Moving from GoDaddy to AWS: The Ultimate Guide to Modernizing Your Hosting Infrastructure

GoDaddy’s shared hosting has served millions of websites, but today’s businesses need more power, flexibility, and control than traditional web hosts can deliver. This comprehensive guide shows business owners, web developers, and IT professionals exactly how to migrate from GoDaddy to AWS and modernize hosting infrastructure for better performance and scalability.

Who This Guide Is For:
Small business owners outgrowing shared hosting limitations, web developers managing client sites, and IT teams ready to embrace cloud hosting solutions.

You’ll learn why AWS hosting vs GoDaddy makes sense for growing businesses, then follow our detailed AWS hosting migration steps from initial planning through go-live. We’ll cover the complete step-by-step domain and DNS migration process, including how to transfer your website files and databases without downtime. Finally, you’ll discover proven techniques for optimizing your new AWS environment for maximum performance and security.

By the end of this AWS hosting setup guide, you’ll have a faster, more reliable hosting infrastructure that scales with your business needs.

Understanding Why AWS Outperforms GoDaddy for Modern Businesses

Superior Performance and Reliability Metrics

AWS hosting vs GoDaddy reveals dramatic differences in performance capabilities. AWS operates through a global network of data centers, delivering content from the closest geographic location to your users. This edge computing approach reduces latency by up to 60% compared to traditional shared hosting environments.

GoDaddy’s shared hosting model means your website competes with hundreds of other sites for server resources. During peak traffic periods, this resource contention causes significant slowdowns. AWS eliminates this bottleneck by providing dedicated compute instances that scale automatically based on demand.

Performance Comparison Table:

Metric	GoDaddy Shared Hosting	AWS (EC2 + CloudFront)
Average Load Time	3.2-4.5 seconds	0.8-1.2 seconds
Uptime Guarantee	99.9%	99.99%
Global CDN	Limited	400+ edge locations
Traffic Handling	Fixed capacity	Auto-scaling

AWS offers Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with financial backing, guaranteeing 99.99% uptime for most services. GoDaddy’s shared hosting frequently experiences unexpected downtime during server maintenance or hardware failures, often without advance notice.

Advanced Security Features and Compliance Standards

Security represents one of the most compelling reasons for GoDaddy to AWS migration. AWS provides enterprise-grade security features that far exceed what traditional web hosts can offer.

AWS implements security at multiple layers through their shared responsibility model. The infrastructure layer includes DDoS protection, network firewalls, and physical security at data centers. You gain access to AWS Shield for automatic DDoS protection and AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall) for application-layer security.

Key security advantages include:

• Identity and Access Management (IAM): Granular control over who can access your resources
• Encryption: Data encryption at rest and in transit using industry-standard protocols
• Compliance Certifications: SOC 1/2/3, ISO 27001, PCI DSS Level 1, and HIPAA compliance
• Security Monitoring: CloudTrail for audit logging and GuardDuty for threat detection

GoDaddy’s shared hosting environment means you’re sharing security risks with other websites on the same server. A security breach affecting any site on your server potentially impacts your website’s security posture.

Scalability Options That Grow With Your Business

Traditional hosting providers like GoDaddy require manual upgrades when your website outgrows its current plan. This process often involves downtime and service interruptions during peak business periods.

AWS hosting migration steps unlock automatic scaling capabilities that respond to traffic changes in real-time. Your infrastructure can automatically add computing resources during traffic spikes and scale back during quieter periods, optimizing both performance and costs.

Scaling Comparison:

• GoDaddy: Fixed resources requiring plan upgrades and potential migration
• AWS: Elastic scaling with Auto Scaling Groups and Elastic Load Balancers

AWS provides multiple scaling options:

1. Vertical Scaling: Increase instance size for more CPU, memory, or storage
2. Horizontal Scaling: Add more instances to distribute load
3. Auto Scaling: Automatic resource adjustment based on predefined metrics
4. Global Scaling: Deploy across multiple regions for worldwide performance

This flexibility means your hosting infrastructure adapts to seasonal traffic patterns, viral content, or business growth without manual intervention or emergency upgrades.

