How to move a website to a new domain

Moving to a new domain is a different job from moving to new hosting, even though the two often happen around the same time. A host change can leave every URL identical — same domain, same paths, just a different server behind it. A domain change means every single URL on the site is now different, and each one needs to be accounted for or the traffic and search visibility built up at the old address is simply lost.

Step 1 — Register the new domain with plenty of lead time

Buy the new domain well before you plan to switch. This gives you time to build and test the site under it without any pressure, and avoids the common mistake of registering a domain and needing to go live the same day because the old one is about to be cancelled.

Step 2 — Build and test the site under the new domain

Add the new domain to your hosting account and get the site fully working there — files copied, database imported, configuration pointing at the right database, exactly as in a standard migration. Test it thoroughly using a hosts file entry so you can preview it privately before anyone else sees it; see previewing a site with your hosts file.

Step 3 — Map every old URL to its replacement

This is the step that separates a domain change from a simple host move. Go through the old site's structure and record what each page's new address will be. For a site where the paths after the domain are staying the same — olddomain.com/about becoming newdomain.com/about — this is straightforward. If page paths are changing too, the mapping needs to be built page by page, because a generic redirect from the old domain to the new home page loses the specific page a visitor or search engine was trying to reach.

Step 4 — Set up permanent redirects on the old domain

Once the new domain is live and tested, configure the old domain to send every request to its equivalent new address using a 301 (permanent) redirect, not a 302. A 301 tells both browsers and search engines that the move is permanent, which is what carries ranking signal across to the new address rather than treating it as a temporary detour.

Redirect 301 /about https://newdomain.com/about

A rule like this, added to the old domain's .htaccess, redirects that one page. For redirecting many pages with a consistent pattern, a single rule can often cover the whole set — see setting up 301 redirects for the detail.

Step 5 — Tell Google, and update what you control yourself

Use Search Console's change of address tool to tell Google the site has moved to a new domain — this is specifically for a domain change, unlike a plain host migration where nothing needs reporting because the URLs never changed. See do I need to tell Google I changed hosts for the distinction between the two situations.

Alongside that, update anywhere you directly control a link to the old domain: email signatures, social media profiles, business listings, and any other website you run that links to the old address.

Step 6 — Keep the old domain and its redirects running indefinitely

This is the step most often underestimated. Links to the old domain will keep existing for years — in old emails, on other people's websites, in search results that have not yet been recrawled. Keep the old domain registered and its redirects active for as long as is practical, ideally permanently. Letting the old domain lapse means every one of those old links, and any search ranking still attached to them, stops working entirely rather than gracefully forwarding on.

Does a domain change hurt SEO?

It carries more risk than a plain host migration, but it does not have to cost you rankings if the redirect mapping is complete and permanent. Search engines are able to transfer most ranking signal through a properly implemented 301 redirect over time. What causes lasting damage is missing redirects, redirecting everything to the home page regardless of what the old URL was, or letting the old domain expire before that transfer has had time to complete.