Moving agency: keep control of your domain and email
Agree the accounts, website move and email arrangements before cancelling the old service.
Start by finding out which accounts the business can access. The website, domain, DNS and email may be managed in different places. Agree what is moving and who is responsible before cancelling an existing service.
Make one account list
- Domain registrar: the account that manages registration and renewal.
- DNS provider: where the records for the domain are managed.
- Website hosting and editing: the current site, its files, content and account access.
- Email provider: where the mailboxes, addresses and billing are managed.
- Connected tools: enquiry forms, analytics, search accounts and any other service the site relies on.
Record the owner, renewal date and administrator for each. Ask for the access and exports you need through the provider’s normal invitation or transfer process. Keep passwords out of an enquiry form or shared brief.
Agree the email plan separately
MX records tell sending systems where to deliver mail for a domain. A website move should identify which records need changing and which existing services must keep working. Ask the person making the change to document the current DNS and email arrangements first.
If you are keeping the same email provider, make that explicit in the scope. If the email service is moving too, give it its own migration and testing plan. Keep the old service available until the agreed checks and handover are complete.
Keep useful pages and URLs
List the existing pages and decide which stay, change or retire. When a URL changes, map it to the relevant replacement. Google’s site-move guidance covers testing the new site, mapping URLs, redirects and monitoring after the move. It also warns that rankings can fluctuate while changes are processed.
Check the things customers use
- Visit important old links and check the intended destination.
- Check the main pages and enquiry route on desktop and mobile.
- Test email sending and receiving if the move affects email or DNS.
- Confirm account access, billing and the agreed editing route before closing the handover.
Bring your current site and what you know about the accounts. We can put the move, access and handover into a defined scope. Start with the account list before changing or cancelling a service.