Cost-Effectiveness for Long-Term Growth

While GoDaddy’s initial pricing appears attractive, the total cost of ownership reveals AWS as the more economical choice for growing businesses. GoDaddy’s shared hosting plans include significant limitations that force expensive upgrades as your site grows.

AWS follows a pay-as-you-use model, charging only for resources consumed. This approach eliminates waste from paying for unused capacity while ensuring resources are available when needed.

Cost Analysis Benefits:

• No Overprovisioning: Pay only for actual resource usage
• Reserved Instances: Up to 75% savings for predictable workloads
• Spot Instances: Significant discounts for flexible applications
• Free Tier: 12 months of free usage for new AWS accounts

Hidden costs with traditional hosting include:

• Premium support charges
• SSL certificate fees
• Backup and security add-ons
• Email hosting surcharges

AWS includes many of these features at no additional cost or provides them at transparent, competitive rates. The AWS hosting setup eliminates surprise billing and provides detailed cost breakdowns for better budget planning.

For businesses planning long-term growth, AWS’s pricing model scales more predictably than GoDaddy’s tier-based upgrades, which often require doubling or tripling hosting costs for relatively small increases in resources or features.

Pre-Migration Assessment and Planning Strategies

Auditing Your Current GoDaddy Setup and Dependencies

Before you start your migrate from GoDaddy to AWS journey, you need to take a complete inventory of what you’re working with. Start by documenting every component of your current setup – this includes your main website files, databases, email accounts, subdomains, and any third-party integrations you’ve built over time.

Check your GoDaddy hosting plan details to understand what resources you’re currently using. Look at your storage space, bandwidth consumption, and any special features like SSL certificates or backup services. Don’t forget to review your email configuration if you’re using GoDaddy’s email hosting – this often gets overlooked but can cause major headaches if not planned properly.

Pay special attention to any custom applications, WordPress plugins, or database connections that might have hard-coded references to your current server setup. These dependencies can break during migration if not addressed beforehand. Create a detailed spreadsheet listing every domain, subdomain, and service currently running on your GoDaddy account.

Choosing the Right AWS Services for Your Needs

AWS offers dozens of services, but for most GoDaddy migrations, you’ll focus on a core set of services that match your hosting requirements. Amazon EC2 provides the virtual servers that will replace your GoDaddy hosting, while Amazon RDS handles database hosting if you’re running MySQL or other databases.

For static websites or those with minimal server-side processing, consider Amazon S3 paired with CloudFront for content delivery. This combination often provides better performance and lower costs than traditional web hosting. If you’re running WordPress or similar applications, EC2 instances with Amazon EFS for file storage might be your best bet.

Current GoDaddy Service	Recommended AWS Alternative	Key Benefits
Shared Hosting	EC2 t3.micro/small	Better performance, scalability
Database	Amazon RDS	Automated backups, high availability
Email	Amazon SES + WorkMail	Professional email, better deliverability
CDN	CloudFront	Global edge locations, faster loading

Don’t overlook security services like AWS WAF and Shield for protection against common web attacks. These services often provide better security than basic shared hosting plans.

Creating a Detailed Migration Timeline and Budget

Plan your AWS hosting migration steps across multiple phases to minimize downtime and reduce risks. A typical migration timeline spans 2-4 weeks, depending on your setup complexity. Start with a testing phase where you replicate your environment on AWS without affecting your live site.

Week 1 should focus on setting up your AWS infrastructure and testing basic functionality. Week 2 involves migrating your database and files to AWS while keeping your original site running. Week 3 is for thorough testing and DNS preparation. Week 4 handles the final cutover and monitoring.

Budget planning requires understanding AWS pricing models, which differ significantly from GoDaddy’s flat monthly rates. Factor in costs for EC2 instances, storage, data transfer, and any additional services like RDS or CloudFront. Many businesses find their AWS costs start lower than GoDaddy but can scale based on actual usage.

