Changing Domain Names: A Phased-in Approach

[Ceres]

If you need to change domain names, then you should read this useful article by Latitude. It explains how you can avoid losing SERPs and traffic when you are changing domain names. Latitude recommends using a phased-in approach to changing domains.

Also, it is important to consider the history of your new domain:

* Does it have a tarnished past? Try to get an idea of its history by seeing what it was used for in a former life. Moving to a domain that has been (or worse, is) banned in any of the major search engines is not a good idea!

* What is the link profile of the new domain ? does it have links from bad neighbourhoods (link farms, link networks etc)? If so are you likely to be able to get them removed? Such links could be placing the domain at risk.

* Are there any potential geo-targeting issues: Are many back-links from foreign websites? Did its content target a foreign audience ? e.g. are you moving from a .co.uk to a .com that previously targeted a US audience? If so you will need to consider how to ensure it is seen as a UK rather than US site.

[Rell]

Thanks for the post - this will definatly help anyone who is unsure how to switch domain names. Heck, it even helped me out a bit! Thanks!

[Ceres]

Here's more advice on how to implement a 301 redirect. Jim Karter provides a specific example on how he permanently redirected one of his websites:

Let me give you with an example. I had a HIV symptoms related website called http://www.hivsymptoms.org. For some reason, I had to move it to a new domain http://www.hivsymptomsonline.com. I used the 301 permanent redirect. I put the following in the .htaccess file in the main folder of the domain:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.hivsymptomsonline.com/$1 [R=301,L]

I replicated the site on the other host with EXACTLY SAME directory and file structure. So all the traffic from this site was redirected to the new ?HIV symptoms online? website.

But how did the rankings for the old and the new site do?

HIV symptoms .org site was ranking number one for ?hiv symptoms? keyword before this move. After the redirect the same site stayed number one position for next 15 days or so. Then the site vanished from the SERPs and new site did no appear. After the next 15 days, the new site hivsymptomsonline.com came up in top 10 rankings. Then in the next 3 months the ranking of the site is increasing slowly. As of this writing (around 4months have passed), the rank for the new site has reached at number 2 for keyword hiv symptoms in Google.

A helpful case study, as you see what happens in the months following a 301 redirect.

If anyone else has advice about changing domain names, please share so we can all learn.