Client Drops Bomb

[iFuse]

Hi all, have a client that just let us know that they are re-branding and will want to change their URL. It's been a while since I have done this, what's the best way to go about this and are we basically starting all over SEO wise? Thanks!

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hey Chris! There are some great resources out there. I like the one that Moz put together last year - The Website Migration Guide: SEO Strategy, Process, & Checklist

Other than a name change what else is changing about the business? Same ownership? Same services, staff..etc?

 

[iFuse]

Thanks! Business name will change but address and ownership will stay the same as well as the services, staff, etc.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Thanks Chris. Do you have a off-site re-branding check list as well? There's a good one in Joy's guide.

1. Update business license with the Secretary of State and other places you have licenses listed.
2. 1. If in healthcare: Update the NPI Record: NPPES NPI Registry
   2. If in legal: Update the state bar website
3. Update major data providers. (I suggest hiring Whitespark for this if you don’t build your own citations.
4. Update Google My Business.
5. List your new name on your website on the contact & about page clarifying that you rebranded “Old Name is now called New Name as of June 2018”...
6. Optional: Send out a press release announcing the name change.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

This isn't too daunting SEO-wise. I've done quite a few of these.

1) Run a before ranking report for all terms.
2) Let google know in GSC that the website is moving to a new URL
3) 301 all pages to the new domain. Each page should redirect to its new respective page.
4) As soon as the website is up, do a site: search and make sure all pages Google has indexed resolve to the new website. If you find any 404 pages, fix them.
5) Tracking rankings daily.

It may take a month but rankings should return within that month. That was my experience 2-3 years (maybe longer) ago when I did a lot of these.

I did do one last year where we were ranking at the top for all of our terms. We recovered within a month to the bottom of the 1st page but stayed for 6 months until we got back to the top again, where we used to be. Not sure if this was an edge case or how Google is doing it now. I am tempted to believe the former. Especially because I skipped step 2 on accident and forgot to report the move to Google via GSC. I wouldn't recommend that

Hope that helps!