## **🔍 Why Domain Migration Affects SEO**

When you replace your website with a new one at a different URL, search engines treat the new address as an entirely separate site. Without the right steps, you risk losing the rankings, backlink authority, and crawl history your old domain built up over time. Acting quickly and methodically after a migration gives you the best chance of preserving — and even improving — your organic performance.

## **📋 Step 1: Audit Your Old Domain Before You Do Anything Else**

Before making changes inside Search Atlas, collect a baseline snapshot of your old domain's performance so you have a reference point.

- Export your current keyword rankings from the **Rank Tracker** for the old domain.
- Download a full backlink report from Backlink Research to identify high-value links pointing to the old URLs.
- Note your top-performing pages by traffic and ranking position — these need to be prioritised during the migration.

## **🔀 Step 2: Set Up 301 Redirects on Your Server**

A 301 redirect tells both users and search engines that a page has permanently moved. This is the single most important technical step in any domain migration.

1. Map every old URL to its equivalent new URL in a spreadsheet.
2. Implement 301 redirects on your server or hosting platform for each mapped URL.
3. Redirect the old homepage to the new homepage as a minimum if a full page-by-page mapping is not possible.
4. Avoid redirect chains — each old URL should redirect directly to the new URL in one hop.

**Important:** Do not rely on JavaScript-based redirects. Server-side 301 redirects are the only method that reliably passes link equity to the new domain.

## **⚙️ Step 3: Update Your Project in Search Atlas**

Once your redirects are live, update your Search Atlas workspace to reflect the new domain so all tools track the correct URLs going forward.

1. Locate your existing project in Search Atlas and update the domain to your new URL — the exact steps may vary depending on your account setup, so contact support if you are unsure where to make this change.
2. Re-run a **Site Audit** on the new domain to surface any crawl errors, missing meta tags, or broken internal links introduced during the migration.
3. Add your new domain to **Rank Tracker** and import or recreate your keyword list so rankings are monitored from the new URL immediately.

## **🔗 Step 4: Reclaim and Update Your Backlinks**

Backlinks pointing to old URLs will follow the 301 redirects, but updating them directly at the source is stronger for long-term authority.

- Use the Backlink Research report you exported in Step 1 to identify your most valuable referring domains.
- Reach out to those site owners and request they update their links to the new URL.
- Prioritise links from high-authority domains and links to your most important pages.

## **❓ Common Questions After a Domain Migration**

Customers often contact support after a domain migration because Search Atlas tools such as **Rank Tracker** or **Site Audit** are still referencing the old domain, or because ranking data appears to drop or disappear after the change. If this happens to you:

- Confirm your 301 redirects are live and returning the correct HTTP status code before expecting ranking recovery.
- Allow search engines 4–12 weeks to fully re-index the new domain — some fluctuation in rankings during this window is normal.
- If your Search Atlas project is still pulling data for the old domain, reach out to support so a team member can guide you through updating your project to the new domain correctly.

If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type **human teammate** to be connected with a member of our team.