How to Change a Domain and Keep Your SEO Ranking

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Learn how to change a domain with this guide. Discover how to protect your traffic and rankings with 301 redirects, DNS updates, and proven SEO strategies.

Changing your domain is a big deal, and it's a move that goes way beyond just a technical tweak. Usually, it's tied to a major business decision—maybe a full rebrand is in the works, you're pivoting to a new market, or you finally snagged that perfect, memorable domain name you've had your eye on.

When done right, a domain migration is a powerful way to set your brand up for future growth, all while protecting the hard-earned SEO you've built over the years.

Why Change Your Domain and What to Expect

Knowing the steps to change a domain is one thing, but really getting the why and the what behind it is what makes the difference between a smooth transition and a bumpy ride. Companies don't just wake up and decide to change their name online; there's always a solid reason behind it.

Perhaps your original domain just doesn't fit your services anymore, or you've finally upgraded to a premium .com that truly reflects your brand's identity. Whatever the reason, the main goal is always to come out stronger on the other side without losing the authority and trust you've already established.

The Big Picture of a Domain Migration

Switching your domain is much more than flipping a switch in your settings. It's a full-on project that demands careful planning to sidestep the usual traps. Think of it like moving your physical business to a shiny new location—you've got to forward your mail, put up new signs, and make sure all your customers know exactly where to find you.

Before you even think about touching a DNS record, having a solid plan is non-negotiable. A pre-flight checklist helps ensure you've covered all your bases for a seamless move.

Domain Change Pre-Flight Checklist

This checklist summarizes the critical tasks you'll want to knock out before you start the migration. It’s all about preparation to guarantee a smooth transition for both your users and search engines.

Checklist Item	Purpose	Status
Full Site Backup	Create a complete backup of your website files and database as a safety net.	☐ Pending
URL Audit	Compile a list of all your current URLs to map out redirects.	☐ Pending
Performance Benchmark	Record current SEO metrics (rankings, traffic, load speed) for comparison later.	☐ Pending
Notify Your Team	Inform your marketing, sales, and support teams of the upcoming change.	☐ Pending
Plan Communication	Prepare announcements for your customers, partners, and audience.	☐ Pending

Once you've ticked off these boxes, you're in a much better position to handle the technical side of things without any nasty surprises.

A typical domain migration breaks down into a few key phases:

Prep Work: This is where you back up your entire site and audit every single URL you have. No skipping this.

The Switch: Here, you'll be updating your DNS records and, most importantly, putting permanent (301) redirects in place.

Post-Launch Checks: The final stage is all about telling search engines about the move and keeping a close eye on your site for any glitches.

The big question on everyone's mind is always about SEO. Let's be real: a temporary dip in traffic can happen as search engines get reacquainted with your site at its new address. But a well-planned migration with proper redirects ensures all your ranking power gets passed over to the new domain, keeping any long-term damage to a minimum.

So, how long does all this take? It really depends. The process can be as quick as a few days or stretch out over several weeks, especially for larger, more complex websites. With over 371 million registered domain names out there, this is a path many have walked before. The trick is to manage any downtime effectively and get all your marketing materials updated quickly to keep business running smoothly. If you're curious, you can get more insights on the latest domain industry trends.

Choosing Your New Domain and Preparing for Migration

Before you dive into the technical side of changing a domain, you need to lock down the perfect new address. This isn't just about picking a name you like; it's a strategic move. Your new domain should be memorable, easy for people to spell, and a perfect match for your brand's identity now and in the future.

The domain market moves fast. Just to give you an idea, in a single quarter of 2025, a staggering 10.4 million new .com and .net domains were registered. With the global total hovering around 368 million, it's a competitive space where good names get snapped up quickly.

Laying the Groundwork for a Flawless Switch

Once you've got your new domain in hand, the real preparation begins. I've seen too many people skip this part, and it almost always leads to trouble—broken links, lost traffic, and a major SEO headache. The absolute first thing you must do is create a complete backup of your website.

Think of this backup as your safety net. It contains every file and your entire database, meaning you can hit the reset button and restore everything if the migration hits a snag.

