My website is being moved, what does that mean?

In this article, I explain the impact of moving your website.

The short, and not so technical, version

When we perform the move for you, your website visitors will not notice anything about this move. There is no “downtime,” your website remains accessible as usual during the move. However, it is important to check after the move that everything is still functioning as you were used to.

The longer, and somewhat more technical, version

What is a website anyway?

A Web site consists of two parts: the files and a database. For example, the files are all the images on your website; the texts on your website are then in the database. The entire website then resides on a server, and a server is a computer connected to the Internet that displays your website to visitors.

What exactly is being moved?

When we move your website, we make a copy of all website files and the website database and move this copy from the old server to the new server. So all images, PDF documents and texts are taken 1 on 1!

In this article, we will not discuss the impact of moving email.

How long will the move take?

Depending on the size of the website, transferring the website files and the website database can take from a few minutes to a few hours. The visitors to your website, fortunately, don’t notice this at all! It is important not to make any changes to your website during the move.

When is the move completed?

After the website files and the website database have been transferred, we adjust the (DNS) reference of your domain name from the old to the new server. Generally, this change is visible within a few minutes and visitors for your website will soon move to the new server.

What should I do after the move?

Testing! Click around your website and test if everything still functions as you used to, such as a contact form or photo gallery.