If you want to Redirect your new domain name to the old domain name here’s how you can do it. No matter what reason you have for changing your old domain name but the procedure might be pretty daunting if you are new to this.
Because it can severely damage your SEO standing. The main focus of any website is their SEO ranking and if by any means (for example by changing your domain name) your already established SEO standing starts getting lower day by day you must be hesitant to take any risk. But that’s what we are here for. redirect new domain name to the old domain name – here’s the guide.
1 – First things first:
There are few important things to keep in mind before taking this step because remember that chances are that your SEO ranking can be affected by the process only if you are not cautious enough. If you are redirecting for consolidation, re-brand, or you are no more comfortable with the old domain name and get your hands on a better domain name now just make sure to do it stepwise and not at a time. This means that first set the domain name properly and then update website later when domain setting is completed. The whole process won’t be much complicated if you have a powerful web host.
You will also need to make sure that both domains are up on working even after you launch the website on the new domain so you can ensure redirects are passed on to the new domain name. A .htaccess file on your old domain will do the confirmation.
Backup of your website and database should be ready. Both domains should be verified. In case of Google Analytics, you should have sufficient permission to change the domain settings from your site’s profile.
2 – 301 Redirect:
Your next step will be 301 redirects of all your individual URLs to the new domain which is the most effective way to preserve all the backlink equity along with the traffic of your site. You can do it by your site’s .htaccess file. 301 redirect basically match all the spec-specific requests and redirect them to the same site but the new domain name. The .htaccess template below will also save you from redirecting the line of code for each page. (if you have many pages for your site).
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.example.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://example.net/$1 [L,R=301,NC]
Once you add this code to your old domain’s hosted .htaccess file. It will automatically redirect the same URL to the new domain name and remember this will work for all of your pages.
3 – Redirect new domain name to the old domain name:
Now you can change your domain as the redirection completes. Your .htaccess file should be ready before switching the domains.
If you have a separate copy of the same site live on the new domain already, all that remains is to deploy your .htaccess file to the OLD domain hosting. Even if you leave all of your files on the old server as a backup, the .htaccess file should redirect any and all traffic/requests onto your new domain whether they’re accessing the homepage or an individual landing page. Make sure you remove any robots.txt commands or Meta Tags on the new domain that will prevent it from being crawled and cached.
If you have done all these steps properly then visit your old site. It should automatically redirect you to your new domain. In case it didn’t redirect you then double check your steps described above.
4 – Tell Google
You are Satisfied with the confirmation of your site being redirected and your content from old domain URL being shifted to the new one. You are now supposed to inform Google. Google offers several options through webmaster tool in a pretty simple way. Just log into your Google Webmaster tool account by navigating in your old account. Click on the cog/menu bar (in the upper right side) under configuration. This will inform Google about your new site and transfer. You are supposed to verify your account too.
5 – step: Inform Users
Of course, 301 redirects would do its work by redirecting new domain name to old domain name. But it will be beneficial for you clearly announce the transfer. You can do this very easily by writing a blog post. Even small note in the starting would be good enough. This will provide you three main benefits which are:
- People will remember the name more efficiently if they will read about it properly.
- You will get to know about the functionality of your site when on different browsers. (It will not be easier for you to check if your site runs on every browser so by informing properly people would check and tell you if your site works efficiently or not)
- In the blog, you can ask for reviews of people about the transfer and other details.
By this time, you should have your new site ready with alll the pages and traffic 301 redirected. Just for not taking any chances with the site’s progress spend some time to check your old domain using the search query: site: olddomain.co.uk. I hope this article will help in redirecting your new domain name to the old domain name. Do share your reviews and queries in the comments below.
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