Next up, it’s time for a full content and URL audit. This means creating a master spreadsheet that lists every single page on your current site. This document will become your roadmap for setting up redirects, mapping each old URL to its new home.

A comprehensive URL audit is non-negotiable. It's the only way to guarantee you don’t leave any pages behind, which helps you avoid those dreaded "404 Not Found" errors that frustrate users and tank your search rankings.

Proper planning is everything here. If this domain change is part of a bigger website refresh, following a comprehensive website redesign checklist can be a lifesaver for keeping all the moving parts organized. And for those of you building on Notion, our guide on how to add a custom domain for your Notion page has the specific steps you'll need.

Pointing Your DNS Records to the New Domain

Alright, with your new domain secured and your site safely backed up, it's time to dive into the technical core of this whole process: updating your DNS records.

This is the step that officially tells the internet, "Hey, my website moved over here!" While it might sound a little intimidating, it's really just a matter of logging into your domain registrar—think GoDaddy, Namecheap, or wherever you bought your domain—and tweaking a couple of settings.

You'll need to find your DNS management panel. From there, your main job is to update either an A record or a CNAME record to point to your website's server. Don't worry, your hosting provider will give you the exact value you need to plug in. Once you make that change, you've officially flipped the switch.

What to Expect During DNS Propagation

Now, here’s a crucial heads-up: after you update those records, the change isn't instant. This delay is called DNS propagation, and it's the process of internet service providers (ISPs) all around the globe updating their records with your site's new address.

Think of it like sending out a change-of-address notification to the entire world. It takes a little while for the memo to reach everyone.

This whole process can take anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours. During this time, some visitors might see your new site, while others still get sent to the old one. My advice? Be patient. It's working, even if you can't see it immediately.

The image below breaks down the key steps of this technical phase, from getting your DNS settings in order to the final propagation waiting game.

This visual shows that you're just dealing with a couple of specific records and then a required waiting period before your site is fully live for everyone, everywhere.

The most common hang-up I see is people worrying when their new site doesn't appear immediately. Remember, propagation is a global process. You can use online tools like DNS checkers to monitor progress from different locations around the world.

For Sotion users, the good news is this is a simple two-record setup. If you need a quick refresher, our complete guide on how to set up a custom domain walks you through it clearly. The key is just getting the records updated correctly and then giving the internet a little time to catch up.

Using Permanent Redirects to Preserve Your SEO

You've pointed your DNS to the new domain, which is a huge step. But now comes the single most important part of protecting your search rankings: setting up permanent redirects. This isn't just some technical box-ticking exercise; it's how you tell Google and other search engines that your content has officially moved, ensuring you don't lose all the authority you've worked so hard to build.

The magic happens with a 301 redirect. Think of it as filing a permanent change-of-address form with the post office, but for the internet. It clearly tells browsers and search engine crawlers, "Hey, this page isn't here anymore—it now lives permanently at this new URL." This is absolutely vital for passing your SEO value, often called "link equity," from your old pages to the new ones.

Skip this, and you've got a disaster on your hands. Anyone trying to access your old URLs will smack into a 404 error page. That’s a terrible experience for your visitors and a massive red flag for Google, signaling that your valuable content has just vanished. Your rankings will plummet.

Mapping Old URLs to New Ones

Remember that URL map you put together during the prep phase? It's time to pull it out. This map is your blueprint for making sure every single page on your old site is correctly pointed to its direct counterpart on the new domain.

For example:

Homepage: old-domain.com needs to go to new-domain.com

About Page: old-domain.com/about-us should point to new-domain.com/about

Blog Post: old-domain.com/blog/my-post must redirect to new-domain.com/blog/my-post

A one-to-one mapping is non-negotiable. A common, and incredibly damaging, mistake is to just redirect everything to the new homepage. This confuses search engines and torpedoes your SEO efforts.

A meticulous redirect strategy is the bedrock of a successful domain migration. Taking the time to map every URL individually is the only way to preserve page-specific rankings and give your audience a seamless experience.

Implementing these 301 redirects happens on your server. How you do it depends on your hosting setup—popular web servers like Apache and Nginx have specific configuration files where you'll add these rules. While getting your redirects right is crucial for continuity, you can further boost your site's performance by exploring proven SEO strategies for increasing organic traffic. This dual approach helps protect what you've built while setting your new domain up for future growth.

