How to migrate my website to a new domain name?

Before you start moving to another domain, you need to set a 301 redirect which means a domain has permanently moved to a new location. It is important for a smooth transition and helps you avoid the dreadful 404 page not found: it directs both your website visitors and search engines to your new domain. The 301 redirect ensures up to 99% of your ranking power gets transferred to a new address and it’s easy to set since it implies only a few lines of code. Just like when you’re moving to a new home and you decide to simultaneously get rid of the stuff you don’t have much use of, in means of domain migration – check if there are some bad links from spammy websites pointing to your domain and get rid of them. So, here’s what you should do:

• Crawl your site and get a list of all internal pages and redirects;
• Look for crawl errors (use Google Webmaster Tools);
• See what’s your most linked content (again, with Google Webmaster);
• Check the number of your indexed pages;
• Check the list of external links.

Get your Sitemap in order. A sitemap is a file that tells Google and other search engines about the organization of your site’s content (typically in hierarchical manner), making it easier for them to crawl through it. Not all websites have a sitemap but when you plan a domain migration – you need one for a smooth transition. However, there are other benefits of having a sitemap:

• It increases the chances of more of your content getting indexed by Google (especially if your website is huge, sitemaps help Google figure out its way through your pages);
• If your internal links aren’t the strongest, listing them in your sitemap will help.

Sitemaps provide a good source of additional information for Google (but keep in mind it’s not a guarantee all of your content will get crawled, nor being indexed) If you want to learn more about keeping your traffic after migration visit: “Step by Step Domain Migration Guide”.