domain migration
Also called: site migration, website migration, domain change
A domain migration is the process of moving a website from one domain to another (for example, from oldbrand.com to newbrand.com) while keeping its search rankings, traffic, and link equity. It relies on one-to-one 301 redirects and Search Console's Change of Address tool to move ranking signals to the new domain.
Moving to a new domain puts every ranking signal you have built at risk, so the mechanics matter. Google’s guidance is to map each old URL to its new counterpart with a permanent 301 (or 308) redirect, one to one, so no page lands on a dead end. Permanent redirects do not cause a loss in PageRank, but they only help if the mapping is complete and the redirect chain stays short.
The Change of Address tool
For a true domain change you also file a Change of Address request in Search Console. It tells Google to emphasize crawling and indexing the new site, forwards signals from the old domain, and makes Google prefer the new site when choosing canonical URLs. Both properties must be verified, owned by the same account, and set at the domain level, and you implement the homepage 301 first. Google asks you to file the request for every variant of the old domain, including www and non-www.
A typical mapping looks like this:
oldbrand.com/pricing -> newbrand.com/pricing
oldbrand.com/blog/x -> newbrand.com/blog/xKeep the redirects live for at least a year so signals fully transfer, change internal links to point directly at the new URLs, and submit a fresh sitemap. Re-indexing takes a few weeks for a small or medium site and longer for large ones.
How it affects your traffic
A domain migration is the highest-risk SEO project you can run. Done well, rankings and traffic recover within weeks and the authority you built on the old domain carries across. Done badly (missed redirects, forgotten www variants, a skipped Change of Address filing) it can erase years of organic visibility, and the drop is hard to reverse. That downside is why teams bring in SEO Consulting to build the URL map, sequence the switch, and watch Search Console through the recovery window.
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