major change in the SERPs.

[scrawnybob]

hi

cheers for the info guys - I like the sound of not needing to do 301's as if this was across the site it would be 100% guaranteed something would have got missed

thanks for the DNS info

looks like it should be less painful than I was thinking

cheers scrawnybob

[Zilla]

There's really not too much to worry about as long as you go about it the correct way.

I would suggest you get all your files moved over first before you change the DNS servers to point your domain at the new hosting, that way you can check everything before going live. Your host will give you a temporary address to access the website before the domain is linked.

then also don't forget to remove the files from the old hosting once the new domain has had time to get settled and be recrawled by google etc.

Here's a great post from Matt Cutts (google) that Kyle put up a while back that might help you out.

http://www.pokeraffiliateworld.com/f...83-post15.html

[geoffvro]

You don't need redirects unless you're changing domain names. Just keep the identical files on the old server for a few days, and change the dns info. Visitors will be directed to server 1 or 2 until the domain fully propogates, which can be a matter of minutes, or possibly a few days.

Most websites operate on shared ip addresses. I don't think anybody needs a dedicated ip unless you have a private SSL Cert or require anonymous ftp. If you're really worried about it than choose a host that has a firm no-spam policy.

U.S. or U.K? - You'll have some latency crossing the Ocean, but not a big deal. Obviously, if the majority of your traffic is from the UK - than host in the UK.

as always, just my two cents.

[Notspot]

I recently changed server host with no problems. I put up a copy on the new server and blocked google from the new server using robots.txt, then watched it like a hawk and removed the old pages on the old server and removed the robots.txt block when the new DNS had propagated fully.
This was to avoid duplicate content which is really the only thing to worry about if you're moving servers. All took about 2 days and went very smoothly.

I've got a dedicated IP, mostly because I've had a few issues in the past with other people on my IP spamming and being blacklisted as a result. I don't know how common this problem is though, but it's so cheap I think if you can afford it - go for it.

As for UK or US, I'm currently on UK, but considering moving over to US for some new sites, spose it depends on where the majority of your visitors come from (or where you want them to come from) - has anyone here moved from one to the other and noticed any difference?

[stocktrader]

does anyone here have any experience with transfering a site with updated database content? if you transfer the database then wait a couple of days for the dns to propogate then you'll lose the newly added content during the switch.
thanks

[geoffvro]

does anyone here have any experience with transfering a site with updated database content? if you transfer the database then wait a couple of days for the dns to propogate then you'll lose the newly added content during the switch.

You can use database replication to syncronize the database, and use rsync for files. It's unlikely that you'll be able to do this if you don't have root access to your server (a dedicated box or possibly vps). It's considered resource intensive on shared hosting accounts, and is usually disabled.

as always, just my two cents