I didn't know where to start this thread so excuse me if it's in the wrong place. I never ever have changed hosts, but one is starting to disappoint me. So I'm worried about not the downtime as much as the SEs are concerned. What do you suggest doing? Moving files well in advance and 301 redirect to the new pages? Any ideas how long the old pages should be on for? Thanks!
I think you are making it more difficult than it needs to be. So long as there is content being delivered when a SE bot crawls the site you don't need to worry or do anything fancy. Even if the bots somehow missed your site on one crawl they will still come back.
You can just copy all your content to the new host and then point the domain there. So as the domain propegates search engines will still see your content whether on the new server or the old one.
Do it just as JoeO says, there is no need for 301's or anything. To the end user and SE bots, the only thing that changes is the IP of the server.
All of the above. The only time you need to worry about redirects is if you are changing the domain name, directory structure, or filenames. As long as you upload the files to the new server as is, retaining any subdirectories and all filenames, no one but you will even know the site has moved. One trick: When you upload the site to the new server, at the bottom of your index page, add the words "new server" or something similar in a small font - that way, you'll know when the DNS change propagates because you'll see that little marker when you type in the URL.
Yes, good trick Minstrel and one that I have used before. You can also refer to the server logs on the old server and watch when people stop hitting the old site. Also if you have access to modify your DNS settings you can lower your Refresh, Retry, Expire, etc times about a week before you move so that the domain propagates faster.