Effect of Server Migration??

[mike_01]

Tweet

Hi Guys,

I have few of my UK websites hosted on a US server and I am looking to launch a few more websites (for UK market only) in the next few weeks but wondering as if it is a good move to upload the websites on the US server for now and carry on with the regular SEO marketing and later change the server to the one based in the UK to get the better chances of scoring higher ranks in Google.

Now in the above scenario the follwoing will happen for sure but do you think that it will/might leave a big impact on the SERP's;
1. IP for the website will be changed for sure.

You might also be wondering on why am I not hosting the websites on the UK server in first place only. Well, I have already paid for the next 6 months for the US server and UK hosting will incurr additional cost on the top of the money that has already gone into the development of the websites, leaving me in a very tight financial situation.

As per making sales/commissions from the websites hosted on the US server, so far I've had no problems in getting my websites rank in UK SERPs but I do get traffic from the US/Canada too and also think that being on US server doesn't give my websites the full exposure on the UK SERPs.

What do you guys suggest?

P.S - I am considering hosting services from Clook as I have used them in past and was happy with the post sales support too.

Thanks,
Mike...

[moredial]

Clook have a good reputation.

The first 6 months of any site are always a bit hit and miss so moving during this time seems like making life more difficult than it needs to be.

You will benefit most if you have the US server for a few months after you move to the UK. The search engines will still come visiting the US server even after the DNS has moved so having something like an htaccess which does a 301 redirect to the domain name and then, in the last month a 410 gone on the USA hosting will help the search engines to pick you up on the UK hosting without duplicate content problems.

Bing does take a while to pick up new hosting. Google is much better than they used to be. So, if the financial costs of servers exceeds potential income you may as well limit yourself to just a few weeks for the switchover - just put a 410 gone on the USA hosting as soon as the DNS is updated.

[baggsy]

Hello Mike,

I feel that where your server is being hosted doesn't not have a massive effect on the performance of your website in the SERPS. In my sector (gambling), I had a look at the top ten sites for the keyword 'slots'. This is a very competitive term and as you can see, 8 out of the top 10 websites are not hosted in the UK.

If you do host your websites outside of the UK, either using a .uk domain or altering your Google Webmaster Tools settings to inform big G that you are looking for UK traffic will be enough. Another important factor to remember is the location of the backlinks you acquire. Even if you were to get hundreds of juicy links from nice domains, but they were based in India, Google will probably discount these when it comes to ranking you for UK serps. I think a lot of why some websites rank around the world is not because of where they are hosted (they can't be hosted everywhere), but because they are actively linked to from domains around the globe.

One of the domains in the top 10 for 'slots', 777.com, also have a large presence in Spain. The content is obviously in Spanish (sitting on es.777.com) but the domain (and subdomain) is still hosted in Manchester. They do however, have backlinks from Spanish language/hosted websites.

Just my two cents, but I'd not worry about moving your domains. Just point them in the right direction and linkbuild in that locale, and you should be fine.

Would be interested to see what you think...

Brian

[mike_01]

Clook have a good reputation.

The first 6 months of any site are always a bit hit and miss so moving during this time seems like making life more difficult than it needs to be.

You will benefit most if you have the US server for a few months after you move to the UK. The search engines will still come visiting the US server even after the DNS has moved so having something like an htaccess which does a 301 redirect to the domain name and then, in the last month a 410 gone on the USA hosting will help the search engines to pick you up on the UK hosting without duplicate content problems.

Bing does take a while to pick up new hosting. Google is much better than they used to be. So, if the financial costs of servers exceeds potential income you may as well limit yourself to just a few weeks for the switchover - just put a 410 gone on the USA hosting as soon as the DNS is updated.

Yes, Clook really are worth spending money and are best value for money. (hint: I'm also looking for a discount too on their reseller package.) WRT, 410 do you mean the regular "Page not found" error page? I'm not sure as in how is this possible to achieve as the US server is a reseller account and as soon as I update the name servers for the domain name (third party - lcn.com) to the UK server, I wont be able to do anything on the US server for the given domain name/account. I am sorry but I guess I missed out mentioning more details like, its a reseller server and not a dedicated/semi-dedicated one. I guess some more information might help me get your idea clearly. Thanks for the reply and efforts so far.

If you do host your websites outside of the UK, either using a .uk domain or altering your Google Webmaster Tools settings to inform big G that you are looking for UK traffic will be enough. Another important factor to remember is the location of the backlinks you acquire. Even if you were to get hundreds of juicy links from nice domains, but they were based in India, Google will probably discount these when it comes to ranking you for UK serps. I think a lot of why some websites rank around the world is not because of where they are hosted (they can't be hosted everywhere), but because they are actively linked to from domains around the globe.

