Moved Domains

[matt_mc]

Hey all,

I've been struggling recently, a client has moved domain and implemented a 301-redirect as should be done. However, the hosting provider has only 301-redirected the homepage... the hosting company have assured the client that this is sufficient to pass previous search engine juice on, I'm at not so sure this is correct.

What is the process to follow when moving domains?

 

[Community]

Hi Matt,

If you change the domain 301's need to be created for every page like for like. This is generally 1 simple rewrite/redirect in the .htaccess.

For example if the server is running apache you would place the following redirect in the root of the old domain :

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

This would redirect ALL old pages to the exact same equivalents on the new domain.

Then on the new domain's htaccess you should make sure you are redirecting all requests to https ( providing the site is using https ) and redirecting www to non-www or visa versa.

Depending on the script you are using there may be need to redirect the index.html or .php to the root domain too .

 

[matt_mc]

@Community thanks.

See I thought that would be the case. Not sure why they only chose to redirect the homepage.

Additionally, is it required to notify Google via the search console? Or is a 301 redirect sufficient?

 

[Community]

They are web hosts not SEO's. Most of which probably first level support, more fool the client for taking the word of a web host rather than seeking professional help before doing a site migration

301's will get picked up eventually, but yes I would recommend also doing a domain change process via search console, it will speed up the process...........but only do that once you have the correct redirects in place.

 

[matt_mc]

@Community thanks for the info. I'll get them to set up the redirects correctly. I've never had a client not host with me before so been easy to make these sorts of changes myself being primarily a web dev, this particular client has been a pain in the ass!