SEO and site ip's, please clarify

[Pennywise]

I have to move hosts as mine have gone rubbish, I am ranked really well on Google for high traffic search terms and am worried that moving hosts and ip's might mess this up, I have read about that happening before and wondered if it was true or a myth?

Thnx

[stymiee]

It's a myth.

From the Search Engine Optimization FAQ:

Does changing hosting affect my ranking?

No. Your webhosting does affect your rankings. You can change hosts without it affecting your rankings. The only issue you may run into is if you fail to make a smooth transition to your new webhost. Downtime will naturally prevent the search engine crawlers from crawling your site properly. Extended downtime may cause indexing issues.

To switch hosts properly follow these easy steps:

1) Set up your website on your new webhost

2) Change your DNS to point your domain name to your new webhost

3) Leave the website up on the old server for at least one week to make sure DNS has propagated completely. After one week you can safely take down the site from the old server.

The most common mistake users make when switching hosts is not leaving the old site up while DNS propagates. Make sure you don't wait until the last minute when switching hosts or you may run into trouble.

[Pennywise]

3) Leave the website up on the old server for at least one week to make sure DNS has propagated completely. After one week you can safely take down the site from the old server.

I cant do that as the old site is down completely and I dont think its coming back up (Major problems with them).

I am worried about the indexing issues and losing rankings if it goes to the old dns or something, but if this happens I guess it will only be a short term thing?

[Pennywise]

Hey, I have another question

I am moving from USA to c.o.uk servers, will this affect my rankings on google.com? I dont want them moved to .co.uk as that will mess me right up, and I read this

Let's say, for instance, that you are wishing to rank highly in Google based in the United States. It would not do well, then, for you to have your website hosted in Japan or Australia. You might have to switch your web host to one whose servers reside in the United States.

http://www.webconfs.com/country-spec...-article-7.php

Anyone help pls?

[ssandecki]

As long as the domain name stays the same you are fine. If your changing domain names make sure to redirect correctly, if you don't, the rankings will not transfer over.

[rcj662]

I personaly would stick with server in Usa but you could move it over and hope it does not make any difference. Some say it does and others say domain name is all that matters.