Domain Migrations & SEO - What You Should Know

Domain Migrations: What You Should Know

It’s inevitable for a lot of businesses – that merger, expansion, change in brand or strategy can often lead to a change in domain name – but, domain migrations aren’t always as straightforward as they should be – let’s cover this in more detail.

Posted by Daniel Foley Carter

Changing Domain Name

Changing domain name needn’t be something insidious – after all – it’s not uncommon for businesses to change direction, merge, change the target geographic market – so, switching from one domain to another should be a simple process right?

Well, not exactly.

You see – it’s very easy to transition from one domain name to another – whether you are just changing the name and keeping the same CTLD (country top level domain)  or changing the name and the CTLD – the technicalities behind it are generally quite simple.

You change the domain binding (A record) so that your new domain points to your hosting then re-direct all requests for the old domain to the new domain – job done?

But the reality is – domain name changes will often lead to some short term organic impact – from click loss and fluctuation to random index drop out’s, URLS not being updated and more.

Now – it might not be such an issue for a small local business with 10-20 website visitors a day, but, move to medium/large enterprise businesses with millions of users and the ball game changes entirely.

Thinking of migrating domain?

We provide domain migration audits & agency based support for businesses looking to change domains. We provide pre-migration auditing, migration instructions and guidance and post-migration reviews to help ensure your transition is a smooth one – protecting against decline, ranking loss and ultimately a loss of business/transaction.

Changing Domain: What are the risks?

Changing a domain carries a risk of losing traffic – typically by short term URL drop out. As Google and search engines alike follow OLD URL paths – they should be redirected to the new destination – of which they should index as part of a “seamless” migration -but, this isn’t always the case. The main risks are: a loss of ranking, a loss of traffic and of course an impact on sales/enquiries/website engagement.

Changing Domain: What are the benefits?

Changing domain names can also bring about benefits – for example – a UK business trading with a .co.uk will face an uphill battle to rank outside of the UK market – that’s not to say .CO.UK domains do not appear in international search – they do, but a non native CTLD is LESS beneficial for a number of reasons – therefore, changing a domain to something that’s either focal country specific or global i.e. .COM can help drive organic growth in international markets.

Changing domains can also help in situations where a domain has suffered from considerable lag, a poor history, excessive repurposing (and thus a diluted link profile).

There are also domains that – for whatever reason may struggle to gain ground because of historic issues – some domains are “tainted” and whilst EVERY domain is recoverable – sometimes starting with a fresh domain is a more cost effective way to go.

Changing Domain: Key Considerations

Before changing domains – there are some ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL considerations to be had before making the switch – getting a domain migration wrong can be costly – reversing ranking loss / traffic loss can also take far longer to undo then it took to cause.

Things to consider before making the switch:

Domain CTLD – Are You Choosing The Right Extension?

Before you switch – have you considered your target market and whether the country top level domain (domain extension) you chose is suitable? for example – if you ran a UK website and decided to move into the EMEA market i.e. Japan – are you switching to a .com?

Your domain country top level domain choice is vital – are you planning on a single domain to represent all of your target countries i.e. switching from your-website.co.uk to your-website.com with sub folders for new focal countries?

You MUST make sure that your domain migration is one that’s planned ahead – performing additional domain migrations down the line only increases the chance of something going wrong!

Use .com for GLOBAL markets and if you intend on having content for various markets – use sub folders with HREFLANG.

If you are focusing on a single market and plan to ONLY stick to that market, choose a CTLD for that country i.e. Australia would be .com.au.

Is your New Domain Fresh or Repurposed / Drop Caught?

Surprisingly – a majority of domain migrations get underway without a check of “was this domain used before” if so what was it used for? It’s not uncommon for domains over the years to change hands – it’s the history of the domain that you should pay attention to – such as – what content did the domain have on it in the past? was it used for anything spammy or nefarious? did it spend years as a holding page? what does the link profile look like? did the website suffer historically during Google algorithm / core updates?

It is VERY important to factor this in – use tools such as Wayback Machine to see what content the website had on it in the past or whether it has ever been used before? You can also use DNS tools to look up how many times a domain has changed registrant.

Domains with history may perform just fine after a migration – however, some may not depending on the history and pre-existing link profile.

 

Domain Keyword Content: EMD to PMD? or EMD/PMD to Brand?

It’s not just the CTLD to keep in mind – it’s also the domain name itself. There’s no denying it EMD (exact match domain) are highly effective (even though it’s speculative) – you will often see EMD’s do so well in so many markets – often because the domains anchor text profile is keyword rich alongside the domain.

If you are lucky enough to operate an EMD or PMD (partial match domain) and you decide to migrate domains to something that’s more on brand – there is a greater chance of this having a detrimental impact on your organic performance post domain migration.

A real business case should be put forward if in the scenario of switching from EMD/PMD to brand or brand + pmd. We would ALWAYS recommend having a reversion strategy in place should the migration prove to be unsuccessful.

What does the Anchor Text Profile Look Like?