Finalizing The Move And Notifying Search Engines

Getting your redirects live is a huge step, and you've just tackled the most technical part of changing your domain. But don't pop the champagne just yet. Now it's time for some crucial post-launch cleanup to make sure search engines and your users fully recognize your new digital address.

Think of this final phase as all about communication and housekeeping.

First up, head straight to Google Search Console. You'll need to add and verify your new domain as a brand-new property. Once that's done, look for the "Change of Address" tool. This is your official notice to Google, telling them your site has permanently moved. It’s an absolutely critical step that helps them pass your old site's ranking authority over to the new one much more smoothly.

Updating Your Digital Footprint

Next on the list is combing through your own website. Every single internal link needs to be updated to point to the new domain. This means checking your navigation menus, footers, and digging into the content of your blog posts and pages. Leaving old internal links creates redirect chains that can ever-so-slightly slow down your site and the crawling process.

While you're at it, you'll need to update your XML sitemap and submit the shiny new version to Google Search Console. This gives Google a fresh, accurate map of all your important pages at their new home.

But your work extends beyond just your site's code.

It's essential to update every digital touchpoint to reflect the new domain. This includes your social media profile links, email signatures, and any advertising campaigns you're running. Brand consistency builds trust and avoids confusion for your audience.

This is also the perfect time to give your canonical tags a quick review. These little HTML tags are vital for telling search engines which version of a URL is the "master copy," which is a lifesaver for preventing duplicate content issues. Make sure they all point to your new domain.

For those using Sotion, our platform handles many of these technical details behind the scenes. You can always learn more about setting up your custom domain in our guides.

Finally, you can give Google a direct nudge to speed things up. To get your new pages indexed faster, check out this detailed guide to Google Request Indexing. It’s a proactive step that can really help get your new domain recognized and ranking sooner.

Still Have Questions About Changing Your Domain?

Even the most well-thought-out plan can leave you with a few nagging questions about what happens when you switch domains. That's completely normal. Let's tackle the most common concerns head-on so you can move forward with confidence.

Is My SEO Ranking Going to Tank Permanently?

This is the big one, the question that keeps website owners up at night. And for good reason. You should expect a temporary fluctuation in your rankings and traffic—that’s just part of the process. Search engines need a little time to crawl the new URLs, process your redirects, and re-index everything at its new home.

However, a permanent nosedive is absolutely not inevitable.

If you are meticulous with your page-to-page 301 redirects, submit an updated sitemap, and tell Google about the move with their Change of Address tool, you'll safeguard the vast majority of your hard-earned SEO value. Think of a flawless redirect strategy as your insurance policy.

How Long Does This Whole Thing Actually Take?

The technical bit—pointing your DNS records to the new location—is surprisingly fast. But waiting for that change to spread across the entire internet, a process called propagation, can take up to 48 hours.

The full project timeline really depends on your site's complexity. For a small site, you could knock out the entire process—from planning and backups to redirects and post-launch checks—in just a few days. For larger, more complex websites, it's smart to give yourself at least a week to handle every detail without rushing.

A classic mistake is to let your old domain expire right after the switch. You absolutely need to keep it registered and active for at least a year. This ensures all your 301 redirects keep working, catching any traffic from old bookmarks or forgotten backlinks.

Do I Really Need to Announce the Change?

Yes, you do. Don't leave your audience in the dark! Clear communication is key to maintaining trust and making sure your users have a smooth experience. A solid communication plan looks something like this:

Before the launch: Let people know what's coming. Post announcements on your website, send an email to your list, and share it on your social media channels.

During the launch: Have a prominent banner on both the old and new sites while the transition is happening.

After the launch: Send a follow-up announcement to confirm the move is done and welcome everyone to your site's new address.

This kind of proactive communication prevents confusion and shows your audience you're on top of things.

Ready to launch your own branded website from a Notion page? With Sotion, you can go live with a custom domain in minutes, no coding required. Manage memberships, protect your content, and build your brand effortlessly. Start your journey with Sotion today.