@ Brain - Thanks for the suggestion and it does make sense. Though I had a similar thought somewhere at the corner of my mind but then thought to give a "blank canvas" to get the best possible suggestions/ideas. Unfortunately, I've got a list of mostly US articles, directory websites. But I guess, I need to put my link concentration over the websites targetted to UK market. I have made necessary amendments in the Google webmasters tool section and have mentioned the geo targetting my websites to UK only.

P.S - do you guys have a list of article/directory websites that are targetting the UK market and/or hosted in the UK.

I am sure that you might have a few more suggestions/views about the above case and I would love to hear them all. Please keep them coming.

Thanks again for taking time to reply and read.

Cheers,
Mike...

[moredial]

WRT, 410 do you mean the regular "Page not found" error page? I'm not sure as in how is this possible to achieve as the US server is a reseller account and as soon as I update the name servers for the domain name (third party - lcn.com) to the UK server, I wont be able to do anything on the US server for the given domain name/account. I am sorry but I guess I missed out mentioning more details like, its a reseller server and not a dedicated/semi-dedicated one. I guess some more information might help me get your idea clearly. Thanks for the reply and efforts so far.

The not found is a 404 response. The 410 response is the server telling whoever that the resource is no longer on the server. Search engines often get 404 responses from servers so they just program to visit again another day. The 410 tells them not to look again for the resource here.

This is why you start with a 301 redirect to the domain name once you update the DNS so that the search engine goes looking for the new DNS for the hosting.

Even a reseller account should offer you access on a domain something of the format server.host.domain/~userarea.

If you mean that you are hosting on someone else's reseller account then they will have access to the htaccess file in your old hosting root directory and should put the revised htaccess for you - you are afterall still paying for the hosting even if you are not pointing any DNS to it.

It really is important that you remove all the content off the old server after the DNS has propagated so that there is no duplicate content.

One possible solution is to update your DNS servers to have a subdomain like old.domain and point that to the US hosting - ask the host to add it as an alias to your existing hosting. Then you can carry on accessing the content until you have cleaned everything off the server. The host should be able to update the domain tree for the change of alias without destroying too much.

Another option is to point only the www domain to the UK and leave the non-www domain on the US server and just host one page on the non-www domain to link to the www domain, plus the htaccess 301 redirect for all other content - just means having to write a few extra lines to pick up all the files in the root that can't be picked up on wildcards.

Can anyone improve on the above or spot any errors in the process? I have grown so used to having my own hosting that I have forgotten what cheap hosting is like (not that I knew about these things in those days).

[baggsy]

P.S - do you guys have a list of article/directory websites that are targetting the UK market and/or hosted in the UK.

Sorry Mike, can't help you.

Best of luck,

Brian

[moredial]

P.S - do you guys have a list of article/directory websites that are targetting the UK market and/or hosted in the UK.

Try yell.com and then look for any directories which are showing as referrers to your competitors. There are quite a few trade directories and other niche directory sites out there. Just beware of the scammers that take your money and then hide you behind lookup scripts.

[ClookNETAlec]

Hello All!

I just wanted to pop in quickly and thank everyone for their kind comments with regard to our hosting services. We make every effort to ensure that all customers are fully satisfied with the level of service provided. It sounds cheesy, but we really do try to ensure that customer expectations are not only met - but surpassed.

That being said, if there is anything we can do to assist anyone, even if just providing information from a technical standpoint - please let us know

[baggsy]

Hello All!

I just wanted to pop in quickly and thank everyone for their kind comments with regard to our hosting services. We make every effort to ensure that all customers are fully satisfied with the level of service provided. It sounds cheesy, but we really do try to ensure that customer expectations are not only met - but surpassed.

That being said, if there is anything we can do to assist anyone, even if just providing information from a technical standpoint - please let us know

Nice use of Google Alerts to manage your brand conversations... :tup If only the affiliate managers did the same.

While you're here Alec, any promo codes?

[ClookNETAlec]

Nice use of Google Alerts to manage your brand conversations... If only the affiliate managers did the same.

I've actually not messed about with Google Alerts, we use a similar program however to obtain the same information.

While you're here Alec, any promo codes?

We currently have two excellent promotions running whereby you can receive up to 6 months free. Please contact me privately however as I would prefer to not hijack this thread