Domains and Domain Authority

[MainstreamMktg]

Looking for some advice

I have a domain that has been registered since 1999 and currently hosts my website - the problem is that my business has moved in a different direction and my URL is no longer associated with my main product offering. For example in the past I was xyzgarden.com however now something like xyzhomedecor.com is much more appropriate.

How should I handle this so that I am not at a disadvantage for SEO.

thanks!

[emilydavidson]

Hello,

In most cases I would simply recommend a 301 redirect map to update your domain, if you're sticking with the same host. There are some safety steps here, like doing them gradually, starting with pages that have lower traffic,etc.. (here's a youtube video from Matt Cutts on how to change your domain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wATxftE8ooE)

However, you mentioned that your product offerings are different -- the question here is _how different _? You could do the redirect, but if Google now notices that your main content and site objective are entirely different than it used to be, than it is essentially a new site and you may not have those rankings carried over. If it's simply that your content and products are the same or similar, but you would like your domain name to better represent your site, then go ahead and implement the redirect, just make sure that you have your site claimed and verified in search console first and watch that video from google on the topic.

[MainstreamMktg]

Hi Emily,

Thanks for the reply. Basically, we went from being a garden centre to expanding into other areas. Like clothing and home decor. Because the garden market in my city is not like it used to be, we knew we needed to change our product offerings to keep thriving. So while, we still sell flowers and potted plants, we know it's not our "money maker" and not where we want to focus our SEO efforts.

[brettmandoes]

I think Emily is on the right track here. You'll want to 301 redirect to pages that are similar in content. Your top level page on flowers from the old site should redirect to the top level page for flowers on the new site for example. It's more time consuming to implement one to one redirects this way rather than forwarding the entire domain to the homepage, but it will keep your referral traffic intact and Google is more likely to pass on the equity you've built over the years.