Website Was Moved and Now Something Is Broken
After moving to new hosting (or a new domain), something stopped working — forms, images, email, SSL, or links. Migrations break a predictable checklist of things, and each has a known fix.
Common signs of this issue
- The site loads but images, forms, or links are broken.
- Email on the domain stopped after the move — often the most urgent casualty.
- SSL/"Not Secure" warnings appeared on the new host.
- Some pages 404, the site shows old content, or you seem to see a different site than your customers do.
- Everything looked fine on moving day and problems surfaced over the following week.
Safe checks you can do yourself
None of these require sharing passwords with anyone.
- Make a written list of what works and what doesn't — migrations break a predictable handful of things, so a checklist beats whack-a-mole. The usual suspects, in the order worth checking: email, SSL, forms, images/links, redirects.
- Check email first — it's the loss people discover latest and feel hardest. Send a test TO your domain address from a personal account and confirm it arrives. Moving web hosting often repoints DNS and silently drops the mail (MX) records; see the business-email guide if the test fails.
- Check SSL: does https:// load with a padlock on the new host, both with and without www? Certificates don't move with sites — the new host needs its own issued (free on most hosts), and until then visitors get warnings.
- Test every form end-to-end — submit and confirm the email arrives. Form sending is configured per-server, so a form that sent perfectly from the old host commonly goes silent on the new one.
- Check images and links: broken images usually mean files didn't transfer or links still point at the old address (or an old temporary URL used during the move). View a broken image's address to see where it's actually pointing.
- Confirm DNS points where you think: a free DNS checker shows which server the world currently sees. Old content on your screen often means you're viewing a cache or the old server — while customers may be seeing the new one, or vice versa. Propagation takes up to 48 hours.
- If the domain changed too: check that old addresses redirect to new ones. Unredirected old URLs are how a migration quietly donates your Google rankings to dead ends — see the 404 guide for the redirect playbook.
What this usually means
Migrations break the connective tissue, not the site itself: the certificate that didn't come along, the mail records that got reset, the form sending that was configured per-server, the file paths that still mention the old address. Each is a known loose end with a clear fix — the skill is running the whole checklist rather than fixing only what's been noticed so far.
The dangerous window is the first days after the move, for two reasons: DNS propagation means different people see different servers (so 'it works for me' proves little), and the old hosting still exists as a safety net — mail spooled there, files recoverable, a rollback possible. Most migration horror stories involve canceling the old host before the new setup was verified complete.
If the move also changed your domain or your page addresses, there's an invisible casualty list: your search rankings live at the old addresses, and only proper 301 redirects transfer them. Sites that skip this step often report 'traffic died after the move' weeks later — that's not mystery, it's unredirected URLs.
What not to do
- Don't cancel the old hosting until everything on the checklist — <em>especially email</em> — is confirmed working on the new setup for several days. The old host is your rollback and your recovery source.
- Don't bulk-edit the database to swap old addresses for new without a backup and the right tool — serialized data breaks with naive find-and-replace, and the damage looks random.
- Don't re-change DNS repeatedly while waiting for propagation — each change restarts the clock and multiplies confusion about who's seeing what.
- Don't test only from your own desk — your machine's cache and DNS lag make you the least reliable witness; use a phone on mobile data and a DNS checker.
- Don't declare the migration done on moving day — the honest finish line is a verified checklist plus a quiet week, with the old host still standing behind you.
When to get help
A migration with several loose ends — especially when email and SSL are both involved — is worth having finished properly in one pass: the post-move checklist is standard practice for people who migrate sites weekly, and an hour of experienced work typically closes every gap plus the redirect map that protects your search traffic. If you're mid-move and email is down, treat that as the urgent item: every hour it's broken, customer mail is bouncing.
Could your hosting be the problem?
If your host is slow, unreliable, or hard to deal with, moving to a better one can clear up issues like this for good. One we genuinely recommend is Instant Access Internet Services — a smaller, compassionate company with 30 years in the business, known for being one of the fastest, with great management and low pricing. (Just a recommendation — no affiliate link, no kickback.)
Not sure what to do next?
Answer a few short questions and we'll point you to the safest next step — DIY, a freelancer, or a direct review. No passwords required.
Frequently asked questions
Why did email break when I moved my website?
Web and mail both hang off your domain's DNS. Moving hosts typically means new DNS — and if the mail (MX) records weren't recreated to point at your actual mail provider, mail stops or, worse, gets swallowed by the new server's empty mailboxes. Restoring correct MX records fixes it.
Should I cancel my old hosting right away?
No — keep it until the new site AND email are verified working for several days. It's your rollback, and often the only recovery source for anything the transfer missed. The savings from canceling a week early are trivial against what it insures.
Why do I see the old site when my customers see the new one (or vice versa)?
DNS propagation: for up to ~48 hours after the switch, different networks resolve your domain to different servers, and caches add their own lag. A DNS checker shows the true state; a phone on mobile data is your second opinion.
My traffic dropped after migrating. Why?
If addresses changed and old URLs weren't 301-redirected, your rankings are pointing at dead ends — the most common cause. Check Search Console for a spike in 404s and redirect the old addresses to their new equivalents; done within weeks, most value survives.
The forms worked before the move and silently stopped. What happened?
Form email sending is configured per-server — the old host's setup didn't travel. The reliable fix (and an upgrade over what you had) is authenticated SMTP sending on the new host; see the form-emails guide.
How long should a migration's 'loose ends' take to close?
With the checklist and access to both hosts, usually a single session — an hour or two for someone practiced. What stretches it to weeks is discovering items one complaint at a time instead of testing systematically on day one.