4 ms·

How does one change his domain name without losing hits?

14 points by nocivus 16y ago

joshklein 16y ago
301 redirects. Follow jacquesm's link to Google's recommendation. Here is my how-to guide on implementing what Google recommends: http://www.joshklein.net/seo-basics-how-to-safely-move-redesign-your-website http://www.joshklein.net/seo-basics-how-to-safely-move-redes...
jacquesm 16y ago
301 redirects. See: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=93633 http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en...
- StavrosK 16y ago
  Yeah, seriously. Did you expect you'd just drop the old domain and you'd still get the same visitors? I changed my blog's address from poromenos.org to korokithakis.net and 301d everything, I saw zero reduction in visitors. If you tell Google you're redirecting (from inside Google Webmaster Tools), they'll even oblige and rewrite their own URLs to the new ones, preserving PR.
- mrtron 16y ago
  Redirects are also the better way of having content at yoursite.com and www.yoursite.com, etc. Redirect and avoid content duplication.
- ericabiz 16y ago
  Yes, and make sure to notify Google of the 301 from inside their Webmaster Tools site, as well. Also, run a Yahoo Site Explorer search to see who is linking to you, and email all those folks to have them change the links to your new domain. A caveat: You may lose search engine rankings for a few weeks. My site was ranking #4 for a specific keyword and I changed the domain. Did everything right--301 redirect; notified Google. I have a service that checks my rankings every day. I noticed the site dropped from the rankings ENTIRELY for 3 weeks! But then it came back with the new domain...and at #1 for that search term. :) Just know that even doing everything right means you may still have a waiting period. By the way, I'm shocked this guy just let his old domain name waste away. Fortunately, it appears he still has the name. If the OP is reading this, for Pete's sake, do a 301 before you lose all your Google juice!
dedward 16y ago
301 redirects as jacquesm siad. That will take care of the search engines, anyway, which is probably where most of your traffic is coming from. That said - you should also be analyzing your logs or whatnot to see where your traffic is really coming from, and more importantly,whether this new strategy is working before you shut off the old domain.

14 points by nocivus 16y ago

301 redirects. Follow jacquesm's link to Google's recommendation. Here is my how-to guide on implementing what Google recommends: http://www.joshklein.net/seo-basics-how-to-safely-move-redesign-your-website http://www.joshklein.net/seo-basics-how-to-safely-move-redes...

jacquesm 16y ago

301 redirects. See: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=93633 http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en...

StavrosK 16y ago
Yeah, seriously. Did you expect you'd just drop the old domain and you'd still get the same visitors? I changed my blog's address from poromenos.org to korokithakis.net and 301d everything, I saw zero reduction in visitors. If you tell Google you're redirecting (from inside Google Webmaster Tools), they'll even oblige and rewrite their own URLs to the new ones, preserving PR.
mrtron 16y ago
Redirects are also the better way of having content at yoursite.com and www.yoursite.com, etc. Redirect and avoid content duplication.
ericabiz 16y ago
Yes, and make sure to notify Google of the 301 from inside their Webmaster Tools site, as well. Also, run a Yahoo Site Explorer search to see who is linking to you, and email all those folks to have them change the links to your new domain. A caveat: You may lose search engine rankings for a few weeks. My site was ranking #4 for a specific keyword and I changed the domain. Did everything right--301 redirect; notified Google. I have a service that checks my rankings every day. I noticed the site dropped from the rankings ENTIRELY for 3 weeks! But then it came back with the new domain...and at #1 for that search term. :) Just know that even doing everything right means you may still have a waiting period. By the way, I'm shocked this guy just let his old domain name waste away. Fortunately, it appears he still has the name. If the OP is reading this, for Pete's sake, do a 301 before you lose all your Google juice!

dedward 16y ago

301 redirects as jacquesm siad. That will take care of the search engines, anyway, which is probably where most of your traffic is coming from. That said - you should also be analyzing your logs or whatnot to see where your traffic is really coming from, and more importantly,whether this new strategy is working before you shut off the old domain.