DNS is the phone book for your domain. During migrations, NZ businesses often forget TTL, MX records, or old SPF entries—and wonder why “half the world” still sees the old site.
Practical TTL sequence
- Days ahead: drop TTL to 300–600 seconds if your DNS provider allows.
- Cutover window: update A/AAAA/CNAME records; verify with dig or online checkers from multiple regions.
- After stable: restore a sensible TTL (often 1–24 hours).
Do not orphan email
MX records must point to the correct mail service throughout the change. Document every record you touch.
Propagation vs caching
Users, ISPs, and routers cache DNS. Expect stragglers—communicate downtime windows if needed.
Frequently asked questions
Can we migrate site and email the same weekend?
Risky—sequence changes or use professional help. Combined moves multiply rollback complexity.
What about CDN CNAMEs?
Update them in the same plan as origin changes; purge caches after.
Putting this into practice on your NZ website
This guide sits in our Hosting & domains collection. The goal is practical advice you can act on without a computer science degree. Start with one change, measure whether enquiries or usability improve, then tackle the next item. Small businesses across Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Christchurch, and regional New Zealand face the same constraints: limited time, real customers, and a website that must earn its keep.
For DNS TTL and cutover planning during a website migration, the highest-leverage move is usually to align your live site with what the guide recommends, then fix anything that blocks Google from crawling pages or stops visitors from contacting you. If your site runs on WordPress, many of these tasks are configuration and content work rather than custom development.
Document your starting point: note current enquiry volume, average page speed from PageSpeed Insights, and any errors showing in Google Search Console. Without a baseline, improvements are guesswork. Revisit the same metrics after 90 days—SEO and UX changes rarely produce overnight miracles, but sustained progress should be visible in leads and user behaviour.
Share this guide with whoever maintains your site—an employee, a contractor, or your hosting support desk—so terminology and priorities align. The FAQ section on our main site answers common project questions if you are weighing a rebuild versus incremental fixes.
When to involve a web partner
Some tasks—migrations, checkout changes, security incidents, or a full redesign—benefit from experienced help. If you are comparing providers, look for clear scoping, realistic timelines, and measurement tied to business outcomes rather than vanity metrics. Our team builds and maintains business websites nationwide; explore relevant services below or request a quote when you are ready.
A good partner will ask about your customers, geography, and capacity to publish content—not only colour preferences. Review our recent website projects for examples of brochure, WordPress, and ecommerce work across New Zealand.
Related NZDH services
More guides in this topic
- Choosing web hosting in New Zealand: a small-business checklist
- Domain names, DNS, and business email: basics for NZ website owners
- SSL and HTTPS for SME sites: what “secure browsing” really means
- Email hosting choices: bundled hosting vs Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace
- Backups and restores: questions every host should answer clearly
Browse the full Hosting & domains guide hub or return to the guides home.
Explore on NZDH.co.nz
- All practical guides
- Website design services
- SEO services
- Recent website projects
- Frequently asked questions
- Web hosting — NZ-friendly hosting with support that answers clearly
Authoritative further reading
These independent resources complement this guide. Search engines and customers both reward accurate, helpful information—we link out where official documentation or regulators explain the topic better than a generic blog post could.