Changing domain name of a well ranked web site

Is it possible to do it without damagaing rankings?

[ish]

Hi there

I have a site that ranks well for some quite good search terms. The domain name that it uses is nearly 6 years old, which possibly helps with the rankings.

However, the domain name isn't really ideal for the current content of the site, and ideally I would like to purchase a new domain to help 'brand' the site.

Is there a good way to switch over to using the new domain name without risking damaging the current rankings?

Thanks for any tips.

[blue_eagle]

I have the same problem but believe me this is just like having a store where all your customers know you and moving to a different location. I heard some places and my opinion is that it would affect your rankings. Thats the only reason i am keeping my current domain and the content on that domain.

[etechsupport]

Perhaps 301 redirect seems a possibility, but I am not quite sure.

[annej]

You would never get all those sites to link to your new domain.(probably not even a fraction of them) You would lose your ranking on search pages plus all the people who have bookmarked your site. I'd keep the domain and build your brand name up in the homepage title and on the pages throughout the site.

I've had to do the same. My domain name does not relate to my product but it's too valuable to let go. Fortunately the domain name doesn't look ridiculous with the topic.

[Rosalind]

People are still linking to a domain I moved about 2 years ago. In practice the web is littered with links that will never get updated.

But these aren't always especially valuable links, even in total. It can be worthwhile to rebrand, and then simply put up a redirect. It's fairly painless when your site is small, but it will get harder to do once it grows in traffic and links in.

[bigace]

We did this about two years ago and everything was fine.
I don't know if google algo changes have changed so much that it won't work now but here is what we did.

1. Set up the new Domain.
2. Put copies of all of the pages on the new Domain.
3. As soon as the new domain showed up in the Google index, (this was almost immediately) then we redirected the old domain to the new with a 301 redirect.
4. Then we contacted every site that linked to the old URL and ask them to change the link. (most of the important links were willing to do that.)
5. We waited about 2 weeks then we closed down the old site. We kept the old URL active but with no data just the redirect to the new URL.
6. The new URL was quickly ranked highly in the SERPS. Within a couple of more weeks The new URL was ranked #l again for every KW that the old URL had ranked #1. For a little while both URLs were ranked quite high, sometimes both #1 and #2
7. From day one to total change over was less than one month. No problems, a lot of work on the links, a lot of worry that something would go wrong.
8. Even after two years we still have some redirect traffic coming from that old URL.

I think I would worry a bit about the duplicate content issue now, which wasn't a problem at that time.

[blue_eagle]

Bigace you seem to be lucky or did everything very accurate.

But still it is a big risk if the web site you are planning to move is your main income source, persoanlly i am not that brave to take that risk :)

Thanks for the step by step information tho.

[akmac]

Did the same just this spring-(301 redirect to new domain) serps are only now recovering. In my experience, the 301 did not transfer rank-just visitors. From a search engine's perspective, it's a new site. Starts again from the bottom.

[LostOne]

I've been thinking of a change, but have spent too much time gathering links over the last 16 months. It's still a possibility but I'm certain it will take some time to get back all the good SERP positions. I could always pay for adwords while we work on the SERPS again. But then, linking doesn't seem to be as easy as it was in the past:(

[andrea99]

I'd say it's risky. Other than the risk it's just a fine idea. :) Some have done it successfully but I've heard a lot of horror stories too, looks like a crap-shoot to me.

I'm all for hedging the move. I'm thinking of breaking off some low-traffic pages onto a new domain since there's little to lose there and it will be easier to work on these pages and experiment while they are isolated. This new domain will unsandbox someday, perhaps then the whole site can move.

My advice, don't change the domain name unless forced by a court or some other irresistable force.