Rebranding and figuring out how to change domain without losing SEO is more common than you might think. Maybe you started a business, built up traffic, but now realize the name just isn’t right. Business owners may realize the name they chose does not accurately reflect their evolving services or target audience.
Looking to change your domain? Don’t forget to hire an SEO company like SEO Locale to help you with that process.
Perhaps you went through a merger, acquisition, or pivot. But how do you preserve your valuable organic search traffic and the marketing you spent building it? How can one change domain without losing SEO and a complete rankings collapse?
Reasons to Undergo a Domain Change
Business owners consider changing their website domain for many reasons. It may seem like you are starting from scratch, it sometimes is worth it in the end. While a rebrand change can seem like a fresh start, it is important to consider the potential impact on your existing online presence.
A common push is rebranding. Your business may simply outgrow its original name.
Addressing Copyright Conflicts
Another situation requiring a domain switch is discovering a copyright conflict. Failing to check for trademark issues during the initial branding is quite the oversight.
Fixing this is easy enough with a rebrand. However, it could happen to anyone so stay aware.
Expansions And Acquisitions Happen
Your business might be expanding its range or undergoing an acquisition. A domain change helps align everything.
In times of huge company growth and changing visions, do not get too emotionally invested in what got you here originally. This prevents a major headache later when things need to change.
When to Keep a Domain
Despite what seems like compelling reasons to rebrand, keeping your current domain often makes sense.
Changing domains has ripple effects, requiring major adjustments across platforms. Think about what happens to your social media, print advertising, or other references to the business’ URL.
Strong Brand Recognition Matters
Changing domains risks confusing customers and damaging the brand’s authority. A huge part of success comes from a strong brand that consumers recognize and trust. This builds over time.
Timing With Major Marketing Push
Timing a domain change badly can sink major marketing campaigns. Campaigns often get coordinated across so many outlets.
For instance, you don’t want to be switching domains during a seasonal peak when a site disruption can directly harm sales. Aligning everything to promote something old that now will have issues resolving just wastes time and budget.
Lack Of Resources and Expertise
Many underestimate the expertise involved. Domain migration involves technical updates at many levels. Doing a migration is tough and a professional can be costly.
Most smaller companies do not have people or enough resources in house. In order to properly do this you really should outsource, or at least get advice from, someone with prior success. These mistakes get costly quickly.
Pre-Migration Prep: Audit Current Performance
Before changing anything, benchmark current site performance and SEO metrics. You can run reports using the tools you’ve been accustomed to for months, maybe even years.
Tools like Google Search Console provide invaluable reports here. Capture traffic trends, keyword rankings, referring domains and backlink profiles before the shift. It may also give ideas of places that require updates.
Audit Your Old Domain Presence
Conducting an audit ahead of the transition is vital for a complete overhaul.
This involves finding every digital platform your domain has references. List these places with old domains to prevent any problems, and to assist updating.
Finding a Proper New Domain Name
If a domain name has history, verify whether previous owners built a reputable backlink profile. Check the domain history to identify potential red flags.
Use Semrush’s Backlink Audit tool to identify any problematic links to the domains you like. Toxic links often point to shady schemes like malicious websites and get flagged quickly by algorithms. Be proactive instead.
Export your backlink list
You can create a list of the sites you previously built relationships with in a previous iteration of a domain name. Having this gives the possibility of continuing it now, but not guaranteed of course.
Semrush and similar companies provide exports with this detail. This allows you to reach out and request they update the links to your new domain.
Steps Involved to Change a Domain Name
Now to execute. Many moving pieces come together so it pays to maintain careful diligence throughout each stage.
Once a final transition kicks off there is no taking it back. Be organized in advance with clear tasks to have more success with a smooth launch. Careful planning is essential for preserving SEO during a domain change.
Map Old URLs to New URLs Using 301 Redirects
You can get your list of URL’s from many popular tools, but using exports available in Search Console works also. There is no perfect number but keeping things as similar as possible tends to produce less shock after making a domain switch. Consistent URL structure helps maintain site’s search engine rankings.
If removing old URLs completely, have those serve a “410 status code” for a permanent removal. This informs search engines that the page is gone and won’t be coming back.
| Old URL | New URL | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| old-domain.com/about-us/ | new-domain.com/about/ | Different Subfolders, Update URL |
| old-domain.com/blog/post-1/ | new-domain.com/blog/post-1/ | Same Structure |
| old-domain.com/discontinued-page/ | N/A (410 status) | Removing Page |
This table gives visual examples for migrating.
