Thinking About Changing Your Website Domain? Here’s What You Need to Know.

I was recently asked by a client:

“We’re thinking of changing our website’s domain name. Will this hurt our traffic or business?”

It’s an excellent, and very important, question.

Changing your domain name isn’t simply a cosmetic update. It’s more like moving your entire shop to a new street: the new address might be better, but unless you tell people where you’ve gone—and update all the maps—you risk losing customers along the way.

So if you’re considering a domain change, here’s what the impact can be, and what you should plan for to make sure your business—and your website traffic—stay safe.

Yes—Changing Your Domain Can Affect Traffic

Let’s get this out of the way first: yes, changing your domain name can absolutely affect your website traffic.

Search engines like Google and Bing associate your domain with your website’s reputation, trust, and search rankings. Suddenly switching domains without proper planning can:

• Cause your search rankings to drop
• Confuse search engines about your site’s identity
• Leave visitors getting “page not found” errors
• Break links from other websites pointing to you
• Damage brand recognition and trust

That said, if you handle the transition correctly and carefully, you can retain almost all your traffic and rankings—and sometimes even come out ahead in the long run.

How to Change Your Domain Without Losing Business

If you’re planning to change your domain, the key is preserving the connection between your old and new domain—both technically and in the eyes of your visitors. Here’s how.

1. Map and Redirect Every Single Page

The single most important part of a domain change is setting up 301 redirects.

A 301 redirect tells browsers and search engines:

“Hey, this page moved permanently. Go here instead.”

This ensures:

• Users end up on the right page, not an error page
• Google knows where your pages have moved
• Your SEO “link juice” is passed to the new domain

Don’t just redirect the homepage. Every individual page and post needs its own redirect. Even tiny pages—like blog posts or landing pages—can carry valuable traffic or rankings.

2. Keep Your URL Structure the Same (If Possible)

Whenever possible, keep your URL paths identical between the old and new domain.

This makes redirects simpler and helps Google match old pages to new ones more quickly.

3. Update Internal Links

Don’t leave your own site pointing to the old domain. Update all internal links, images, scripts, and resources to use the new domain directly.

Why?

• It reduces reliance on redirects
• It speeds up page load times
• It signals to Google that your new domain is the “official” home

4. Update Canonical Tags

Your site may use canonical tags to tell search engines the “preferred” URL for each page. Make sure these all point to your new domain.

5. Submit Your New Sitemap

Create a fresh XML sitemap with your new domain’s URLs and submit it to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. This helps search engines crawl and index your new domain faster.

6. Tell Google You’ve Moved

Google Search Console has a helpful feature: the Change of Address Tool.

This tool signals to Google:

“We’ve officially moved from olddomain.com to newdomain.com.”

It’s one of the fastest ways to ensure your rankings follow you to your new domain.

7. Update Your Backlinks (Where Possible)

One of the bigger risks of changing your domain is losing valuable backlinks.

If big sites (or even small blogs) link to your old domain, those links might lose some of their SEO power if they’re not updated.

Ideally, reach out to the owners of those sites and ask them to update their links to your new domain. Not everyone will, but every update helps preserve your SEO authority.

8. Communicate With Your Audience

Don’t leave customers in the dark.

• Announce the change on your blog, social media, and email newsletter
• Explain why you’re changing your domain
• Reassure people that you’re still the same business
• Keep the old domain active and redirecting traffic for at least a year or two

This helps keep brand trust high and avoids confusion.

9. Monitor Everything After Launch

Even with a perfect plan, domain changes can cause temporary turbulence. Keep a close eye on:

• Google Search Console for crawl errors
• Analytics for traffic drops
• Bounce rates and conversion rates

If you see a significant drop, investigate quickly. Often it’s a missing redirect or a broken page causing the issue.

Risks of Changing Your Domain

Here’s a quick look at potential pitfalls:

Risk	Potential Problem
SEO drop	Your rankings might temporarily drop while Google adjusts
Lost backlinks	Sites may continue linking to your old domain, reducing link equity
User confusion	Visitors may not realize you’ve moved
Technical errors	Missing redirects can leave users stranded on error pages

The good news? Most of these risks are preventable with good planning and thorough testing.

Other Things to Consider

Changing your domain affects more than just your website:

• Update business listings (Google Business Profile, Yelp, directories)
• Update social media bios
• Change your email addresses to the new domain
• Update legal documents, contracts, and marketing collateral
• Make sure you have a valid SSL certificate for your new domain
• Keep your old domain renewed indefinitely to maintain your redirects

Key Takeaway

If you’re thinking of changing your website domain, know that it can impact your traffic and SEO—but it doesn’t have to hurt your business if you plan it properly.

Changing domains is entirely doable with the right technical steps, good communication, and careful monitoring. Sometimes, it’s even the best move for your brand and future growth.

Just remember: it’s a project that deserves serious attention—and can save you headaches (and lost revenue) down the road.

Planning a domain change? Feel free to reach out if you’d like help mapping it all out. It’s one of those projects where an experienced guide can make all the difference.