Budget considerations include:

• Initial setup costs (typically $50-200 for professional guidance)
• Monthly hosting costs (often 20-40% less than GoDaddy initially)
• Data transfer costs during migration
• Potential consultant fees if you need expert help
• Testing environment costs (usually minimal with AWS free tier)

Build in a 20-30% buffer for unexpected costs and always start with the AWS free tier when possible to minimize initial expenses while you optimize your setup.

Essential AWS Services Setup for Web Hosting

Configuring EC2 Instances for Optimal Performance

Setting up EC2 instances marks your first critical step in your AWS hosting setup. Start by selecting the right instance type based on your website’s resource requirements. For most websites migrating from GoDaddy shared hosting, a t3.micro or t3.small instance provides sufficient computing power while keeping costs manageable.

Choose Amazon Linux 2 or Ubuntu 22.04 LTS as your operating system for their excellent performance and security features. When configuring your instance, enable detailed monitoring to track CPU usage, network performance, and disk I/O metrics from day one.

Security groups act as your virtual firewall, so configure them to allow only necessary traffic. Open port 80 for HTTP, port 443 for HTTPS, and port 22 for SSH access from your IP address only. Create an Elastic IP address and associate it with your instance to maintain a consistent public IP address.

Install essential software including your web server (Apache or Nginx), PHP, MySQL client, and SSL certificates. Consider using AWS Systems Manager Session Manager instead of traditional SSH for enhanced security. This approach eliminates the need to keep SSH ports open while providing secure shell access to your instances.

Setting Up CloudFront CDN for Global Content Delivery

CloudFront transforms your website’s performance by caching content across AWS’s global edge locations. This AWS hosting vs GoDaddy advantage significantly reduces load times for visitors worldwide, something traditional shared hosting can’t match.

Create a CloudFront distribution pointing to your EC2 instance as the origin server. Configure cache behaviors for different content types – set longer cache durations for static assets like images and CSS files, while keeping dynamic content cache times shorter.

Enable compression in CloudFront settings to reduce bandwidth usage and improve loading speeds. Configure custom error pages to maintain a professional appearance when issues occur. Set up SSL certificates through AWS Certificate Manager for free SSL protection across your entire CDN.

Price classes allow you to control costs by selecting which edge locations serve your content. The “Use Only US, Canada and Europe” option works well for most businesses while maintaining cost efficiency. Monitor CloudFront metrics through CloudWatch to track cache hit ratios and adjust your caching strategy accordingly.

Implementing Route 53 for DNS Management

Route 53 provides enterprise-level DNS management capabilities far beyond what GoDaddy offers. Create a hosted zone for your domain and configure the necessary DNS records to point traffic to your AWS infrastructure.

Set up A records pointing your domain to your Elastic IP address or Application Load Balancer. Create CNAME records for subdomains like www, blog, or shop. Configure MX records if you’re hosting email services, and add TXT records for domain verification and SPF authentication.

Route 53’s health checks monitor your website’s availability and automatically route traffic away from unhealthy endpoints. Configure health checks to ping your website every 30 seconds and set up SNS notifications to alert you when issues arise.

Alias records provide a powerful feature unique to AWS, allowing you to point your root domain directly to CloudFront distributions or load balancers without using traditional A records. This setup improves performance and simplifies management.

Establishing RDS for Database Migration

Amazon RDS simplifies database management while providing better performance and reliability than shared hosting database solutions. Choose MySQL or PostgreSQL based on your current database engine, and select the appropriate instance class for your workload.

Create a database subnet group spanning multiple Availability Zones for high availability. Enable automated backups with a retention period of at least 7 days, and configure backup windows during low-traffic periods to minimize performance impact.

Set up a database parameter group to fine-tune MySQL or PostgreSQL settings for your specific application requirements. Enable encryption at rest for sensitive data protection, and configure VPC security groups to allow database access only from your web server instances.

Use AWS Database Migration Service for seamless data transfer from your GoDaddy database. Create read replicas in different regions if you need to serve global audiences, and monitor database performance using CloudWatch metrics to identify optimization opportunities.

Configuring S3 for Static Asset Storage

S3 bucket configuration offloads static content storage from your web servers, improving performance while reducing server load. Create a bucket with a descriptive name and enable versioning to protect against accidental file deletions or corruptions.

