Need help to decide of domain move reversal

[milad25]

Hello, first sorry for my bad English, it isn't my first language.

I have a website with 13 years of history and activity. 5 Months ago we received a warning message from our domain provider which would seize our domain because of sanctions (i live in Iran), and they have seized many of Iranian domains since then, therefore I have decided to quickly change my domain to another address so i could save my website as much as possible before they take out my domain...

I have moved my website successfully to a new domain address and have done everything necessary for a good domain move (301 all links, change template and...) I have also used the "Change of Address Tool" provided in the google search console so google knows my new domain address and changes all of my links...

Unfortunately, 90% of my traffics comes from Google, therefore we are heavily dependent on organic traffic.
Since I have changed my domain address my traffic has been declining, and now I have only 30% of the traffic input left from google compared to my old domain 5 months ago. (i had recently some SEO troubles too which could affect this decline even more)

Fortunately, my old domain wasn't seized by the domain provider and I have successfully transferred it to another provide recently so there is no danger for my old domain anymore.
My question is, should I move my website back to my old domain (cancel the google "Change of Address Tool" and use it again to move the new domain back to the old domain)? My old domain has more than 13 Years of history, has many backlinks within this 13years, and till now, I cannot get good rankings with new posts on the new domain, sometimes google even does not index my new articles for several days, but my old domain ranks still well (i have tested a new article on the old domain to see how it performs and it was not very good, but I think it ranks still better than my new domain).

My top pages and categories have been redirected successfully and are still ranking well on google on the new domain address and haven't been affected negatively, my main problem is new posts that are not ranking well o even does not get indexed for several days!

I don't know what to do now, are 5months not enough for Google to completely transfer all domain scores from my old domain to the new one? Will all scores of my old domain even transfer to my old domain eventually? How about the many Backlinks I have pointed to the old domain? (which 90% I cannot change or ask to change to my new address) Will the backlinks scores pointing to the old domain transfer to the new domain? On other hand i fear moving my site back to the old domain because I don't know how Google would behave, would all my SEO score and rankings come back after I move back to the old domain? Also as far as I know, after 6months of using the google "Change of Address Tool" I cannot cancel the domain change anymore, therefore I have roughly 1 month to decide to cancel the move or not...

Please if anyone could help or guide me on what to do it would be live saving for me, because my whole income and my family depends on my website... :(

[edited by: goodroi at 11:55 am (utc) on Jun 26, 2021]
[edit reason] fixed thread formatting [/edit]

[not2easy]

Hello milad25 and welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com]

Your english is just fine from what you have posted here. Only a few questions to help clarify the overall picture. When you say

Fortunately, my old domain wasn't seized by the domain provider and I have successfully transferred it to another provide recently so there is no danger for my old domain anymore.

it is not clear to me if you have moved your old domain to a new registrar or a new host or both. The place where you pay for your domain name is the registrar and the place where you host it is often a different service but it can also be the same as the registrar. Have you changed registrar and host, or only the registrar? In other words, is the domain provider the registrar, the host or both? It seems from your question that you have changed to a new registrar that is also your new host, is that correct?

If you have been able to change your registrar and your host to more stable providers and now feel secure then the decision to revert to the old domain name for the same content or continue with the newer domain name is up to you. Yes, it could get you back to your previous levels of traffic and ranking but it sounds as if you have successfully made the change and reverting again will be a slower change - like they say - if it is not broken, don't fix it.

If you decide to do that, it should be done carefully in the correct order to avoid confusing Google and other search engines. Expect it to take longer than the first change and likely to cause some loss of any established authority to some degree. Google can digest a change but they do not give preference to things that change course repeatedly.

Some things to keep in mind about your questions: Google used to index much faster than they do today. That has been noticed by many webmasters across domain types and categories and verticals. If you are happier with the new domain then there is no need to go through the convoluted process to go back to the old domain - BUT you will need to continue owning the old domain because you need to own it to continue sending the old page requests to the new domain and you can't do that if you don't control it.

If you have old backlinks, people who click those links should be redirected the same as any other request. You can test that by pasting an old link into your browser's address bar and see whether it takes you to the same content on the new domain. If it does, then nothing is broken and will catch up in time.

[milad25]

Thank you for your answer.
Yes the old domain is now secure on a new registrar.
My main concern about the old domain backlinks are not users that can be redirected to the new domain, but the google score and reputation the old domain has because of many backlinks it has. Does all the google score and reputation of the old domain transfer to the new domain for google? if not i think it would better to move back to the old domain because of many backlinks it has

[not2easy]

The number of backlinks is not nearly as important as the type of backlinks. Every link that points to your site is not counted in Google's evaluation. The links that count are the ones that the public can see and use. So long as humans can click on a link and land on your new site it may have value. Google has been juggling with the value of links over the past decade or more and if you are concerned about UGC links, do not be concerned as they have little value. Even a nofollow link placed in the content of a site has more value today.

Whatever 'score' and reputation your old site had was transferred to the new site with the 301 redirect - so long as they do not all land on the home page or something similar. To transfer all value from one site to another, the 301 needs to land on the equivalent content, not just on the new domain. That way all old links land on the same content on the new domain.

[milad25]

How about the history of the old domain which is nearly 15 Years. Doesn't google favor older and established domains more than new ones? If so, does this reputation of the old domain transfer to the new one?

In other words, so do you think generally moving a domain to a new address (with all correct 301 steps), even an old and established domain, doesn't effect the placement or reputation it has for google? this is my main concern after all.

[not2easy]

All things being equal, if two domains are seen as "equal" and one of them is older, then in most cases the older domain has additional value but not enough to lose a year of progress to go back (my opinion only). That part of your question is up to you to evaluate. Do you have several competitors seen as nearly equal? If not, I would not be concerned. Reverting to the old domain will put it into disarray with Google for some time, more time than it has taken to make that first step.

The old domain, as long as you own it and continue to maintain your 301 forwarding to the new domain will be seen as your own replacement of your old domain. The tracks are there in your own GSC account.

As mentioned earlier here:

If you decide to do that, it should be done carefully in the correct order to avoid confusing Google and other search engines. Expect it to take longer than the first change and likely to cause some loss of any established authority to some degree. Google can digest a change but they do not give preference to things that change course repeatedly.

[milad25]

My only concern is this sentence said by google:
"After the 180 day period, Google does not recognize any relationship between the old and new sites, and treats the old site as an unrelated site, if still present and crawlable."

at this link:
[support.google.com...]

[not2easy]

This: -->

if still present and crawlable.

Whatever old URL is requested on the old domain goes via 301 to the new URL on the new domain. They cannot crawl the old domain without reaching the new domain. Right?