Lost ranking after domain switch

[wfm-uk]

I recently migrated from https://whitefusemedia.com to https://whitefuse.com. The website URL structure and content remained the same and I followed all the best practice guidance regarding checks on the new domain and appropriate 301 redirects.

I have seen traffic drop by about 50% and the traffic that is still coming through is mainly coming through links still listed by Google under the old domain (https://whitefusemedia.com).

Is this normal? Should I expect to see this bounce back, or is there anything I can do now to regain the rankings?

[PattyAMG]

Wowser - sorry to hear about the drop in rankings & traffic.

RE: "Is this normal?" Yes.

It's normal to still see traffic coming from your "old" links.  Google needs time to get all of your old domain URLs out of its cache and replace them with new.  Your 301 redirect map and your new domain's XML sitemap will definitely help speed up the process of the replacement.  You can keep an eye on how far Google's come with removing the old URLs from its cache by searching "site:whitefusemedia.com" as well as see how many of your new domain's URLs it has indexed by searching "site:whitefuse.com."

It's also normal to see your traffic drop like this with a domain switch, unfortunately.  You've switched a domain with a domain authority of 40+ to a domain with a domain authority of under 20.  Your website, even with the redirect strategy, is less authoritative than it once was, and thus, it will rank lower.

RE: "Should I expect to see this bounce back?"  It depends.

You have a big gap to make up with your domain switch in the overall authority your new domain has.  You will see some improvements likely happen over the first few months after launch, but in my experience, it's not very likely you're going to be able to close that gap just with a redirect strategy.  (Remember, too, a 301 redirect doesn't transfer 100% of the previous value).  If it's been more than a few months already, then you might expect that this is your new baseline of organic traffic.  In order to reach authority levels at the same level, you're going to have to undertake a significant amount of authority-building and link-building efforts.  In past projects like these, we've even gone so far as trying to contact/reach out to some of our most credible back-link suppliers to let them know that we've updated our site, and to link directly to the new site at the new location.  We had some success with those, but you're relying a lot on webmasters to make those updates on their time/own merits. Regardless, it will take time and energy, and unfortunately a lot of it.

RE: "is there anything I can do now to regain the rankings?" Yes.

Are you willing to switch back to the previous domain?  That is the best way to reclaim your lost rankings/traffic at this point (and do the reverse 301 redirect strategy, now that the new URLs are also in the world.

If you can't go back for branding/internal/other reasons, then my recommendations are to:

1. Survey your most credible backlinks from the old domain and reach out to see if they're willing to link to the new site/location.

2. Work on building new/credible links.  As a first step, making sure your new domain is replaced across the main reputable web directories is a good start.  You can find categorization directories for your business here: https://moz.com/local/categories.  Make sure you update your Google Business listing, Yahoo!, Bing, Social Media profiles, YellowBook, etc, etc.

3. Build new content and promote it to get more valuable shares/links/traffic!

Hope that helps and good luck!

[photoseo1]

How long has the drop in traffic been happening for?

I have switched names of a few branded domains to shorter URLs like it looks like you are doing and I saw a significant drop in traffic for a while, around 3 months. I was sweating it hard, but it did eventually pop back up.

Just try to build some new quality links to the new URL using your brand name as the anchor text and also the naked URL as the anchor text so Google can see that it is emerging as the new preferred domain. A blog post also helps to announce the domain change and once created spread it far and wide on social media.

[wfm-uk]

Thanks for the responses. The posts I read on moving domains didn't prepare me for a permanent drop in domain authority. I had picked up that it was possible to transfer this over, so a bit disappointed if that's not the case! Ouch.

It's only been two weeks so I'll hang in there a little longer but also take the advice about trying to build new inbound links.

[TaylorRHawkins]

This is a great response. Thanks for this!