Configure bucket policies to allow public read access for web assets while maintaining security for sensitive files. Set up lifecycle policies to automatically transition older files to cheaper storage classes like S3 Infrequent Access or Glacier for long-term archival.

Enable static website hosting on your S3 bucket if you’re serving a static site, or use it as an origin for CloudFront when serving assets for dynamic websites. Upload your images, CSS files, JavaScript, and other static content to the bucket.

Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) configuration allows your website to access S3-hosted assets from different domains. Set up proper CORS headers to prevent browser security issues when loading assets from your S3 bucket on your main website domain.

Step-by-Step Domain and DNS Migration Process

Backing Up Your Current DNS Records

Before you start your domain migration AWS journey, grabbing a complete backup of your existing DNS records is like having an insurance policy for your website. GoDaddy’s DNS management interface stores all the critical information that keeps your website, email, and other services running smoothly.

Log into your GoDaddy account and navigate to the DNS management section for your domain. You’ll see various record types including A records (pointing to IP addresses), CNAME records (domain aliases), MX records (email routing), and TXT records (verification and security). Take screenshots of each page or, better yet, export the records to a spreadsheet.

Pay special attention to these record types:

• A Records: Direct your domain to specific IP addresses
• CNAME Records: Create aliases for subdomains
• MX Records: Handle email delivery routing
• TXT Records: Include SPF, DKIM, and domain verification codes
• NS Records: Show current nameserver assignments

Many businesses overlook subdomain configurations and third-party integrations that rely on specific DNS settings. Document everything, including TTL (Time to Live) values, as these affect how quickly changes propagate across the internet.

Transferring Domain Registration to AWS Route 53

AWS Route 53 offers robust DNS management capabilities that far exceed GoDaddy’s basic offerings. The domain transfer process involves several steps that require careful timing and attention to detail.

Start by unlocking your domain in GoDaddy’s domain manager and requesting an authorization code (also called an EPP code). This unique identifier proves you own the domain and have permission to transfer it. GoDaddy typically sends this code to your registered email address within a few minutes.

In the AWS Console, navigate to Route 53 and select “Register Domain” then “Transfer domain to Route 53.” Enter your domain name and the authorization code you received from GoDaddy. AWS will verify the transfer eligibility and provide a cost estimate.

Transfer Step	Timeline	Action Required
Request Auth Code	Immediate	Contact current registrar
Initiate Transfer	1-2 hours	Submit to AWS Route 53
Confirmation Email	24-48 hours	Approve transfer request
Transfer Complete	5-7 days	Monitor status in AWS

During the transfer process, your website remains live and functional. The DNS changes happen separately from domain registration, giving you full control over the timing. AWS charges an annual registration fee and automatically renews your domain, adding an extra year to your current expiration date.

Testing DNS Propagation and Functionality

Once you’ve configured your DNS records in Route 53, testing becomes crucial before pointing your domain to the new nameservers. DNS propagation can take anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours, depending on various factors including your previous TTL settings.

Use tools like dig, nslookup, or online DNS checkers to verify your records are resolving correctly. Test from multiple locations worldwide since DNS changes don’t happen simultaneously across all regions. Popular testing tools include whatsmydns.net and dnschecker.org, which show propagation status from different global locations.

Create a systematic testing checklist:

• Verify main domain loads correctly
• Test all subdomains (www, mail, ftp, etc.)
• Confirm email delivery works properly
• Check SSL certificates are functioning
• Validate any third-party integrations

Start by testing with AWS’s nameservers directly before making them live. This approach lets you catch configuration errors without affecting your live website. Once everything checks out, update your domain’s nameservers in the AWS domain registration settings to complete your GoDaddy to AWS migration.

Monitor your website closely for the first 24-48 hours after the nameserver change. Keep your GoDaddy DNS backup handy in case you need to quickly roll back any problematic configurations during the transition period.

Website Files and Database Transfer Procedures

Creating Complete Backups of Your GoDaddy Content

Before you even think about moving a single file, you need bulletproof backups of everything on your GoDaddy hosting account. Start by downloading all your website files through your GoDaddy control panel’s File Manager or via FTP. Create a local folder structure that mirrors your hosting directory, and grab everything—HTML files, images, scripts, configuration files, and any custom applications.

