Let’s be honest, you can probably name a bunch of great reasons to change your website domain name. Are you looking for more clients? How about a fresh new look? Maybe a different extension will help you leap past your competitors in the search engines. Or maybe you’re just bored with the one you’ve got.
There are many benefits to changing a domain name and no disadvantage in doing this. Changing domain names will never harm your business but you have to do it correctly.
In this article, we explore the topic that many website owners are afraid to talk about – changing the domain name of your website.
1. Why you should change your domain name
There are some important improvements you need to make to your business website. If you have a confusing domain name, no social engagement, and little or no conversions, this is bad for your business and a domain name change may be what you need.
If you own a domain name ending in .com, .net, or .org, you’re missing out on a huge number of customers. A huge number of potential customers are likely to visit websites with a country code (ccTLD) extension as they don’t see it as less.
By switching your domain ending to CO.NZ (for example), you could find yourself bringing in more customers than ever before. In fact, there are lots of opportunities for businesses to break into new markets when they use country-based domain names.
Think about your company, product, or organization. Be honest. Is your domain name a perfect match? If you have an opportunity to change it to something that represents your business much more closely, do it.
Register better domain names on sites such as https://www.freeparking.co.nz/domain-names/nz and focus on the big things.
2. Does changing domain name affect SEO?
Moving a site to a new domain name can be very disruptive as it may result in loss of search engine rankings and traffic.
In fact, as far as search engine optimization is concerned, changing the domain name would not be considered beneficial. In fact, Google will consider such a move suspicious and could even deem your website to be participating in manipulative link building practices, which is never appreciated.
Changing domains can also put off visitors used to your old URL. It can also make it more difficult for you to keep up with backlinks pointing to your old pages.
If you are changing your domain name, you need to consider the consequences of this change on SEO. However, if you follow best practices, changing your domain name will not impact your search engine ranking or rankings in the organic search listings.
3. How to change the domain name without affecting SEO
Do you want to transfer your domain name from one provider to another? Make sure you do it without hurting your SEO.
Thankfully, it is quite easy to do this even if you are not a tech expert. Below are quick steps for changing your domain name without jeopardizing your page rankings.
4. Check domain history
Checking the history of a domain name before purchasing it, is likely to be a good idea. The ‘WHOIS’ process will let you know what the previous owners’ details were, so you can make sure that no one else owned it previously and is just trying to sell it on to you.
Also, a History Check makes sure the domain name has not been associated with spam or fraud. The checks will show the date of any changes in the records, like when the domain name was transferred, any ownership changes that have taken place, and if there have been any warnings issued by a registry regarding use of the domain name.
5. Buy a new domain name
Once you are happy with your chosen domain name, go and head and buy from your preferred domain name provider. It is a good idea to buy domain names from the same company hosting your website.
6. Point new domain to your website
The quick and easy method is to update your records. This will update the “A record” of your new domain name, so when someone types it in, they will be redirected to your existing website. You can do this manually with the help of cPanel. If you don’t remember how to do it, just ask your web hosting provider to do this for you. This is why it is always best to buy both web hosting and the domain name from the same company. Everything can be done seamlessly for you.
7. Do 301 redirect
You may be surprised to learn that there are several things you can do to ensure your website continues to rank well even if you change your domain name. According to Google, 301 redirects are the best way to make sure your site maintains all of its rankings after a domain name change. The 301 redirects is said to be the preferred method because it tells search engines that this page has permanently moved.
8. Let google know about the domain change
Once you are all set, the next step is to let google know about the changes you have made. Google search console is the quickest way to get this set up.
It is simple and it doesn’t even require you to be an expert in search engine optimization.
- Step 1: Go to Google Console
- Step 2: Click on the dashboard icon
- Step 3: Click on “Add/verify a domain” Step 4: Enter all details about your website and click verify.
Conclusion
Changing your domain name might be a big deal. You’ve worked really hard on building your brand and promoting your site through search engines and social media, and you might be concerned that you’ll lose all of that momentum if you switch. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be like that!
Domain names make a difference in marketing your website. The right domain extension can help you build credibility, trust, and even show increased conversion rates for online sales. As you take the time to choose a domain name, it will help position you as an industry expert.