With the best will in the world – Google can and does get things wrong – so, even if you TELL Google that you’ve changed domain (change of address functionality) pre-existing anchor text will often continue to have SOME form of influence depending on the pre-existing link profile strength of the new domain and your old (pre migration) domains link profile.

Of course, it’s not just the anchor text but the type of links that exist – but, you can use the anchor text to get a feel for things – does it look branded? HIGHER generic brand based anchors are better – as the migration will be bolstered by brand anchors – however, if the pre-existing domain has lots of randomised anchors, spam etc. it CAN dilute things depending on the volumes – as with most things in SEO, it’s “proportionality” balanced against “it depends”. 

Migrating from a relatively clean link profile to a domain with a mucky pre-existing link profile CAN cause issues but, every case is different – it will depend on how recent the anchors are, whether they are attributed to things like legacy spam attacks / injection spam – an audit should be conducted BEFORE any migration to size up the pre and post migration link profile data / anchor text data to ascertain what’s going on.

Have You Verified The New Domain In Google Search Console?

Another important thing that seems to be missed on a regular basis – have ownership of the domain? why not verify via a CNAME (domain property) to get access to Google Search Console to see if there is any click history within the last 16 months?

You could be sitting on a goldmine of data before you’ve even migrated – putting a holding page in place and verifying search console could be a great way to look for pre-existing performance data – you should observe any click data and ascertain the balance of brand vs non brand – what was the websites purpose, what traffic did it get – was it completely irrelevant to what the new domain is subject to a merge?

If there is historic data – it could be a great way to understand – how much of the index was dead? did the website have “laggy” metrics and index bloat? 

Any Security Issues or Pre-Existing Manual Actions?

Whilst uncommon it does happen – there have been times where spammed domains (that are sometimes brandable) go on market and are snapped up by organisations looking to migrate their domain.

Nefarious history can often lead to manual actions, security issues or algorithmic set back that can come back to life when the domain is repurposed. 

Whilst the change of address functionality can “reset” some historic association – there are times where manual actions can remain/appear again even for the new domain owner post migration – this can also have an adverse impact post migration.

Pre-Migration Auditing

Before a domain migration – there should be checks that effectively cover how and what the domain was used for previously, what does the history look like, is there wayback history, have there been any historic penalties decypherable from third party or first party data? A pre-migration audit can be a great way to get your ducks in a row before switching domains over.

Start with Search Console Verification (Domain Property)

Start by setting up Google Search Console (do a domain property as there may have been sub domains used in the past) – validate using a DNS record and once validated – you should have access to any pre-existing data immediately.

You’ll want to look at historic click performance, brand vs non brand, page click distribution, look to see if there is any indexing data (although this  is limited to the last 3 months) – also look at MANUAL ACTIONS  / SECURITY issues and review the “links to your site data”.

You’ll want the cleanest possible slate.

Is There Any Pre-Existing Click Data / Page Data?

After validation – it’s worth checking to see if there is any legacy data in the last 16 months – you’ll only have 3 months of page indexing data – but, it’s always worth looking to see if there is pre-existing search console click data (segment out brand, non brand, look for anything spammy using REGEX) – the more you know about your transitional domains history the better.

If there is nothing (no historic data) then great! you’ve got at least 16 months of no utilisation – which could be enough time for anything that was previously an issue to die out.

 

Are There Any Manual Actions or Security Issues?

If a manual action associated with a domain has been left – even if the site goes offline – the action can persist. Reinstating a website based on domain migration can mean legacy manual actions that haven’t been addressed can persist.

It’s important to address any outstanding manual action before conducting a domain migration.

Also look for security issues (if the site has been offline it’s likely nothing will exist – but if the domain has newly been handed over and has been used recently it’s worth checking).

 

Look At The Domain In Wayback Machine

You may be surprised to see just how old your “new domain” is – with billions of domains in use – its not uncommon to get hold of a domain that’s been used before for various things.

Looking at the wayback data over time can give you an idea of what the domain was used for – was it sat dormant? did it go through a cycle of different website types? was it a parked page for years?

What does the data show you?

You should keep in mind the sites USE and what other third party data might show you.

 

Wayback & Historic Traffic Projection – Sniffing Out Historic Impact

Look at traffic projection data against domain history – you may be surprised, perhaps the domain did well historically and was heavily impacted by Google Panda/Penguin/Hummingbird? perhaps it was hit heavily by MEDIC updates? E-A-T introduction? Rankbrain?

Understanding the domains HISTORY + SNAPSHOTS + TRAFFIC ESTIMATION can help with ascertaining whether there is anything of concern – typically historical events from the past aren’t generally of concern – depending on the nature of the issue and whether it was addressed – i.e. if a MEDIC SITE with UGC (user generated content) was hit in 2018 – if that wasn’t addressed – the domain could see LAG on uptake if you use the domain for another medical site.

Look For PBN / Tiered Link Usage

Never take a domain by face value metrics alone – PBNS and tiered links are not an uncommon strategy – if a business has cheaped out on SEO in the past – the domain may unwittingly be propped up with poor quality links. 

