9 Things To Know About Moving Your Website To A New Domain

You have a great website. One that you created and nurtured for a long time. However, with the Internet constantly evolving, it’s only right to embrace the changes for the bright future of your business. One of these changes could be choosing a new domain name and moving your website.

Businesses change their web address for multiple reasons. Some of them include:

1. Changing the domain extension because the one you originally had isn’t branding your business as well as new extensions potentially could. For example, moving from co.uk to .tech, .store, .press, .fun, etc
2. Changing the business name, in which case you don’t really have a choice but to get a new domain name.
3. Changing the domain name if people get your name confused with that of a competitor’s as this can impact your website traffic.
4. Changing the website address because your customers can’t remember, can’t spell, or can’t pronounce your company’s name. This may be because of odd, creative spellings; foreign last names, unfamiliar word usage, etc.

It is important to note that moving your website to a new domain can be a slightly confusing process and can pose a few challenges along the way:

1. You might suffer from a temporary loss of traffic
2. You might have an impact on your search rankings
3. You’ll have to establish your new identity to your audience

Fret not. If you follow the recommended process and ensure the domain name migration is executed with optimum care, your chances of combating these challenges increase significantly. Which is why being well acquainted with the steps involved in the process can help.

How to move your website to a new domain

Once you’re absolutely positive about changing your domain name, then follow these simple steps to minimize any potential risks during and after the transfer.

Before your domain name change

1. Backup your site

Backing up your current website can avert any potential pitfalls up the road. So, before you make any serious changes make sure you have secured a working backup and ensure all your content and files are intact and nothing is corrupted.

2. Do an audit of your site

A good practice is to audit all your statistics before you go forward with the transfer. This will help you get a clear sense of everything that’s going on with your domain name. It’ll also give you a decent benchmark to track progress after the shift.

3. Apply 301 redirects to everything

301 redirect not only sends the user to the correct page, but it also informs the search engines that the page has been permanently moved and would transfer the link credit to the new page. You can create a “wild card” redirect in your .htaccess file that will transfer everything on a domain-name level. Basically, what wild card does is that it automatically adds a 301 redirect to all your old domain URLs and moves them to the new domain.

4. Maintain the same URL structure

Try to maintain the same URL structure when switching domains. If you want to make changes to the structure, it’s best to wait for a few months after the domain transfer is done. Once things have settled down and you’re back in business, then make your changes.

5. Inform Google about your new domain move

Google Webmaster Tools has a link to “Change of Address”. Use this to tell Google that you have changed your domain name so that the search engine can update the same in its systems. This will ensure your listings are up to date.

After your domain name change

6. Check everything after the domain transfer

The day you migrate, do a thorough check and ensure that everything is link properly, and all the 301 redirects are working fine (especially for your top inbound links). Additionally, use a keyword audit to list down all the keywords that were driving people to your website and search them on Google to check if your new domain name is showing up.

7. Monitor all 404 errors

A 404 error happens when a page isn’t redirect properly. The best thing to do here is to habitually check and update any pages that might be showing 404 errors. Do this exercise at least once a week for the first two months after the transfer. Sometimes it takes a few days for some 404s to pop up.

8. Plan a launch for the new domain name

A slight dip in the search rankings is common after a domain name transfer. That’s why it is important to plan a marketing push to kick-start the rankings. Some of the things you can do include:

1. Reaching out to your business contacts for guest-blogging opportunities
2. Creating easy to consume content such as infographics, small videos, etc and promoting them so that they get share
3. Planning a huge push of new content on the website including premium downloads such as eBooks, white papers, templates, and more
4. Investing in short-term PPC campaign to make up for the lost traffic

9. Give yourself enough time to get back up

Changing domain names is a big decision–one that takes a great deal of time and planning. Often businesses try to do it in a rush. However, it helps to spend some time and do a good job to reduce the risks of any damage.

So, there you have it. Migrating your website to a new domain name isn’t rocket science but it does demand care and dedication. One of the best ways to go ahead with it is to create a checklist and keep ticking off tasks as and when you accomplish them during the entire process.