Search Atlas Help Center

🌐 Migrate Your Search Atlas Project to a New Domain

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Camilo Aponte

Camilo Aponte

Last updated on Sep 30, 2026

🔍 Overview

When you rebuild your website and your domain or URL structure changes, your existing Search Atlas project needs to be updated to reflect the new domain. This ensures your SEO tracking, audits, and OTTO configurations continue working accurately. This article walks you through every step of the migration process.

⚠️ Before You Begin

Before making any changes in Search Atlas, complete these checks on your website:

  • 301 redirects are in place: All old URLs should redirect to their new equivalents so you don't lose existing link equity.
  • Google Search Console is updated: Add and verify your new domain as a property in Google Search Console.
  • Google Analytics is configured: Confirm your tracking code or GA4 data stream points to the new domain.
  • Your new site is fully live: Do not migrate the project until the new domain is publicly accessible.

🛠️ Step 1 — Create a New Project for the New Domain

Search Atlas projects are tied to a specific domain. Because your domain has changed, you will need to create a fresh project for the new URL rather than editing the existing one in place.

  1. Go to Home in the left sidebar.
  2. Open Classic.
  3. Click Create a Project.
  4. Enter your new domain URL exactly as it appears (include https:// and match the www or non-www version your site uses).
  5. Complete the project setup wizard, including connecting Google Search Console and selecting your target location and language.
  6. Save the project.

📋 Step 2 — Recreate Your Campaign Settings

Your keywords, competitors, and other settings from your old project do not transfer automatically. You will need to re-enter this information in the new project.

  • Keywords: Export your tracked keywords from the old project before you archive it, then add them to the new project.
  • Competitors: Re-add any competitor domains you were tracking.
  • Target pages: Reassign target pages to keywords using your new URL structure. If URLs changed during the rebuild, map old URLs to their new equivalents using your 301 redirect list.

⚙️ Step 3 — Relaunch OTTO SEO on the New Project

If you were using OTTO SEO on your old project, it must be activated on the new project separately.

  1. Open your new project and navigate to the OTTO SEO section.
  2. Follow the onboarding steps to connect OTTO to your new domain.
  3. Review and re-approve any previously deployed optimisations, as OTTO will treat the new domain as a fresh site.
  4. Run a fresh site audit to identify any issues introduced during the rebuild.

📊 Step 4 — Run a Fresh Site Audit

A new domain means a clean audit baseline. Running an audit immediately after setup helps you catch any technical SEO issues created during the rebuild — such as broken internal links, missing meta tags, or pages accidentally set to noindex.

  1. In the left sidebar, open OTTO SEO → Site Audit to access the Site Audit tool.
  2. Start a full crawl of the new domain.
  3. Review the results and prioritise critical errors first.

🗂️ Step 5 — Archive or Remove the Old Project

Once your new project is fully configured and tracking correctly, archive or delete the old project to keep your workspace clean and avoid confusion.

  • Go to the old project's settings.
  • Select the option to archive or delete the project.
  • Confirm the action. Note that deleted projects cannot be restored, so export any data you need before proceeding.

💡 Tips for a Smooth Migration

  • Export data early: Download keyword rankings and audit reports from the old project before you delete it.
  • Allow time for data to populate: Ranking data and Search Console metrics in the new project may take a few days to appear after setup.
  • Check backlink tools: If you use the Backlinks features under More Features → Backlinks, run fresh analyses (Link Gap, Backlink Research, Topical Relevance) against your new domain to get updated data.
  • Update your schema markup: If you had schema created via More Features → Schema Creator, review and update any URLs referenced in your schema to reflect the new domain.

🆘 Need Help?

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.

Additional Notes

Option 2 — Manually transfer OTTO recommendations: Keep your old project open as a reference and re-apply key recommendations inside a new project for your new domain. This helps preserve institutional SEO knowledge. Also: do not delete your old project until you have finished referencing it.