Domain transfer

[AdvisGroup]

Hi Everyone!

I work for a company that had a new website built through a digital agency and that website went live 2 months ago. I have only been with the company for 2 months and find myself under the gun, because they are not coming up in organic search results that they used to. The old domain was 301'ed to point to the new domain. There were also 1 to 1 redirects set up to transfer the old page authority to the new, equivalent pages. In everyone's experience, how long does it take for a domain to start populating for search terms that it used to? I know there are mixed reviews on 301 transfers and how much of the old domain authority is preserved when you take this route. What is your experience? Just looking for some answers.

Thanks in advance!

John

[EGOL]

If the old domain is strong, the new domain will start getting some stable traffic in about a week.  Two at most.

That is if the new domain has all of the same on-page optimization of the old page, but if that digital agency took shortcuts - such as duplicate title and description tags across the site, or made mistakes such as a bad htaccess... they it will take forever unless they are fixed.

[ThompsonPaul]

My experience is similar to EGOL's. A carefully-implemented domain migration usually settles out within two or three weeks. There will still be some hiccups in certain terms etc for an additional couple of weeks, but those are usually in an upward direction as the new site is an improvement over the old.

If it's been two months and you haven't' yet at least returned to previous levels, it's time to get going on a thorough audit to figure out why and correct.

Tough spot to be in as someone who wasn't involved in the original build, but it does give you the benefit of fresh eyes. The key is to question everything - don't take anyone's assurance about what was done in the migration. Prove each item for yourself before accepting that it's been done properly.

Good luck!

Paul