SEO Domain Migration

What the service delivers

Pre-migration SEO audit of the origin domain Before any migration work begins, we audit the existing domain to establish the complete baseline: every indexed URL, every keyword ranking position, every backlink pointing to the old domain, and every technical issue on the current site that would carry forward to the new domain if not resolved before migration. Issues identified at this stage are fixed on the origin domain — not inherited by the new one.

Complete redirect mapping — old URL to new URL, one to one Every indexed URL on the origin domain receives a 301 redirect to its exact equivalent on the new domain — not to the homepage, not to a category page, but to the specific URL that matches the original page’s content and ranking signals. For sites with URL structure changes accompanying the domain move, we build a full redirect mapping table that preserves topical relevance between origin and destination URLs. Redirect chains — where old URL redirects to an intermediate URL before reaching the final destination — are eliminated, as each redirect hop reduces the link authority passed by approximately 15%.

Google Search Console domain change notification Google’s Change of Address tool in Search Console formally notifies Google of the domain migration, accelerating the re-crawl and re-indexation of the new domain. This step requires the old domain’s Search Console property to remain active and verified for a minimum of 180 days post-migration — we configure this and monitor crawl coverage during the transition period to identify any URLs that Google is failing to re-index on the new domain.

Backlink update outreach for high-authority referring domains 301 redirects pass approximately 90–99% of link authority from old URLs to new URLs, but direct backlinks pointing to the new domain pass 100%. For your 20 highest-authority referring domains — those with DR 50+ that collectively account for the majority of your domain’s link equity — we conduct direct outreach requesting link destination updates from the old URL to the new URL, maximizing the authority transfer for your most valuable backlinks.

Post-migration technical verification audit Within 7 days of the domain going live, we conduct a full technical verification audit confirming: all 301 redirects return the correct HTTP status codes with no redirect chains, the new domain’s XML sitemap contains only new domain URLs with no references to the old domain, canonical tags on the new domain point to new domain URLs rather than old domain equivalents, and Google Search Console is crawling and indexing new domain URLs at the expected rate. Any issues identified in the post-migration audit are resolved within the service scope at no additional cost.

Ranking and traffic monitoring for 30 days post-migration We monitor keyword ranking positions and organic traffic on the new domain daily for 30 days following migration, comparing against the pre-migration baseline to identify any rankings that have not transferred correctly. Unexpected ranking losses during this window are diagnosed and remediated within the service scope — distinguishing between normal temporary fluctuation during Google’s re-evaluation period (typically 2–4 weeks) and genuine technical issues requiring intervention.

Who this service is for

This service covers domain migrations for sites up to 500 indexed pages. For sites between 500 and 5,000 pages, see SEO Site Migration (€799). For enterprise sites above 5,000 pages or migrations involving CMS changes, URL restructuring, or international hreflang reconfiguration, see SEO Enterprise Site Migration (€4,999).

What happens if you migrate without SEO support

A domain migration executed without a structured SEO plan produces four specific, measurable failures: broken redirects returning 404 errors rather than 301 redirects, causing Google to treat the new domain as having no link equity from the old domain’s backlink profile; duplicate content indexed simultaneously on both old and new domains, splitting ranking signals; Search Console property misconfiguration causing Google to crawl the old domain preferentially over the new one for weeks after launch; and canonical tag errors on the new domain pointing back to old domain URLs, instructing Google to treat new domain pages as duplicates of old domain content. Each of these failures produces organic traffic loss that compounds with every Google crawl cycle it goes unresolved.