Member Avatar for Lisa Hoover

If the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) gets its way, businesses may soon get a to choose from. Though they'll probably cost around $100,000 to purchase, the chance to own a user- and search-friendly domain will be a no-brainer for many companies.

Changing URLs once you've established yourself online isn't ideal, but it doesn't mean you need to start from scratch to re-establish your identity. Aside from letting customers know your new online address, here are a few other important steps to take.

Once you've made the necessary DNS changes, your next concern will be search engine optimization (SEO). If you've spent 8 years branding yourself as the top widget vendor in North America, you don't to see all that great Google juice go to waste. Since Google subjects new sites to an , some recommend making sure any old Web site pages return a 301 "temporarily moved" redirect page until you're back in GOOG's good graces. Google itself, however, recommends using a 302 redirect page so the Googlebot can "much more quickly learn about the new domain than it might otherwise."

Next, you'll need reclaim your links. Online content at other Web sites that point to your old domain name and URL won't drive any traffic to your new site. Contact the owners of any Web sites that link to your company and let them know you've got a new address. Most site owners will be happy to change their outbound links for you. If that's not possible, consider using a link checker like Xenu, to at least make sure you don't have any links to your own Web site content that point to old pages.

Once your new site goes live, use Google Webmaster Tools to watch for errors on your site that could potentially interfere with the way Google re-ranks your site.

To see how one company implemented and coped with a domain name change, be sure to check out the posts at the , which documents the process right from the start.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by sonjay

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Good catch, — the redirect choice matters, and was right to flag DNS and SEO as first-order tasks. Below is a compact, practical plan that fills gaps not covered earlier (DNS timing, TLS/HSTS, testing and monitoring) and prioritizes actions that preserve ranking signals.

Pre-migration (48–72 hours before)

  • Lower TTLs on A/CNAME records to ~300s so DNS updates propagate quickly; wait for the old TTL to expire before switching.
  • Provision and test TLS for every hostname you’ll serve (apex, www, subdomains).
  • Build a 1:1 URL mapping for every indexed page and prioritize high-value pages for redirects. (domaindetails.com)

Launch checklist (cutover day)

  • Deploy server-side permanent redirects (301/308) from each old URL to its final new URL; avoid chains and loops by redirecting directly to the end target.
  • Update self-referencing rel=canonical, hreflang entries (if used), internal links, and XML sitemaps to the new URLs; then submit the new sitemap in Search Console. (developers.google.com)

Quick test (sanity checks)

  • Verify redirect and status codes from multiple points. Example quick check:
    curl -I -L https://old.example.com/some-page
  • Watch for mixed-content errors, robots.txt blocks or accidental noindex tags that will prevent indexing. (developers.google.com)

Post-launch monitoring & timeline

  • Use Search Console’s Change of Address (after verifying both properties) and keep all redirects in place for at least 180 days; retain ownership of the old domain for ~1 year to avoid abuse. Be patient — large moves can take weeks to months to fully settle.
  • Don’t preload HSTS until the new domain and every subdomain are 100% HTTPS-capable; preload removal is slow and painful. ()

If the site is large, run the move in staged chunks, validate each stage, and iterate on your redirect map based on Search Console and server logs.

Member Avatar for sonjay

Actually, Google does not recommend a 302, as you wrote. Google recommends a 301. In the page you linked to, it says, "by using a 301 to redirect Googlebot from the old domain to the new one and by submitting a Sitemap for the new domain, Googlebot could much more quickly learn about the new domain than it might otherwise."

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