Don’t forget your databases. Export your MySQL databases through phpMyAdmin in your GoDaddy cPanel. Choose the “Export” tab and select “Quick” export method for smaller databases or “Custom” for more control over larger ones. Save these SQL files with clear naming conventions like database_name_YYYY-MM-DD.sql.

For WordPress sites, consider using backup plugins like UpdraftPlus or BackWPup to create comprehensive backups that include both files and database content. Store these backups in multiple locations—your local machine, cloud storage, and an external drive. This triple redundancy protects against any mishaps during the migrate from GoDaddy to AWS process.

Document everything you’re backing up. Create a simple checklist that includes file counts, database sizes, and any special configurations. This inventory becomes your verification benchmark later in the migration process.

Setting Up Secure File Transfer Methods

Security should be your top priority when moving files between hosting providers. Skip basic FTP—it transmits data in plain text, making your files vulnerable during transfer. Instead, use SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) or SCP (Secure Copy Protocol) for encrypted file transfers.

For your AWS setup, configure an EC2 instance with SSH access and set up key-based authentication. Generate SSH key pairs and upload the public key to your EC2 instance. This eliminates password-based authentication vulnerabilities and provides secure access for file transfers.

Popular SFTP clients like FileZilla, WinSCP (Windows), or Cyberduck (Mac) work perfectly for this GoDaddy to AWS migration guide. Configure these clients with your AWS instance details:

• Host: Your EC2 instance’s public IP address
• Protocol: SFTP
• Port: 22 (default SSH port)
• Authentication: Use your private key file

For large file transfers, consider using AWS CLI with the aws s3 sync command to transfer files directly to S3 buckets, then sync them to your EC2 instance. This method provides resume capability for interrupted transfers and better handling of large file sets.

Migrating Databases with Zero Downtime Strategies

Database migration requires careful planning to minimize service interruptions. The key is creating a seamless transition that keeps your site functional while data moves between systems.

Start by setting up your target database on AWS RDS (Relational Database Service). Choose the same database engine version as your GoDaddy setup to avoid compatibility issues. Configure security groups to allow connections from your EC2 instances and your local IP for testing.

Implement a two-phase migration approach:

Phase 1: Initial Data Transfer
Export your GoDaddy database during low-traffic hours and import it into your AWS RDS instance. This creates your baseline dataset without affecting your live site.

Phase 2: Incremental Sync
For dynamic sites with frequent updates, capture changes between your initial export and go-live time. Use database replication tools or create incremental backups to sync recent changes.

For WordPress sites, plugins like Duplicator Pro or WP Migrate DB Pro can handle live migrations with minimal downtime. These tools create database snapshots and can perform search-and-replace operations to update URLs automatically.

Test your database connectivity thoroughly before switching over. Create temporary read-only connections from your AWS environment to verify data integrity and application functionality.

Verifying Data Integrity After Transfer

Once your files and databases are on AWS, verification becomes critical. Don’t assume everything transferred correctly—check systematically to catch any issues before going live.

Start with file verification by comparing file counts and sizes between your original GoDaddy backup and your AWS installation. Use checksums (MD5 or SHA-256) to verify that files haven’t been corrupted during transfer. Many FTP clients can generate and compare checksums automatically.

For database verification, run these essential checks:

• Record counts: Compare table row counts between original and migrated databases
• Data sampling: Spot-check critical records like user accounts, product information, or content entries
• Foreign key relationships: Verify that relational data remains intact
• Character encoding: Check for any encoding issues, especially with special characters

Test your website functionality thoroughly. Click through all major features, submit forms, process test transactions, and verify that dynamic content loads correctly. Pay special attention to user authentication, search functionality, and any custom applications.

Run automated testing tools if available. Tools like Selenium can replay user interactions to catch functional issues you might miss in manual testing. For WordPress sites, use staging URLs to test everything before pointing your domain to the new AWS infrastructure.

