Switching Web Developers Without Losing Your Domain, Email, or Rankings

Most people who call us aren't starting from scratch. They have a site someone else built, logins nobody can find, and a vendor who stopped answering. Moving to a new provider can feel risky, but most problems come from a handful of predictable mistakes.

Here's the order of operations we follow for every takeover.

Step 1: Inventory everything before you change anything

Before touching a single setting, write down every account involved: domain registrar, DNS, hosting, website admin, email provider, Google Business Profile, analytics, and any connected tools like forms, booking, or payments. Our ownership checklist covers what to look for.

Then get ownership or admin access to each account in your business's name. If your current provider holds them, ask politely and in writing. Most will hand them over.

Step 2: Take a complete backup

Get a full copy of the website files and database, plus any content that lives elsewhere (form submissions, customer lists, media). Store it somewhere you control. Never start a migration without a restorable backup.

Step 3: Protect your email

Email breaks during website moves more than anything else, because it depends on the same DNS settings as the site.

• Find your MX records (where your email is delivered) and the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records that help it reach inboxes.
• When you change DNS for the website, change only the records that point to the website, usually the A record and "www". Leave the email records exactly as they are.

Step 4: Protect your search rankings

Rankings are tied to your pages and their addresses (URLs). To keep them:

• Keep the same URLs where possible.
• If URLs must change, set up 301 redirects from every old page to its new equivalent. Your top pages matter most.
• Keep or improve the content on pages that already rank well. Don't trim a page that brings in traffic.
• Carry over titles and meta descriptions, then improve them.
• Check your robots.txt and "noindex" settings after launch. Development sites are often hidden from Google, and forgetting to switch that off is a classic mistake. Our free health check flags it.

Step 5: Move, test, then switch

Set up the site in its new home and test it before anyone sees it: every page, every form, every redirect, and checkout or booking if you have them. Then point DNS at the new host during a quiet time of day.

Step 6: Verify after launch

• Submit every form and confirm the messages arrive
• Send and receive a test email
• Check for a valid SSL certificate (the padlock)
• Re-submit your sitemap in Google Search Console
• Keep an eye on traffic and search results for the next few weeks

Our 30-day takeover plan

When a business switches to Cypress Solutions, we follow this sequence over about 30 days:

1. Week 1: Access and inventory. Every login, domain, DNS record, hosting account, and email setting goes into one asset register in your company's name.
2. Week 2: Back up and secure. A full off-site backup first, then updates, security fixes, and two-factor sign-in on the accounts that matter.
3. Week 3: Fix and verify. Broken forms, errors, and slow pages get fixed, and each fix is checked on the live site.
4. Week 4: Document and hand over. You get the asset register and a plain-English summary of what we found and fixed.

And if you ever leave us, you take everything with you: domain, hosting access, code, content, backups, and our documentation. No exit fee.

Start a takeover assessment or call or text (256) 338-8383.