Define what is actually changing
Changing the person who maintains your website, moving its hosting and rebuilding it on a different platform are different jobs. A proposal should identify which of those changes you are buying. Otherwise, both suppliers can reasonably think somebody else is handling an important part of the handover.
Google separates hosting moves that keep the same page addresses from moves that change URLs. The first needs a tested new hosting environment and a controlled transition. Changing page addresses adds a separate job of mapping the old pages to their new destinations.
Write down which services will remain with the current provider. Your domain registration or email may stay exactly where it is. You can commission a new website without turning every connected service into a migration project.
Find out what can be handed over
Ask the outgoing supplier what the existing agreement allows them to provide, and ask the receiving supplier what they need. A folder of photographs and a copy of the text may help a rebuild, but it won’t recreate a booking system’s data or its connection to another service.
Some platforms allow a working export; others provide more limited content exports or require a rebuild elsewhere. Google’s hosting-move guidance notes that a website copy can take different forms, including files or a database export, depending on the original platform. Establish the actual route before agreeing a launch date.
Separate the completed website from connected accounts, licensed assets and stored customer information. Confirm what can transfer, which permissions or subscriptions are needed and who is responsible for arranging them. Share credentials through an agreed secure route rather than putting them in a public brief.
Keep useful page addresses in the plan
Customers can arrive through an old bookmark, a shared link or a search result. Start with an inventory of current pages and downloads, then decide what each needs on the new site. The homepage is only one destination.
Where URLs change, Google recommends preparing a mapping from old addresses to appropriate new ones and setting up redirects. Sending every old link to the homepage can leave people far from the information they expected. The receiving team should explain how the mapping will be checked.
Keep the original service purpose visible too. If an established page explains a service you still sell, a redesign shouldn’t accidentally remove the only useful answer for that visitor. Significant changes can affect search visibility while Google processes the move, so don’t accept an unconditional promise that rankings will stay identical.
Give email its own check
Ask where your mailboxes are hosted and which domain settings they rely on. Cloudflare’s explanation of MX records explains that MX records direct incoming email to mail servers. A website move therefore needs care around existing email records, even when the mail service itself isn’t moving.
If the plan changes the company managing the domain’s DNS settings, ask who will preserve the full set of required records. Keep a secure record of the existing configuration and have the responsible person verify the intended website and email settings before changes are made.
Include sending and receiving email in the agreed checks. A working homepage doesn’t establish that the business inbox is still reachable.
Source: Cloudflare Learning Center: what is a DNS MX record?
Test what the customer needs to do
Review the new site on a phone and desktop, then follow the important journeys through to their destination. A form needs more than a reassuring success message. The authorised test submission should reach the intended system and be distinguishable from a real customer enquiry.
For a fictional surveying firm, a working download link might matter as much as the contact page because customers use it before requesting a quotation. Your own checks should follow the tasks people actually rely on. Include external booking links or private areas where those belong to the agreed scope.
Google’s hosting-move guide recommends testing pages, forms and downloads before the transition. Agree who records the results and resolves any fault. Where the old site still accepts changes during preparation, decide how the receiving team will identify and carry over the final updates.
Close the old service deliberately
The move plan should name the person coordinating launch and explain what happens if a required check fails. Agree when content updates pause, who watches the live site afterwards and how the team will investigate a missed enquiry or broken link.
Google recommends monitoring the old and new hosting during a hosting move and retiring the old infrastructure once it is no longer serving traffic. Cancellation should follow that evidence and the agreed contract terms. A renewal reminder on its own is a poor reason to switch off a service that still supports part of the business.
At handover, confirm the business can access the accounts it is meant to control. Record who handles renewals and future updates so the next change of supplier starts from an intelligible set of responsibilities.
Discuss the move with Pointed
Pointed builds bespoke websites around your business and agreed specification. If you are changing provider, send the current site link and explain what you want to improve. We can work through the migration and content requirements before agreeing the build, with connected services and any ongoing support scoped explicitly.
Tell us what the current supplier has confirmed about exports and account access. Leave passwords and private customer material out of the initial message. We can establish which further information the agreed project needs.
Enquire by email, WhatsApp or our short enquiry form. We agree the scope and price with you before you pay by Stripe invoice.
Sources and research notes 3 references
Primary references checked when this article was prepared. Product guidance can change.
- Google Search Central: changing your hostingChecked 1 November 2026
- Google Search Central: site moves with URL changesChecked 1 November 2026
- Cloudflare Learning Center: what is a DNS MX record?Checked 1 November 2026
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