How to Migrate Domains Without Losing SEO: A Complete Guide: A Step-by-Step Guide

A business may need to migrate its domain for several reasons, such as:

• Rebranding: When the company changes its name or brand identity.
• Mergers and Acquisitions: Combining multiple domains under one brand.
• Expanding to a New Market: Using a localized domain extension for better regional SEO.
• Shifting from HTTP to HTTPS: Improving the security and trustworthiness.
• Moving to a More Relevant Domain Name: Aligning the domain name with business objectives.
• Recovering from Penalties: Escaping any previous SEO penalties on an old domain.
• Switching CMS or Hosting Providers: Migrating to a platform better suited to business needs.
• Legal Reasons: Complying with legal requirements for a new domain.
• Consolidation of Multiple Sites: Streamlining multiple websites into a single domain.

Now, whatever might be the reason, migrating a domain can be a daunting task, especially considering the potential impact it has on the site’s ranking. If not done properly, you might lose all the traffic. Most businesses take this process lightly, but this is the key step in ensuring that your site ranks despite the change in the URL.

This comprehensive guide outlines the steps to migrate your domain without losing your hard-earned search rankings.

To change your website's address in Google Search Console and make sure everything goes smoothly for your SEO, follow these simple steps:

Step 1: Add Your New Domain

1. Log into your Google Search Console account.
2. Click on the ‘Add Property’ button, usually found on the top left.
3. Enter the URL of your new domain.
4. Click ‘Continue’ to add it to your Search Console.

Step 2: Verify Your New Domain

You need to prove that you own the new domain. You can do this in a few ways:

• DNS Record: Add a record through your domain provider.
• HTML Tag: Place an HTML tag in the header of your homepage.
• Google Analytics: If you use Google Analytics, make sure the tracking code is on your site.

Step 3: Access Your Old Domain

1. Go back to the main dashboard in Search Console.
2. Select the old domain you’re moving away from.

Step 4: Start the Change of Address

1. On the left-hand menu, click on ‘Settings’.
2. Look for ‘Change of Address’ and click on it.

Step 5: Set Up Your New Domain

1. In the ‘Change of Address’ section, select your new domain from the list of verified properties.
2. Click ‘Validate & Update’.

Step 6: Confirm the Change

1. Make sure you've set up a 301 redirect from your old domain to the new one. This step is super important as it helps keep your search rankings intact and lets Google know about your move.
2. Google may suggest setting up 301 redirects for your sample pages. Check that these redirects work properly.

Step 7: Keep an Eye on the Transition

After you've processed the change, monitor the traffic and indexing for both your old and new domains in Google Search Console. This will help you make sure everything is working well without losing traffic or rankings.

Step 8: Final Checks

Regularly check for any crawl errors and make sure your new site is being indexed correctly.

Update any external links you control to point to the new domain. This helps with SEO by consolidating link equity.

Before starting the migration process, we recommend you create a well-structured plan to ensure a seamless domain migration.

Here are a few recommendations:

1. Plan your migration carefully

• Choose a low-traffic period for your migration.
• Save all files, databases, and configurations before making any changes.
• Use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to identify your top-performing pages and keywords.

2. Conduct an audit

• Use tools like Screaming Frog to identify all existing URLs.
• Note down all the current rankings for all the important keywords.
• Use tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to identify your top referring domains.

3. Set up the new domain

• Make sure that your new domain has an SSL certificate for HTTPS.
• Maintain the same URL structure wherever possible.
• Install Google Analytics and Search Console on the new domain.

4. Implement 301 redirects

• Create a list of all one-to-one URL mappings.
• For each URL implement permanent 301 redirects to inform search engines of the domain change.
• Use tools like Redirect Checker to ensure they work correctly.

5. Update your XML sitemap and robots.txt

• Create a new XML site map and include all the updated URLs.
• Use Google Search console and Bing Webmaster tools to submit the new sitemap.
• Update the robots.txt file and make sure it allows search engines to crawl your new domain.

6. Notify Google and other search engines

• Here follow all the steps mentioned above to inform search engines about the domain change to speed up the indexing process.
• In Google Search Console, submit a change of address request.
• Replace old domain links with the new domain throughout your site.
• Reach out to websites linking to your old domain and request updates to their links.

7. Notify your users (Important Step)

Since your audience, does not know anything about the domain change, they usually go back to the old domain. This can impact your sales, if there is no clear information. So,

• Add a banner or a popup to inform your visitors of the domain change.
• Update all the email signatures and marketing materials with the new domain.
• Announce the domain change on social media and other major platforms that your business uses.

By following these steps carefully, you can migrate to a new domain without negatively affecting your site's SEO. Always keep a backup of your site, and double-check everything, especially the redirects and verification, to avoid potential issues.