What a Designer Needs to Know About a Domain Extension

It's a big decision to change your site's domain. You may have found the perfect one at an auction or you're rebranding your company so you'll have to plan the domain name change carefully. You want to retain your ranking and links so you don't lose traffic.

Google Search Console

Use the Change of Address Tool in Google Search Console to move your website to a new domain. You must verify that you're the owner of the new domain. Keep your 301 redirects for at least 180 days; after this time, Google sees no relationship between the two sites.

301 Redirects

Transferring your sites pages with a 301 redirect will direct visitors to the new page and tell search engines about your permanent move. You have to do this correctly; if you are not sure what you're doing, pay an expert to do it for you. Once you're done, go through your inbound links and make sure they redirect properly. Check your important keywords in Google and make certain the link goes to your new domain.

Getting Back Your Ranking

It's common for your ranking to slip for a month to six weeks. To help speed up the process, create fresh, premium content and market it. This will also help you get more backlinks so you may rank even better than before.

Does a New Domain Extension Matter?

Webmasters wonder if changing to a new domain extension, such as a .com to a .org, will affect their SEO after a domain name change. It may have a slight impact on SEO, but site quality is the primary factor which determines ranking. You can't discount what people using a search engine will think about a domain extension though.

While it's possible to change your domain without losing rank permanently, it isn't easy. Don't do it unless you have an excellent reason. For more information click here https://www.reddit.com/r/SEO/comments/g8vpbq/hugelossintrafficduedomainmigrationdidi/.