You may wish to modify your domain name as your company grows. This type of shift is often associated with one of the following scenarios:
You’ve created a new brand. It’s time to refresh your website with the new brand identity. This involves switching your domain.
You’d want a shorter, more straightforward domain name. You’d want to use a better domain name that is now accessible.
While changing domains is simple, now is the time to halt and prepare to keep your organic search traffic.
In this post, we’ll go over the actions you need to follow to ensure a seamless transition in search results as you switch domains.
Does Changing a Domain Name Have an Impact on SEO?
Yes, altering a domain name may have an influence on SEO. The pages on your current domain have been indexed by search engines. The modification confuses the search engines.
Furthermore, your present domain has a proven track record. This track record consists of authority. The authority of your present domain contributes to your content rising to the top of search results.
The good news is that you may change your domain name while retaining traffic by following a number of actions that notify search engines and website users of the change.
How to Switch Domains and Maintain SEO
Confirm that the new URL is correct
If you are planning to make this change, you should thoroughly research the history of your new domain. There is no history if you acquired a completely new domain. You can now proceed to step 2. However, if you are acquiring a domain from a third party, you should be aware of its past.
The backlink network of a website is an important element of its history. This domain may be linked to by other websites. You’ll want to make sure the website has a strong backlink network and hasn’t been blacklisted for questionable conduct like low-value link building.
Transfer the site to the new domain name
When you’re ready, you may transfer your website to the new domain. This update should be coordinated with your hosting provider and web developer. Prepare to dive into the SEO-specific duties mentioned in the phases that follow as soon as this change occurs.
Forward your old domain to your new domain name
This may be arranged through your domain registrar and/or hosting provider. The idea is for each old URL, such as www.myoldsite.com/cats, to redirect to a corresponding new URL, such as www.mynewdomain.com/cats.
In this case, the redirect passes route information along so that each page on your old site corresponds to the identical page on your new site. If your former domain was secured with HTTPS, ensure sure the HTTPS versions of the links work properly. This is SEO 101 for domain changes. It’s critical.
Use Google Search Console to validate your new website
The Google Search Console (or GSC) is your line of communication with Google. You may be both a webmaster and a marketing director by validating your new website with the GSC. The GSC platform offers data on the keyword performance of each page on your website, as well as a plethora of technical SEO feedback on the site’s crawling and indexation. Begin here to validate your new domain.
Replace all references to the previous URL
Begin with entities you have control over, such as Google My Business and your business accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Then, contact partners and other website owners who could connect to yours. Request that they change the domain in any links to your site.
Google Analytics should be updated
Your current Google Analytics property contains domain-specific options in the admin section. Log in to Google Analytics, navigate to Admin, and change all references to the previous URL.
Keep track of the outcomes
We want to keep a careful check on the outcomes whenever we make a significant SEO adjustment, such as a new domain. This is possible in both Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
Following Steps
Congratulations! You’ve moved your website to a new domain and properly notified this change to search engines.
Make sure you keep control of your former domain for the foreseeable future. And be sure to continuously sending it to keep the authority signals coming via the redirect.
The time is right to invest in improving your website’s SEO foundation. Our guided SEO method outlines a step-by-step procedure that you can easily follow. It also comes with in-built SEO tools and one-on-one coaching. To learn more, schedule a demo.
