Changing Domain / Site Name - An SEO Nightmare?

[Travis-W]

My company will be changing its name and moving to a new domain in about a month. What can I do from an SEO perspective to get ready for the big move? Do I just need to 301 redirect all my URLs to their new corresponding pages? Thanks!

[Matt-Williamson]

Hi Zora

Yes I would 301 redirect your old URLs to their new corresponding ones (passing around 90-99% of the link juice from your old domain) and then set change of address in Google Webmaster Tools under configuration for your old domain. You need to be patient as it will take time for Google and other search engines to catch up with this change.

For more information have a look at this blog post which is very useful in your situation - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/achieving-an-seo-friendly-domain-migration-the-infographic

[Travis-W]

Great, thanks!  Do you know - if I have external links (from link-building) pointing to my old domain, is 301 redirecting sufficient enough to pass the link juice? or should I contact the webmaster and have them change the URL?

[JarnoNijzing]

Zora,

I would also go ahead and ask the webmasters from the websites that are linking to your old domain to change the link to the new domain. Since this can take up several months with google to be noticed you could already do that. In combination with the 301 redirect you could do just fine.

kind regards

Jarno

[irvingw]

Why are you changing domain names might i ask, company name/branding from what it sounds like. It's usually only a last resort option especially if the existing site has good PR and is ranking well.

[Matt-Williamson]

Well if it is easy enough for them to change the URL to your new one then I would go down this route, as it will pass 100% of the link juice. However I would still put 301 redirects in place as it will make sure any visits to your old pages will get to the new ones and any links that you can't change will still be able to pass the majority of the link juice that you have already gained.

[Travis-W]

You are correct, it is for company name/branding.

Our current site is not ranking especially well. It only seems to do amazing for branded search terms.