It’s not going to be an easy task if you have decided to shift your website to a new hosting. If not handled properly, this technical upgrade can result in lost data and downtime. All data is transferred from one server to another in the website migration process. Major disruptions will result if you overlook or misconfigure the minor details. Website content will become inaccessible for clients and other users. It becomes important to protect online reputation and maintain business continuity during hosting migration. Safe migration is not just important to protect the data, but it also continuous and uninterrupted growth of the website over time. 

In this article, you will discover some common website migration challenges and the ways to overcome them. 

Challenges of Migrating A Website to A New Host

If the challenges that arise during website migrations remain unresolved, they can hurt users’ trust and the brand’s credibility.  Lead generation and sales may also be reduced because of the downtime. Corrupted and missing files for a long time can result in higher bounce rates. 

Let’s discuss the challenges a website may face during and after migrating a website from one server to another. 

1.    Risk of Downtime

The most immediate and common risk that arises during website migration is downtime. Your website may become unavailable temporarily due to a brief delay in transferring the database, files, and configurations. The domain requires time to point to the new server, which appears as downtime, and users see an error. Businesses that rely on online visibility will lose sales and potential leads due to a short downtime.

Downtime also occurs due to incomplete file transfer and technical missteps. Sometimes the shift from one server to the other is initiated during the peak hours. Hosting providers ignore pre-testing because of interruptions. It's difficult or impossible to restore the website after migration if there is no backup.

2.    Data Loss or Corruption

The hosting providers must ensure the accuracy while transferring the files and database. Poor migration can lead to data corruption or loss. Pages, scripts, or images may be missing on the new server when the connection is disrupted during migration. Sometimes, the data may become incompatible due to differences in server environments. It results in missing content or broken functionality after migration.
Incomplete backup procedures and human errors are the other reasons for data loss during website migration. Critical data can be deleted or overwritten when migration tasks, such as verification, are performed manually. The content will become inaccessible, and tables will be corrupted if the old and new content become inconsistent. The alteration or loss of user data may result in loss of customer trust and compromised website performance. Create complete and verified backups before starting the migration process to ensure smooth operations. 

3.    Configuration Errors

Configuration errors appear during the migration process because the new environment differs from the older one. Certain functionalities or features can break when the database paths or PHP versions do not match the previous hosting setup. If extensions or dependencies are not installed properly, the scripts may fail to work perfectly on the new server. The site will not load or display correctly, even if there are minor mismatches in the configurations. 

The most common configuration issues include:

·        Issues with the SSL certificate

·        Incorrect database connections

·        Theme incompatibility 

·        Broken plugins

File permission error is another frequent issue due to which access is restricted to specific directories. Before making a switch, ensure that the new server environment closely matches the older one. For accurate replication, make sure to document all the settings. 

4.    SEO Disruptions

Without proper measures during migration, it can harm your website’s SEO efforts. It will be difficult for the search engines to recognize the new setup when the site structures and URLs change. Because of this, the organic traffic and rankings drop suddenly. The search engines consider the older URLs as missing, causing 404 errors. The website may also disappear or rank lower in search results when it remains unavailable for a longer period. 

SEO issues also occur when the technical and on-page elements are not transferred properly. It’s important to maintain a proper robots.txt file and schema markups to maintain the visibility of the website. If the new server misses these elements, the search engines will fail to index the website on the new server. You can contact the reliable hosting providers at Hosting Mena to ensure your website migration does not impact SEO. 

Make Your Website Move Smoothly, Not Stressfully

Broken links, SEO drops, and other website errors are overwhelming during the migration. There are risks and challenges associated with every website migration. You can mitigate these risks with expert support and the right approach for migration. Partner with reliable hosting providers to ensure your website migrates without interruptions.