Change Domain Name SEO: Switch Domains Safely With 301s and Search Console

Changing your domain name, for example from example.com to example.net, is one of the larger changes you can make to a website. Every address on the site changes at once. Search engines, bookmarks, emails and other websites all know the old domain, so the move only goes well if the old addresses lead clearly to the new ones.

This guide covers the domain-specific steps of a move: choosing the new domain, preparing it, redirecting, using the Change of Address tool in Google Search Console, and keeping the old domain working afterwards. It is for owners and developers who are rebranding or consolidating domains. The wider process is in the website migration SEO checklist, and this guide builds on it.

A well-run move gives search engines clear signals about where the site went. It cannot promise that your traffic or rankings will look the same afterwards. Google notes that you should expect some fluctuation while it recrawls and reprocesses both sites.

Before you begin

You will need:

Registrar and DNS access for both domains, and hosting or CDN access to point the new domain at the site.
Owner-level access to Google Search Console for both the old and the new domain, using the same Google account. Google's Change of Address tool requires you to be an owner of both properties, and it works only on domain-level properties such as example.com, not on path-level properties such as example.com/petstore/.
A complete list of the old site's URLs. Pull it from your sitemaps, analytics, CMS and server logs.
A decision on whether you change anything else. Google advises changing one thing at a time, so keep the layout, content and platform the same while the domain changes.
Time: expect days of preparation and weeks of monitoring.

If you bought the new domain from someone else, check its history before using it. Google lists checking for manual actions, and for leftover URL removals from a previous owner, among its preparation steps. Do not keep a domain that carries a penalty or unwanted content.

Also keep in mind that the old domain must stay under your control afterwards. If it expires and someone else registers it, your redirects are gone.

Step-by-step instructions

Step 1: Prepare the new domain

Point the new domain at your hosting and install a valid TLS certificate for it, covering both the bare name and www if both will be used. Decide the canonical host for the new domain and set it up following WWW vs Non-WWW. Confirm the new site is reachable over HTTPS before you redirect anything to it.

Copy the site to the new domain but do not open it to crawlers in a way that duplicates the old one. While you are testing, keep the new site private. When you are ready to go live, make sure no noindex rule or robots.txt block is left over from development. Google's site move guidance lists leftover blocks as a common mistake.

What success looks like: the new domain serves the full site over HTTPS, with a clean robots.txt and no leftover noindex.

Step 2: Verify both domains in Search Console

Add and verify the old domain and the new domain in Search Console. A Domain property covers the root domain and all of its subdomains and protocols, and it needs DNS verification. A URL-prefix property covers only URLs that begin with the exact prefix, including the protocol, so you would need to add each variant.

For the Change of Address tool, the property must be domain-level. Google's tool also requires you to use the same Google account as an owner of both. Verify every variant of the old domain you use (www, non-www, HTTP, HTTPS) if you are using URL-prefix properties. See Set Up Google Search Console.

Also confirm that your verification methods still work on the new site, whether it is a file, a meta tag or an analytics-based method. If the new site is built from a copy of the old one, remember that each property has its own verification token, so check the new property separately.

What success looks like: both domains appear in your Search Console account with owner access.

Step 3: Map every old URL to a new URL

Create a table of old URL and new URL. If the paths stay the same and only the domain changes, the rule is simple: the same path on the new host. If paths change as well, you have two moves in one, which raises the risk. Consider doing the domain first and the structure later, in keeping with Google's advice to change one thing at a time.

Map images, downloads, PDFs and other files that have their own addresses. Plan 404 or 410 responses for content you are deleting, and avoid redirecting many unrelated pages to the home page, as Google advises against irrelevant redirects.

On the new site, prepare these:

A self-referencing canonical tag on each page, using the new domain.
Updated hreflang annotations that point to the new URLs.
Internal links that use the new domain.
A sitemap that lists the new URLs.

What success looks like: each old URL has a new URL, and the new pages reference only the new domain.

Step 4: Redirect the old domain with permanent redirects

On the old domain, add server-side permanent redirects (301 or 308) from each old URL to its new equivalent. For a same-path move, one rule covers the whole site:

server {
  listen 80;
  listen 443 ssl;
  server_name example.com www.example.com;
  return 301 https://example.net$request_uri;
}

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?example\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^ https://example.net%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

Replace example.com and example.net with your old and new domains. Keep the path and query string in the redirect so each page lands on its own counterpart. Make sure each old URL reaches the final address in one hop; Google says Googlebot can follow up to 10 hops, and advises aiming for ideally no more than three and fewer than five. Avoid sending old URLs through intermediate steps such as the old HTTP address, then the old HTTPS address, then the new one. See 301 vs 302 Redirects and Redirect Chains and Loops.

Before you rely on the Change of Address tool, Google's help page says to set up 301 redirects from your old homepage to your new homepage, and recommends 301 redirects for the old site's canonical pages too.