Document any discrepancies you find and create a remediation plan. Most migration issues can be resolved by re-transferring specific files or running database repair commands, but catching them early prevents user-facing problems after your AWS hosting migration steps are complete.

Optimizing Performance and Security on AWS

Implementing SSL Certificates with AWS Certificate Manager

AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) makes securing your website incredibly straightforward compared to the manual SSL process on GoDaddy. ACM provides free SSL/TLS certificates that automatically renew, eliminating the need to purchase and manually update certificates annually.

Start by requesting a certificate in the ACM console. Choose between domain validation or DNS validation – DNS validation works better for most migrations since you’ll likely already be managing DNS through Route 53. Add your primary domain and any subdomains you want to protect, including the www version.

Once AWS validates your domain ownership, attach the certificate to your Application Load Balancer or CloudFront distribution. The integration happens seamlessly – no downloading certificate files or configuring web servers manually. Your site immediately benefits from HTTPS encryption without any downtime.

For applications using Elastic Beanstalk or EC2 instances behind a load balancer, configure the load balancer to handle SSL termination. This approach reduces the computational overhead on your web servers while centralizing certificate management.

Key benefits of ACM over traditional SSL:

• Automatic certificate renewal every 90 days
• No additional costs for standard certificates
• Integration with other AWS services
• Centralized management through the AWS console
• Support for wildcard certificates

Configuring Auto-Scaling for Traffic Fluctuations

Auto-scaling transforms how your AWS hosting infrastructure handles traffic compared to GoDaddy’s fixed server resources. Instead of paying for peak capacity all the time, your infrastructure automatically adjusts based on actual demand.

Create an Auto Scaling Group (ASG) that monitors your application’s performance metrics. Define minimum, maximum, and desired instance counts based on your traffic patterns. For most websites migrating from shared hosting, start with 1-2 minimum instances and allow scaling up to 5-10 maximum instances.

Set up scaling policies based on CPU utilization, memory usage, or custom application metrics. A typical configuration triggers scaling when CPU usage exceeds 70% for two consecutive periods of 5 minutes. Similarly, scale down when usage drops below 30% to optimize costs.

Target Tracking Scaling Policy Example:

• Target CPU Utilization: 70%
• Scale-out cooldown: 300 seconds
• Scale-in cooldown: 300 seconds
• Instance warm-up time: 300 seconds

Configure your launch template with the same AMI and configuration used for your primary instances. Include user data scripts that automatically configure new instances with your application code and dependencies.

For WordPress sites and similar applications, ensure new instances can access shared file storage (EFS) and the same database. This setup guarantees consistent functionality regardless of which instance handles the request.

Setting Up CloudWatch Monitoring and Alerts

CloudWatch monitoring provides insights into your AWS hosting infrastructure that were impossible with GoDaddy’s limited monitoring tools. Real-time metrics help you understand performance patterns and identify issues before they affect users.

Enable detailed monitoring for all EC2 instances, RDS databases, and load balancers. Key metrics to monitor include CPU utilization, memory usage, disk I/O, network traffic, and application-specific metrics like response times and error rates.

Create custom dashboards that display the metrics most relevant to your application’s performance. Group related metrics together – for example, combine EC2 CPU usage with database connections and load balancer response times on a single dashboard.

Essential CloudWatch Alarms to Configure:

• High CPU utilization (>80% for 5 minutes)
• Low disk space (<20% remaining)
• High error rates (>5% 4XX/5XX responses)
• Database connection failures
• Load balancer unhealthy target count

Set up SNS (Simple Notification Service) topics to send alerts via email, SMS, or Slack when thresholds are breached. Configure different notification groups for different severity levels – critical alerts might page your development team, while warning alerts could go to a monitoring email list.

CloudWatch Logs centralizes application and system logs from all your instances. Configure log retention policies to balance storage costs with debugging needs. Most applications benefit from keeping logs for 30-90 days, with critical error logs retained longer.

Use CloudWatch Insights to query logs and identify patterns. This feature helps diagnose performance issues and security concerns much more effectively than manually reviewing log files on individual servers.

