Companies change web site domains for a lot of causes — rebranding, acquisition, product modifications, and extra. Whereas it’s usually obligatory, a brand new area reduces natural search site visitors by upwards of 30% in my expertise.
Much like a brand new URL construction, area modifications require 301 redirects, which leak fairness. I’ve seen rankings slip for months afterward. If the decline persists, an in depth audit might assist.
Listed here are my go-to instruments for domain-change audits.
Google Search Console
Step one is to maintain the deserted area verified inside Search Console to entry historic rating and click on knowledge.
Subsequent, after verifying the possession of your new area, notify Google of the change through Search Console’s “Change of Handle” software at Settings > Change of tackle.
Notify Google of the brand new area through Search Console’s “Change of Handle” software. Click on picture to enlarge.
Search Console can determine which pages or folders misplaced essentially the most site visitors from the transfer. For this, open the Efficiency > Pages studies for the outdated and new domains (every in separate tabs). By default, each URL lists are sorted by the variety of natural clicks, making it simple to match the top-performing pages.
Don’t delay the analysis, as Search Console exhibits solely 16 months of information. I usually entry the report two, three, and 4 months afterward to observe shifts.
It’s an excellent signal if no sections, classes, or URLs decline greater than others — the transfer possible produced no structural issues.
If some areas slipped greater than others, flip to the Wayback Machine.
Wayback Machine
Area modifications regularly embody altering the positioning construction, particularly with acquisitions or product variations. Wayback Machine helps determine which structural modifications lowered site visitors.
Having famous in Search Console the URLs with materials drops, examine archived variations of these pages in Wayback Machine to the brand new ones, guaranteeing:
- The principle navigation consists of the URLs as prominently because the earlier area,
- The URLs are interlinked all through the positioning — in associated merchandise, guides, sidebar widgets, footers, and so forth.
Semrush
A loss in hyperlink fairness from the outdated website to the brand new might account for the site visitors decline. Semrush may help pinpoint the loss.
To start out, run each domains via the software’s major evaluation bar. Then proceed to Backlink Analytics > Listed Pages and test the field “Damaged hyperlinks.” This report for each websites will checklist the pages which have damaged backlinks and return 404 or 410 errors.
Semrush’s “Damaged hyperlinks” report lists the pages that return 404 or 410 errors. Click on picture to enlarge.
Screaming Frog
Area modifications usually produce sudden structural glitches. Therefore it’s crucial to run the brand new website via an internet crawler resembling Screaming Frog, JetOctopus, or comparable.
Most crawlers enable restricted entry totally free. Screaming Frog, for instance, crawls 500 pages with out cost. Past that, the paid model is $259 per 12 months. It features a crawl-compare function, helpful for contrasting crawls of the outdated website and the brand new.
When crawling a website, search for redirect chains. These lure exterior and inside hyperlink fairness and prolong the crawl time. Each might trigger site visitors declines.