What success looks like: requesting any sample of old URLs with curl -I shows a 301 and a Location on the new domain, and the final page returns 200.

Step 5: Use the Change of Address tool

Once the redirects are live, open the Change of Address tool in the old property. Google's help page says to use it only after you have moved and redirected the site. Follow the on-screen instructions. Critical pre-move check failures must be fixed before you can continue, while non-critical failures show warnings but do not block the request. Once critical checks pass, the move starts and notifications appear on both sites.

The tool does not move subdomains below the specified domain, and that includes www. If you are moving a domain, Google says to use the tool for every subdomain variant of the old domain, including www and non-www, even ones you do not actively use. Do not use it for HTTP to HTTPS changes, path changes or www to non-www on the same domain.

Google prioritises the new site for about 180 days after you start the migration, and the migration notifications appear in Search Console for that period. You can cancel within 180 days. To cancel, first remove the redirects from the old site to the new one, add redirects from the new site back to the old, and then click Cancel Move in the tool.

What success looks like: the tool shows an active move for every old domain variant.

Step 6: Submit sitemaps and update links you control

Submit the new sitemap under the new property and remove the old sitemap. List only canonical, absolute URLs on the new domain. Update links that you control: social profiles, business listings, email signatures, ad destinations and any partner sites you can ask. External links you do not control will keep pointing at the old domain for a long time, which is why the redirects must stay.

What success looks like: the new sitemap is processed without errors and the profile links use the new domain.

Step 7: Check email, certificates and other services

A domain change affects more than the website. Check that:

Email for the new domain has its records in place. See the guides on SPF, DKIM and DMARC, and keep receiving mail on the old domain for a while.
Third-party services that tie to the domain, such as analytics, payment providers, single sign-on and APIs, are updated.
Old marketing links in emails and PDFs still redirect.
TLS certificates are valid on the new domain and renewals are automated.

What success looks like: you receive test email at both domains and no integration reports an error.

Step 8: Monitor and keep the old domain

Watch Search Console for both properties. The Sitemaps report on the old sitemap shows some redirect warnings at first, which are normal. Indexed pages should shift from old to new URLs over time. Check the page indexing report for errors on the new site, and the performance report for the new domain beginning to receive impressions and clicks. Also review server logs for Googlebot activity and error codes.

Keep the redirects in place. Google's Change of Address page says to keep them at least 180 days and longer if the old URLs still get Google Search traffic. The site move guidance says at least a year, and to consider keeping them indefinitely. Google also suggests keeping the old domain registered for at least a year. After 180 days, Google treats the old site as unrelated if it is still present and crawlable, so do not leave an unredirected copy of the old site online.

What success looks like: traffic and indexing shift to the new domain over weeks, and the old domain is renewed and still redirecting.

Final verification checklist

The new domain serves the full site over HTTPS with a valid certificate.
No noindex or robots.txt block is left over from development.
Old and new domains are verified in Search Console by an owner using the same account.
Every old URL is mapped to a new URL.
Server-side 301 redirects send each old URL to its new counterpart in one hop.
Canonicals, hreflang, internal links and the sitemap use the new domain.
The Change of Address tool shows an active move for each old domain variant.
Email, certificates and integrations work on the new domain.
The old domain is renewed and the redirects are scheduled to stay.

Common mistakes to avoid

Moving the domain and redesigning at once. Change one thing at a time so you can find causes.
Redirecting only the home page. Redirect every important URL to its counterpart.
Using the Change of Address tool before the redirects exist. Set up the redirects first.
Forgetting subdomain variants. The tool does not cover subdomains, including www. Submit each variant.
Letting the old domain expire. The redirects stop working and someone else may register it.
Leftover noindex on the new site. Check it on launch day.
Old sitemap left in place. Replace it with the new one.
Using it for HTTP to HTTPS. Google says to use redirects in that case, not Change of Address.

Frequently asked questions

Will my rankings stay the same after changing domain?

Google does not promise this. Permanent redirects do not cause a loss of PageRank, according to Google, but the site needs to be recrawled, and fluctuation is expected during the move.

Do I have to use the Change of Address tool?

It is the recommended step when the domain or a subdomain changes and you want to help Google migrate results. It does not replace redirects, and it requires them.

How long do I need to keep the old domain?

Google suggests at least a year for the domain registration and the redirects, with at least 180 days required for the tool's period. Longer is safer if the old URLs still get traffic.

Can I move just part of a site to a new domain?

Yes, but the Change of Address tool works at domain level. Moving a whole domain to a path within another domain is allowed. For partial moves, rely on redirects, canonicals and sitemaps.

What if the move goes wrong?

You can cancel a Change of Address request within 180 days. Remove the old-to-new redirects, add redirects back, and use Cancel Move. Fix the underlying issue before trying again.

Official references

Next step: See how Crawvix checks a website and capture a baseline once scanning opens. This guide provides technical information, not a guarantee of rankings, traffic or index inclusion.