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20 August 2026 · 5 min read

The DNS Checklist We Run Before Any Website Migration

Moving a domain's DNS is one of the easiest ways to accidentally take down a business's email for days. Here's what we check first, every time.

Audit before you touch anything

The same domain that points at a website almost always also routes that business's email. Before changing a single DNS record, we pull and record every existing record — especially MX, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC — so nothing about the current mail setup is assumed rather than confirmed.

Build the new setup before switching anything

We rebuild the complete record set on the new provider first and verify it matches the audit exactly, before the nameservers ever change. That way the cutover itself is a single, verified switch rather than a live experiment.

Mail records get special attention: if a domain's email doesn't need to move, the safest change is the one that touches it least. We treat “don't break email” as the default, not an afterthought.

Verify after, don't assume

Once nameservers switch, we check real propagation and confirm both the website and email are actually working — not just that the change was submitted. A migration isn't finished until it's independently verified live.