How website migration for accounting firms actually works

DNS is the switch, and it gets flipped last

DNS is the mechanism that actually switches which server visitors reach when they type in the firm's domain, and it gets changed last, only after the new site is fully built, reviewed, and confirmed working. Changing DNS too early points the domain at an unfinished site; changing it correctly means the new site sits ready and tested before the domain ever points to it, so visitors experience a single, clean switch rather than a visible gap or a half-finished site going live by accident. DNS changes also take time to spread across the internet, which is part of why the sequencing matters as much as the change itself.

Redirects are what protect the rankings

Redirects are what protect the rankings an existing site has already earned, since a search engine and a returning visitor both expect a specific URL to still lead somewhere relevant after a migration. Every meaningful page on the old site gets mapped to its equivalent on the new one before the cutover, and that mapping gets tested, not assumed, because a missed redirect turns a previously ranking page into a dead link, which is the single most damaging and most preventable mistake in a migration. This mapping work is tedious, and skipping it is exactly how firms lose visibility they had already earned.

• Every existing URL mapped to its new equivalent before cutover
• The redirect map tested against the live old site, not assumed correct
• A check for any missed pages after the map is built
• DNS changed only once every redirect is confirmed working

What actually causes downtime, and how it is avoided

What actually causes downtime in a poorly run migration is usually sequencing: DNS gets changed before the new site is ready, or the old site gets taken offline before the new one is confirmed live and reachable. Avoiding that means the new site is built and fully tested on a separate address first, the redirect mapping is verified there, and only then does the domain get pointed to it, with the old hosting kept in place briefly as a safety net until the new site is confirmed stable for every visitor.

Email and other domain services need their own check

Email and other domain services need their own check during a migration because a firm's email often runs through the same domain's DNS settings that the website migration touches, and a careless DNS change can accidentally break email delivery even while successfully moving the website. Every DNS record tied to the domain, not just the website record, gets reviewed and preserved during the migration, so a firm's email keeps working exactly as it did before, with no separate incident caused by a change made for an unrelated reason. This step gets skipped more often than it should, usually by people focused only on the site.