Whatever the reason for SEO changing domain name is, this action should be taken only when there is a critical need to do that. Whether you make a complete rebranding campaign in your company or expand your business, change domain name in SEO without the risk of losing traffic.
There is an SEO impact of changing URLs on Google rankings as SEO and domain name are tightly interconnected. Thus, following the recommendations below will help to change your domain name and preserve the current traffic.
How does SEO and domain name change impact domain visibility?
Before changing your domain name, you should thoroughly analyze whether this step is crucially necessary. Some companies change their brand names, so the domain name has to be substituted as a result. Other businesses undergo different types of transformations, which might also cause a need to change the domain name or even create a new website.
In the case of creating a new website from scratch, all SEO efforts made on the existing website would be literally wasted. There would be a need to find and use white hat links within the link building strategy, which is really time-consuming. Also, it will take time to strengthen domain authority and improve website ranking on search engines.
When only the domain name has to be changed, there are high chances to preserve accumulated SEO efforts and keep the current traffic stable. The process of transferring information and implementing redirection from one site to another might be exhausting, but it would definitely pay off in the future.
How to change domain name in SEO?
The procedure of the domain name alteration itself is not durable as it concerns only one quick procedure. However, further actions concentrating on preserving SEO efforts and current traffic might take a bit of time though.
Register new domain
Obviously, your new domain name should be chosen deliberately and go in line with your brand name. That way your consumers will easily recognize it and will be able to find the updated website.
To register a new domain, you will also have to choose a reputable provider or rely on the one you have been already working with for some time. Make sure that the new domain was never used previously and thus has no history behind it. This is an important aspect to pay attention to because some domain names might have been previously blocked by Google for some reason, so it is better to avoid using them onwards.
Transfer your pages to a new domain
After having completed all the domain registration procedures, feel free to start transferring the web pages. Look at the ones on your existing website and literally replicate them on the new domain platform. In case you decide to alter the structure of the website under the new domain, make sure to transfer those pages that had high rankings anyway.
Redirect URLs
There is an SEO impact of changing URLs on Google rankings undoubtedly. However, the redirection techniques from one URL to another with the new domain name would allow for keeping around 90 percent of the existing traffic. There are various types of redirections, but it is highly advisable to use the 301 redirect approach in case of domain change.
When working on the transfer process, make sure that you implement proper redirection. It means that each page on the old domain should correspond to the page under the new domain name. Redirecting all pages to the homepage of the new domain would not be a good idea, especially for users. Once they appear on the homepage instead of the corresponding page they were looking for, this might even force them to quit the website.
Update content
Upon the completion of all the transferring and redirecting procedures, pay attention to the content. It should definitely get updated at least because your brand name has probably changed. A regular content review is a must-do part of SEO anyway.
Update backlinks
The backlinks make a major part of the off-page SEO and mean much to Google and other search engines. Once you are ready with redirection, the backlinks pointing out to your old domain will now lead to your new domain.
Additionally, you may ask webmasters to update backlinks on their side so that they would now use a new domain name. To strengthen the authority of the new domain, feel free to gain some new homepage backlinks that would benefit the website rankings.
Notify users
Before changing your domain name, you should notify your consumers and online users. Thus, when a new domain name comes up, they will not be very surprised about that change. It is also recommended to submit articles to blogs with this news so that your audience will be aware of such as important step you have taken.
Use analytics
When done properly, the domain name change should not greatly affect your previous efforts in search engine optimization. However, you need to use SEO tools that would help in tracking the website’s performance. To learn more about those SEO tools, click here for more information.
Once you use the analytics data, it would be possible to assess the overall website performance under the new domain. You would also be able to detect any website malfunctioning if there is any and take the needed action to fix that.