Updating Existing URL Links In Code and Database Files
Be very meticulous about finding and switching over all internal links to prevent traffic going to old non-resolve domains. Redirects are in place as stop-gaps that ideally see little use.
This requires accessing source code, databases and content management systems, to make edits directly. So working with a developer that understands this prevents future issues and tech support tickets.
Backup Existing Website Content and Assets
Fully backing up your website helps greatly to deal with a failed launch. This provides a comparison source of old vs new domain to verify successful data transfer.
Different sites will do backups differently depending on your hosting provider. Common ways will happen via control panel, or content management systems (CMS) plugin.
Officially Migrating a Website in Phases
Transfer the backed up website copy and databases to a newly purchased domain name for staging first.
Do not push a major change on big promotion or shopping days like holidays. This introduces financial risks for periods of major shopping. The staging sites prevent exposing live website traffic to disruption if hiccups occur.
Block Search Indexing of Your Testing Staging Domains
During migration work on the staging platform, use no-index tags site-wide. Prevent search engines crawl unfinished test versions of pages.
Another step for safety involves setting up password protection or two-factor authentication requirements for this pre-launch site version. This prevents crawlers reaching anything but also stops real visitors until a more coordinated update officially occurs.
Verify Search Engine Configuration After Removing Block
When your staging website becomes live, verify all security protections that had been enabled that prevents crawler visibility of a new site version. A great tool for checking overall health gets referenced on many websites like this forum by developers (source), is Site Audit.
It also helps find if there had been any critical problems introduced with newly deployed pages. There is only one shot, really.
Setting Redirects with Absolute, not Relative URL References
Enable redirects from all former live pages on the old site. This directs crawlers to proper locations, avoiding site errors when hitting a new launch. Proper redirects help maintain search engine rankings.
If using WordPress, plugins exist, including popular ones called Yoast or Redirection. Make sure whatever redirects occur use a “absolute url,” instead of a “relative url” for complete site address.
Update Key Third-Party Profile Accounts
Alert a user-base ahead of time across various online platforms if a new location for things is being introduced.
Make changes to:
- Social profiles, particularly those with links.
- Email marketing or transactional messages.
- Any press release copy going out.
- A brief, clear new homepage note on your site after launch.
Announce a Change After Completion
This builds trust with people on different levels.
There will still be referrals coming from those that linked to the previous domain, at least for awhile, ideally without disruption thanks to redirects. It is also polite. The new homepage mention should clearly tell this update so they learn that the new brand name has been introduced.
Tracking Google Indexation Process with New Pages
Do not rely on tools or software completely for a final migration and launch verification. A real review by a professional gives reassurance of completing all steps successfully and efficiently. After a domain goes live, checking Google Search Console over time gets even more vital.
Use their Change Of Address utility specifically when going this path of rebranding. Also check the new domain for the “property type” within GSC and select the proper verification. This helps Google understand the relationship between your old and new domains.
Choosing an Appropriate Domain Name
There are essentially two primary sections that we often look for: top-level and secondary level. Here are some differences.
Second Level Domains (SLDs) Should Resemble a New Brand
The second level uniquely describes business offerings. For instance “yourbrandname.”
Use something as close as reasonable without infringing trademark problems with others. Keep concise also for recognition.
Choosing Top-Level Domains (TLDs) Impacts Visibility
After an (SLD), many get caught deciding a top-level domain. Some examples might be something like a (.com, .co, or a .net) which helps customers remember URLs.
Some common research supports always securing .com’s first, although alternatives fit cases for other scenarios better, (.io domains for example excel linking tech industry references specifically). Choosing the right TLD can also affect SEO.
Conclusion
People, even in business, sometimes are faced with change. But changing things takes more effort.
While the actual process of buying or switching website locations happens fairly easy now for many with just clicks and software setups, the process can still have a lot of steps. You still have to consider business consequences from it all. This introduces complex situations for website owners migrating their operations to fresh spaces.
Fortunately we provided some solutions of how to change domain without losing SEO which keeps a long-term goal protected and optimized. Planning greatly decreases hiccups and makes smoother migrations ultimately to keep long term gains. Proper planning and execution are vital for website’s performance after a domain change. No matter what type of SEO you plan on doing if it is local SEO or national SEO, it is always important you do the right things when doing a domain change.
