Are there any suggestions when you completly redesign your web page keeping the same domain but change the host? I want it to go smoothly and want to avoid the rankings we already have including sub pages.

[molchman]

I am currently having our website completely redone by a design company.  Are there any suggestions on this process as to not lose the rankings we currently have for our site?  The domain will remain the same however we are planning on changing our host.  We also have a good amount of sub domains that the web company will not be changing for us.

[KevinBudzynski]

Make sure you implement 301's if the url's change. Make sure the new pages reflect the old pages in regards to content to minimize any organic fluctuations.

[Oren.]

The Google webmaster blog published an updated guide four days ago [link: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/].  I'd recommend following it to the letter.

Another thing to watch out for when changing hosts is to make sure your DNS settings are ready to go on your new host before you cancel your old one.  These days this is usually fast, but I've seen sites go down for ~48 hours because they didn't take this precaution.  I'm not sure what your level of computer savvy is, so here's an explainer on DNS and why it's important [ink: http://www.howtogeek.com/122845/htg-explains-what-is-dns/].  Basically it's how your browser translates a URL into a form that it can understand and provide a page back to you.  Most hosts provide this free, and it's something you never think about until something goes wrong with it.