Have you ever had to change your domain name?

[ready123go]

Have you ever had to change your domain name? If so, why and how did it go? Please share the good, the bad, the ugly.

Thanks.

[cbscreative]

Had to, no, wanted to, yes. But it's important to realize it was in the very early stages of my business so there was little if anything to lose. It was the result of not being patient enough with choosing the first domain name and it wasn't a very good one. Later when I found one much better, which I still use, I redirected the old one to the new and have branded the new ever since. That "new" domain has been in use for 10 years now so I rarely think about the original.

The point about redirecting is important. Any value built with the existing domain will be inherited by the new one with a 301 redirect.

[ready123go]

Thanks Steve-

We don't have a website yet. We've been in business a while, however our focus has been on paying our dues, learning the business and going solo. Frankly, the last three have simply been survival. Ouch.

Now business has finally nearly recovered. In the next couple of years we will be poised to really grow the business. My biggest concern is using a domain name, developing the associated email accounts and later outgrowing our chosen domain. I prefer to do something once!

Appreciate the input.

[Patrysha]

There's no reason (if you grow) that you can't have dozens of domain names though. All the big brands that I can think of off the top of my head do...different domains for different products, different promotions, different locations...no need to feel any trepidation starting with one and adding if necessary.

[MarkFSimmons]

It depends on where you are with your brand's maturity. I had a client that had Millions of visitors a month and they decided to change their domain without considering the SEO implications and making a plan. The short of it is that their traffic dropped about 35% following the switch because they didn't think about redirects and other SEO factors that would have made the transition a lot smoother.

For a new company/domain, there's not much to lose. Using redirects can be a touchy subject when it comes to SEO and I suggest avoiding that technique.

[KaterinaM]

Have you ever had to change your domain name? If so, why and how did it go? Please share the good, the bad, the ugly.

Thanks.

It depends on the reasons why you want to change the domain and to start everything from scratch. But if you do want to change the domain, don't forget to make a 301 redirect.

[ready123go]

We don't have a website yet. We've been in business a while, however our focus has been on paying our dues, learning the business and going solo. Frankly, the last three years have simply been survival. Ouch.



Meant to say the last three years...

[patrickprecisione]

I would just be really concerned with losing all the backlinks you've built to that old domain. Is there any way to get around that?

[cbscreative]

I would just be really concerned with losing all the backlinks you've built to that old domain. Is there any way to get around that?

That's why the 301 redirects were mentioned above. This is the accepted standard for "permanently moving" pages or sites, and is invisible to the user.

[patrickprecisione]

That's why the 301 redirects were mentioned above. This is the accepted standard for "permanently moving" pages or sites, and is invisible to the user.

Oops, must have missed that when I asked the question. Thanks!