Moving to new domain

Hi Govind,
the first question you should ask is if it is worth to move the domain, you'll likely have some changes.
Also consider the migration during the period you usually get less traffic.

First and foremost use a staging version of you new site to avoid any issue.

That said if the only thing you'll be changing is the domain, but not the the URLs, page structure, you'll not delete/add anything during the migration, categories, tags, products, etc will not be changing, then a 301 redirect at URL level is the main thing to do.

Map the old URLs on xyxcollections.com create 301 redirects to xyz.co.

Before moving the site, I'd suggest to audit the site and make sure all the pages are on the same protocol (i.e.: https) and subdomain (i.e.: non-www). This would help you to avoid redirect loops.

Redirect any media file you use: images, pdfs, presentations, etc

Make sure you don't already have old redirect from previous versions of your site (redesign, old website, content update, etc) or internal links with multiple redirects.

Analyse your backlink profile and identify (relevant) backlinks to pages that don't exist anymore or that are just redirects.

Self canonicalize your page with the new URLs.
Crawl your site (screaming frog is an option), to have a snapshot in case you need to to revert or review.
Submit the new sitemap.
Keep the old sitemap and request to recrawl it (with the redirects in place).
Don't sell and let the old domain expire, keep it for at least a year or so (the more the better)

Add notes of the change in your Google Analytics.
Review the rankings with external tools and Google Search Console.

Update your other channels (social, email, other platforms)
Change your address on Google Search Console.

Based on your CMS and your specific website there would be many other activities to implement. My advice is to apply as few changes as possible during this phase.

Don't migrate on Friday ;)

Here you can also find an interesting guide: https://moz.com/blog/website-migration-guide

If your main income comes from this website, hire an SEO consultant

Hope it helps,
Francesco

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1

Hi Govind,
the first question you should ask is if it is worth to move the domain, you'll likely have some changes.
Also consider the migration during the period you usually get less traffic.

First and foremost use a staging version of you new site to avoid any issue.

That said if the only thing you'll be changing is the domain, but not the the URLs, page structure, you'll not delete/add anything during the migration, categories, tags, products, etc will not be changing, then a 301 redirect at URL level is the main thing to do.

Map the old URLs on xyxcollections.com create 301 redirects to xyz.co.

Before moving the site, I'd suggest to audit the site and make sure all the pages are on the same protocol (i.e.: https) and subdomain (i.e.: non-www). This would help you to avoid redirect loops.

Redirect any media file you use: images, pdfs, presentations, etc

Make sure you don't already have old redirect from previous versions of your site (redesign, old website, content update, etc) or internal links with multiple redirects.

Analyse your backlink profile and identify (relevant) backlinks to pages that don't exist anymore or that are just redirects.

Self canonicalize your page with the new URLs.
Crawl your site (screaming frog is an option), to have a snapshot in case you need to to revert or review.
Submit the new sitemap.
Keep the old sitemap and request to recrawl it (with the redirects in place).
Don't sell and let the old domain expire, keep it for at least a year or so (the more the better)

Add notes of the change in your Google Analytics.
Review the rankings with external tools and Google Search Console.

Update your other channels (social, email, other platforms)
Change your address on Google Search Console.

Based on your CMS and your specific website there would be many other activities to implement. My advice is to apply as few changes as possible during this phase.

Don't migrate on Friday ;)

Here you can also find an interesting guide: https://moz.com/blog/website-migration-guide

If your main income comes from this website, hire an SEO consultant

Hope it helps,
Francesco

betakrea

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6 years ago
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1. 1
  
  thanks @betakrea
  
  govind84
  
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  6 years ago
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  1. 1
    
    It's pleasure!
    
    betakrea
    
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    6 years ago
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