Why switching websites costs more than building a new one
Building a website for a business that doesn't have one is like building on an empty plot. Building one for a business that already has a site is a house move: there are things inside you can't afford to lose. That's why an honest quote for switching websites always has an extra part. Here's what's in that part, what happens if nobody does it, and when you can safely start from scratch.
Your old website doesn't switch off when you stop paying
When people say "my website", they usually mean three different things, often paid for in different places:
| What it is | What happens if you lose it | |
|---|---|---|
| The domain | The address: yourbusiness.cat. It's rented every year from a registrar | Your website and email stop working. If it expires, anyone else can buy it |
| The hosting | The computer where your website's files live | The website disappears. Often, so does the email |
| The email | Addresses like info@yourbusiness.cat | You stop receiving orders, invoices and bookings, and nobody tells you |
If one day you stop paying for the hosting because the new site is ready, but nobody checked where your email lived, you can lose your email overnight. And if you let the domain expire, someone else can buy it. This isn't theory: this year I came across a restaurant in the Maresme whose web address now leads to a page that has nothing to do with it, because the domain expired and someone registered it again.
That's why, in a move, order matters: first the new site working, then the change of address and, at the very end, cancelling what's no longer needed.
1. Email: the risk nobody checks
Many businesses have their email on the same hosting as their website, because it was all sold as a bundle. Before touching anything, you need to know where it is:
- If it's on Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, it's independent from the website. You only need to make sure its settings aren't deleted when the domain is pointed somewhere new.
- If it's on the old hosting, it has to be moved before the hosting is cancelled, along with any emails you want to keep.
Finding out is quick: the domain's settings say where email gets delivered. But someone has to look.
2. The domain: where it is and whose name it's in
The domain is what makes your address yours. Before making any change, check two things:
- Whose name it's in. If it's in the name of the agency or person who built your site, it has to be put in your name first. Until it is, it isn't really yours.
- Where it is and whether you can log in. The domain can stay where it is. You don't need to move it to switch websites: it's enough to change where it points. It only needs moving if it's somewhere you don't control, such as inside a Wix plan or someone else's account. A transfer can take a few days.
3. What Google already knows about you
This is the part with the biggest impact and the least visibility. If your website is a few years old, Google knows its addresses: yourbusiness.cat/services/physio.html, yourbusiness.cat/contact.php… And not just Google. Your Google Maps listing, your Instagram bio, directories and other people's websites that link to you all point there too.
The new website will almost always have different addresses. If nothing is done, anyone arriving through an old address lands on an error page. And over time, Google stops showing those pages.
The fix is a permanent redirect (a "301"): a note on each old address saying "it lives here now". Visitors don't even notice, and Google passes what it knew about the old page on to the new one. An example for a physiotherapist:
| Old address | New address |
|---|---|
| /index.php?page=services | /en/physiotherapy |
| /treatments/dry-needling.html | /en/physiotherapy/dry-needling |
| /contact.php | /en/contact |
| /news/2019/now-open-in-premia | /en/about |
Google's guide to changing addresses is clear on three points:
- Each old address goes to its equivalent. Don't send them all to the homepage: Google may treat that as if the page had disappeared.
- Straight to the final destination, with no chains of one redirect leading to another.
- Keep them for at least a year, and ideally for as long as possible.
Making the list is the real work. You have to find every address that exists (including the ones not in the menu), decide where each one goes and check them one by one.
4. A single version of the website
Another common trap: the old site staying alive in some corner. The hosting's temporary address, the version with www and the one without, the one starting with http and the one with https… To Google, those can be four different websites with the same content.
At the end of the move there should be only one correct address, and all the others should lead to it.
5. After the switch: a few weeks of watching
A well-done move doesn't end the day the site goes live. Google says that for a medium-sized site it can take a few weeks for the new addresses to show up, and that some movement in rankings during that time is normal. So after the switch:
- The site is added to Search Console, Google's free tool, and the new site map is submitted.
- Someone watches for "page not found" errors.
- The link is updated on your Google listing, Instagram and any directories you appear in.
- And only then is the old hosting cancelled, after taking a backup.
How much extra time it takes
For a small website with no shop and no ads, this is the extra work:
| Task | No website yet | Existing website |
|---|---|---|
| List every address on the old site | Not needed | 30 min – 2 h |
| Check where the domain and email are, and break nothing | 15 min | 30 min – 1 h |
| Decide where each address goes and set up the redirects | Not needed | 30 min – 3 h |
| Check everything after the switch | 15 min | 1 h |
| Search Console and monitoring in the first weeks | 30 min | 1 h |
That's between two and seven extra hours, depending on the size of the site. You don't see them in the design, but they're what make sure you don't lose a single customer on switch day.
When you can start from scratch without worrying
You don't always need a big move. You can practically start from scratch if:
- Your current site is new or gets almost no visits from Google.
- It's a single page, or a template that was never finished.
- It isn't on its own domain (for example, a free Wix address).
- You've lost the domain and will start with a new one.
Even then, checking where your email lives and redirecting old addresses to the new site costs little and avoids surprises.
At the other extreme: if the site has a shop, hundreds of pages or active Google Ads campaigns, the move is a project in itself and should be quoted separately.
Five questions before switching websites
- Where is my email, and what will happen to it?
- Is the domain in my name? Who can log in?
- What will happen to the old site's addresses?
- Who checks that everything works after the switch, and for how long?
- When do I cancel the old hosting, and who makes the backup?
If whoever is building your new site can't answer them, you're the one taking the risk.
How I do it
If you already have a website, a website switch is added to any package: +€50 on Finestra, +€90 on Porta and +€190 on Masia. It covers checking where your email is and not breaking it, the domain (always in your name), redirects for up to 100 addresses, a single version of the site, Search Console and an orderly cancellation of the old hosting. Above 100 addresses, or with a shop or active ads, I'll give you a separate quote before starting.
On Packages you can switch on "I already have a website" to see prices with the switch included. If you don't know how many addresses your site has, write to me and I'll check before giving you a price.
Sources: Google Search Central, site moves with URL changes; Google Search Central, redirects and Google Search; Cloudflare Pages documentation on redirects. The times in the table are an estimate for small websites.