🗺️ Overview
Sometimes you need to move an SEO project to a new domain — whether you're rebranding, migrating a site, or correcting an initial setup error. Search Atlas does not allow you to directly overwrite an existing project's domain, but this guide walks you through the safest approach to make the switch while preserving as much of your data as possible.
⚠️ What Happens to Your Data
Before you begin, it's important to understand how data is stored in Search Atlas:
- Keyword rankings, tracked keywords, and rank history are tied to the specific domain in your project. These cannot be automatically transferred to a new domain.
- Backlink data, site audit results, and reports are also domain-specific and will not carry over automatically.
- Project settings, notes, and configurations (such as target location, language, and competitors) can be manually re-applied to a new project.
Because of this, the recommended workflow is to export your key data before making any changes, then set up a new project for the new domain.
📋 Step 1 — Export Your Existing Project Data
Before touching anything, export the data you want to preserve from your current project:
- Open your existing SEO project in Search Atlas.
- Navigate to the Rank Tracker and export your tracked keyword list and ranking history using the export or download option.
- Go to the Site Auditor and download any audit reports you want to reference later.
- Visit the Backlink Analyzer and export your backlink profile if needed.
- Take note of your project settings: target country, city, language, search engine, and any competitors you've been tracking.
Save all exported files in an organised folder so they're easy to reference when setting up your new project.
➕ Step 2 — Create a New Project for the New Domain
Once your data is safely exported, create a fresh project for the new domain:
- From the Search Atlas dashboard, navigate to Home → Create Project.
- Enter your new domain name and fill in all relevant settings (location, language, competitors) using the notes you saved in Step 1.
- Save the project to initialise data collection for the new domain.
📥 Step 3 — Re-import Your Keywords
To restore your tracked keywords in the new project:
- Open the Rank Tracker inside your new project.
- Use the Import Keywords option to upload the keyword list you exported from the old project.
- Confirm the import and allow Search Atlas to begin tracking rankings for those keywords on the new domain.
Note that historical ranking data from the old domain cannot be migrated — the new project will start building fresh ranking history from the date of import.
🗑️ Step 4 — Archive or Delete the Old Project
Once your new project is set up and tracking correctly, decide what to do with the old project:
- Archive it if you may need to reference its historical data in the future.
- Delete it if you're certain you no longer need it and want to free up a project slot.
To delete a project, go to your project settings, scroll to the bottom, and select Delete Project. This action is permanent, so make sure your exports are complete before proceeding.
💡 Tips for a Smooth Transition
- Run a fresh site audit on the new domain immediately after creating the project to establish a baseline.
- Re-add the same competitors you were tracking in the old project so your competitive data stays consistent.
- If you use Search Atlas reports to share progress with clients, update any saved report templates with the new project's data source.
- Allow 24–48 hours for initial ranking data to populate in the new project before drawing conclusions.
🆘 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.