Changing domain name of your website? Cool, but before getting into this topic, I’ll answer why people change the domain name. There could be several reasons for this honestly, but I’ll tell the possible ones. These are the scenarios:
1. Copyright Infringement: Like, WordPress doesn’t want people to use the word “WordPress” on their domain names, so people running WordPress****.com might be forced change their domain name to WP****.com.
2. Site Expand: If you have a domain name with mobile****.com and you want to expand your blog topics to various gadgets like laptops, wearable tech, computers, etc., then probably you might change to switch your domain to something like gadgets****.com. Probably.
3. Blacklisted: If you have been naughty or if someone has been very naughty with your domain name spamming the web, then Google might have blacklisted your site. So in that case you should probably ditch that domain name and get a new one. Fair enough isn’t it?
4. Sold It: Yes, that’s one of the main reasons as well. You might have sold your old domain name for a higher price and bought another domain name.
So these are the probable cases and we’ll see the basic guidelines for changing domain name.
Changing Domain Name Of A Website
So your goal is to change the domain name of a website and still preserve the same rankings. You need to be very patient because this should be a slow and careful process.
I’ll start with some of the basic tips, if you want to change your old domain name to new domain name, say example.com, then example.com shouldn’t really be ‘parked’. Create a demo or temporary site there and use some content. Probably content saying that this will be the new site, more like a message or something. Also try not to mix it with a new design.
And if your old site has a subdirectory or even a subdomain, then start with a part of that site and do a 301 permanent redirect to the new domain. Also use Google Webmaster Tools to see the list of popular sites linking to your old domain name. Take that list and try to manually contact, tell them about the new site, it’ll help Google to understand the redirection process much easier.
Matt Cutts – Changing Your Website’s Domain Name
Below Matt Cutts shared his views about changing domain name of a website,
Changing the domain name of your website? Need help? Kindly let us know in the comments below, we’ll guide you.