Whilst they are highly unlikely to present a penalty risk – you’ll want to mitigate gaining any short term benefit – SpamBrain updates can decimate sites that are propped up by poor quality links – it’s not penalty based, it’s link devaluation based – so whilst the prospect additional link equity sounds good – it’s often a ticking time bomb for those who are unsuspecting.

Majestic is a great tool to visualise link networks / tiered links.

 

Page Indexing – It Will Follow  Your Domain Transition

Look at your CURRENT domain page indexing items – if there are lots of INDEXING issues – these should be addressed where possible before you migrate – this is often ignored and can often create a whole host of new issues – if you have FUNDAMENTAL issues now – changing the domain won’t solve those, and, subsequently, carrying over lots of ISSUES will only act towards impeding your transition.

Clearing up not indexed issues and minimising things where possible can help make your migration a smooth one.

 

Redirect Chains (Legacy)

Be careful – legacy internal redirects if left can create redirect chains which can be carried across – these can slow down the indexing of NEW URLS.

If you have old, pre-existing redirects that Google is aware of where olddomain.com redirects to another URL on olddomain.com before redirecting to newdomain.com – you can inadvertently preserve those redirects on the new domain – this will slow down index transition and could even lead to key pages dropping from the index.

Our Clients Have Included 

Pre-Migration Planning: Notify Your Stakeholders

Before making any domain migration changes, notify your internal teams, partners, and customers about the upcoming domain name change. Clear communication is important – as is having a backup reversion strategy to switch the domains back if the process doesn’t work out and has sustained negative effects.

Pre-Migration Action: Ensure Absolute Links, Canonicals, HREFLANGs are Up To  Date

A domain migration will often require a websites CMS to be updated with the new URL so that can be reflected across the website – updating a URL in a CMS like WordPress will typically see all internal links automatically updated – although this isn’t always the case. Different CMS + configurations can mean either an easy, fair, hard or very hard update and transitional process.

It’s VITAL to ensure ALL internal linking is updated – this includes body based links and not just absolute links – you do NOT want to end up with hundreds/thousands of 301 redirects supporting OLD to NEW domain on internal URLS.

Ensure HREFLANGS (if you use multi geo) – are updated to reflect the new domains.

Ensure self referencing canonicals are updated to reflect the new domain.

Ensure there is NO OLD domain coverage in HTML source on your domain.

Crawl the pre-release version of the website to ensure that NO old references to the old domain URL are found.

Check Scripts, Image References, Downloads and anything else that has a HREF.

Make sure you update your Google Tag Manager / GA4 / GA configuration to track everything – you can create additional views for the new domain to preserve legacy data in analytics.

Ready, Set, Go! Ensure Your OLD & New Domain are Verified in Search Console using DNS Verification

You should validate using DNS – this way, when the website ceases to function on the old domain – the GSC verification won’t be lost if you used a HTML tag.

Making sure BOTH are validated using CNAME will mean both GSC properties remain active.

Once this is done – you need to use the GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE CHANGE OF ADDRESS FUNCTIONALITY!

Remember – you should also evaluate your sub-domain utilisation also – the process you take will be impacted by whether or not you are having to move sub domains too – you can use URL property COA for sub domains or a Domain Property depending on your configuration.

 

 

The Transition Period! 

The transition period is always a NERVOUS period – and quite rightly so, even smooth domain migrations will come with fluctuation – how much impact is seen is highly dependent on so many circumstances.

Generally a domain migration should take 2-4 weeks to fully complete subject to the size of the index, pre-existing link profile, configuration and consistency of internal links i.e. not linking to the old domain internally.

There are things to observe that can and do happen – some are covered below.

It’s also IMPORTANT to not knee jerk initially – sit tight even if things look to be taking a turn for the worse – it’s important to know what’s happening, monitor and react accordingly.

 

Page Indexing Issues – Monitor & React

It’s important to observe the INDEXED / NOT INDEXED transition between the old search console profile and the new search console profile – NOT INDEXED ITEMS will transfer over to the new domain property – the URLS will of course change – but, it is here that you can begin to spot if things go wrong.

It is here that a qualified SEO consultant / SEO agency / Technical SEO should be involved to ensure that anything new that crops up can be dealt with rather than it snowballing.

 

 

 

 

Duplicate Google Chose Different Canonical Than User

During a transition period – you can expect Google to decide that it would rather make its own decision as to what URL it wants to index. In some circumstances – you can find Google NOT indexing URLS on the new domain because it’s ignored the self referencing canonical and instead opted to continue indexing the old domain.

If Google feels that the OLD URL is right because of signals – it can continue to ignore the fact that the OLD URL has gone – this can and does usually correct itself – although anything that persists more than 2-4 weeks should be looked into.

 

Post Migration: Auditing

During the transition phase – you can expect to see URLS drop out, traffic drops from temporarily switched URLS and other anomalies – it’s important to conduct post migration auditing moving forwards – until, all of the legacy GSC URLS are gone from the index and until such time that search console is no longer showing data for the old URL.

For large sites this can take as long as 3 months – again, it’s hugely dependent on the type of domain, migration smoothness, pre-existing links and indexing issues and more.