Post-Migration Testing and Go-Live Checklist

Comprehensive Functionality Testing Procedures

Testing every aspect of your newly migrated website requires a systematic approach. Start by creating a detailed checklist that covers all interactive elements, forms, and user pathways. Navigate through your entire site as if you’re a first-time visitor, clicking every button, filling out contact forms, and testing your shopping cart if you have an e-commerce setup.

Pay special attention to database-driven features like user logins, search functions, and dynamic content. Check that all internal links work correctly and external links open properly. Test your website across multiple browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) and various devices to ensure responsive design elements display correctly.

Verify that SSL certificates are functioning properly by checking for the secure padlock icon in browsers. Test email functionality by submitting contact forms and ensuring messages reach their intended recipients. If your site includes file uploads, downloads, or media streaming, test these features thoroughly under different connection speeds.

Performance Benchmarking Against Previous Setup

Document your GoDaddy hosting performance metrics before comparing them to your new AWS setup. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, and Pingdom to measure load times, Core Web Vitals, and overall performance scores. Compare these baseline measurements against your AWS hosting performance to quantify improvements.

Run speed tests from multiple geographic locations to understand how your AWS hosting migration impacts global users. Most businesses see significant improvements in load times after moving to AWS, especially when using CloudFront for content delivery.

Monitor database query response times if you migrated from shared hosting to a dedicated RDS instance. You’ll typically notice faster database operations and reduced timeout errors. Track metrics like Time to First Byte (TTFB), which often improves dramatically when moving from GoDaddy’s shared environment to AWS’s scalable infrastructure.

Monitoring Traffic and User Experience Metrics

Set up comprehensive monitoring using AWS CloudWatch and Google Analytics to track real user behavior patterns. Configure alerts for key metrics like server response times, error rates, and traffic spikes that might indicate issues with your migration.

Implement uptime monitoring tools like Pingdom or StatusCake to receive immediate notifications if your site goes down. These services check your website availability from multiple locations worldwide and can alert you via email or SMS when problems arise.

Watch bounce rates and user engagement metrics closely during the first few weeks post-migration. A sudden increase in bounce rates might indicate performance issues or broken functionality that wasn’t caught during testing. Monitor your search engine rankings as well, since DNS changes and redirects can temporarily impact SEO performance.

Troubleshooting Common Migration Issues

DNS propagation delays cause the most frequent post-migration headaches. Some users might still see your old GoDaddy site while others access the new AWS version. This happens because DNS changes take 24-48 hours to fully propagate worldwide. Communicate this timeline to stakeholders to manage expectations.

Email delivery problems often surface after DNS changes. If you’re using email services tied to your domain, verify MX records are correctly configured in your new DNS setup. Test email sending and receiving from multiple addresses to ensure everything works properly.

SSL certificate mismatches can cause browser warnings that scare visitors away. Double-check that your certificates cover all domain variations (www and non-www versions) and any subdomains you’re using. If you’re seeing mixed content warnings, scan your site for hardcoded HTTP links that need updating to HTTPS.

Database connection errors might appear if your application’s configuration files still point to old database credentials or endpoints. Review all configuration files and environment variables to ensure they reflect your new AWS database settings. Connection timeout issues often resolve by adjusting security group rules to allow proper database access.

Performance issues sometimes emerge when AWS services aren’t optimally configured. If your site feels slower than expected, review your EC2 instance types, RDS configurations, and CloudFront settings to ensure they match your traffic requirements and performance goals.

Making the switch from GoDaddy to AWS represents a significant step forward for your business’s digital infrastructure. You’ve learned how AWS delivers superior performance, scalability, and reliability compared to traditional shared hosting. The migration process, while detailed, becomes manageable when you follow a structured approach – from initial assessment and planning through service setup, domain migration, file transfers, and final optimization.

Your website deserves the robust foundation that AWS provides. Take time to properly assess your current setup, plan your migration carefully, and don’t rush the testing phase. The investment in moving to AWS pays dividends through faster load times, better security, and the ability to scale as your business grows. Start with the pre-migration assessment today, and give your website the modern hosting infrastructure it needs to thrive in today’s competitive digital landscape.