## **🔑 The Most Important Thing to Know First**

Search Atlas projects are **locked to the domain they were created with**. There is no built-in migration tool to transfer an existing project — including its OTTO recommendations, audit history, and tracked data — to a new domain. If your website URL has changed, you must choose one of two supported paths described below.

## **📋 Your Two Options at a Glance**

- **Option 1 — Create a new project (recommended):** Start fresh under your new domain. You get a clean slate with accurate data, but you lose historical audit results and previously applied OTTO recommendations.
- **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 takes more effort but helps preserve institutional SEO knowledge from your previous setup.

## **🚀 Option 1: Create a New Project (Recommended)**

This is the fastest way to get accurate SEO data for your new domain.

1. In the left sidebar, go to **Home → Classic**.
2. Click **Create a Project** (Home | searchatlas.com).
3. Enter your **new domain URL** and complete the project setup wizard.
4. Once the project is created, launch a **Site Audit** to detect technical issues on the new site.
5. Activate **OTTO** for the new project and review the fresh recommendations generated for your new domain.
6. Update your **Brand Vault** with any new brand details, target keywords, and business information relevant to the rebuilt site.
7. Reconnect any integrations (such as Google Search Console) to the new domain inside the project settings.

**Trade-off:** All historical data, previously applied fixes, and OTTO deployment history from your old project will not carry over. Your old project will remain in your account — do not delete it until you have finished referencing it.

## **🔄 Option 2: Manually Transfer OTTO Recommendations**

Use this approach if your old site had extensive OTTO work that you want to preserve as a reference during your new build.

1. Open your **old project** in Search Atlas and navigate to **OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation)**.
2. Export or document the recommendations that were applied — take note of meta titles, descriptions, heading structures, schema types, internal linking patterns, and any other fixes that were deployed.
3. Follow all steps in **Option 1** to create a new project for your new domain.
4. Inside the new project, open OTTO and manually implement the equivalent recommendations where they still apply to the new site's structure.
5. Re-run a site audit on the new project to confirm the changes have been applied correctly and to catch any new issues introduced during the rebuild.

**Trade-off:** This process is time-intensive and requires judgment about which old recommendations are still relevant after a rebuild. Not all previous fixes will apply if the site structure or content has significantly changed.

## **✅ Best Practices for SEO Continuity After a Domain Change**

- **Set up 301 redirects** from every old URL to its equivalent new URL as soon as the new site goes live. This is the single most important step for preserving search rankings and passing link equity.
- **Update Google Search Console** by adding and verifying your new domain as a separate property, then submit a new sitemap.
- **Monitor crawl errors** in your new Search Atlas project after the site is indexed to catch broken links or redirect issues early.
- **Do not delete your old Search Atlas project immediately.** Keep it available for at least 60–90 days as a reference for historical keyword rankings and previously applied recommendations.
- **Re-target keywords** in your new project — if the site structure changed during the rebuild, take this opportunity to review and refine your keyword strategy rather than simply copying the old one.
- **Update internal links** throughout the new site to point to the correct new URLs rather than old ones, and verify them inside your site audit.

## **❓ Frequently Asked Questions**

- **Can I rename or re-point my existing project to the new domain?** No. Domain changes at the project level are not supported. A new project must be created.
- **Will my old project affect billing?** Yes, if your plan has a project limit, your old project counts toward that limit until you delete it. Review your plan before creating the new project.
- **What happens to keyword rank tracking?** Rank tracking history is tied to the old project. You will need to add your target keywords again in the new project to begin fresh tracking for the new domain.

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.