As we finish up your website and prepare to go live into production, there are a few things to note about the entire process.
DNS Propagation#
Taking your new website live requires changing your DNS settings. This DNS change points your domain name to your website hosting. While often referred to as “flipping the switch”, it’s more complicated than that. Due to internet caching across the world, this can result in a period of “propagation” of 24-48 hours. During this time, some people may start to see your new website and some may still see your old website. Don’t worry, this is a normal part of making DNS changes and we do everything possible to bring the new website up for you and your customers as quickly as possible. During this time, additional items like our security firewall and SSL certificates are also being implemented. All these need time to get fully configured and working properly.
SSL Certificate Issuance#
During the process of going live with your new website, we automatically issue a new SSL certificate. During this process, you may see an error message when trying to access your website over HTTPS. This error will resolve after your new SSL certificate is issued and working, which typically happens within an hour. Note: SSL certificates can take up to 24 hours to issue.
Search Engine Rankings#
We always prepare redirects from your old website pages to help maintain your search rankings and traffic with the new website. However, taking a new website live is a drastic change for your online presence. There is always the possibility of temporary changes in ranking and website traffic while search engines crawl and reindex your new website.
What you can do#
In the event that you do see your search rankings change, keep in mind that this is temporary and will fix itself over time once search engines properly reindex your new website.
In the meantime, one extra thing you can do if you are concerned about losing traffic is to set up a temporary paid ad campaign with a service like Google Ads or Facebook Ads. You may even find this to be very successful for your ongoing marketing efforts!