Should a domain name or website name be changed after it has already been in existence for a while? Some say yes, and some say no. This is just one of the many helpful topics that is being covered at the Search Engine Strategies Conference in New York this week. In our live coverage of the SES conference we caught up with Search Engine Optimization Expert Jill Whalen who suggests you should not change your domain name or website name unless you have to.
“With Google’s aging delays, sometimes even if you put the same website up on a new domain, you’ll lose rankings immediately.”
If you do decide to change your domain name or website name, you may face a few challenges. Cost is just one issue that may complicate matters. Another issue that may arise is the confusion involved in trying to decide if you should change. Most likely the biggest issue is… if you do decide to change, there is no guarantee it will be better than the old one. Jill Whalen offered this advice if you do change,
“At least use a 301 redirect, permanent redirect, but sometimes that doesn’t work either. You still get the aging delay thing with Google, but some people in my firm have found that you can use a 302 redirect.”
That’s all for this news update. We will continue to bring you many more helpful tips from the SES Conference in New York.
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12 users commented in " SES Conference: Changing Domain Name "
We have been on the first Google page forever under “imported forgings” or “imported castings”. Every week I add us to some list or link somewhere, and I have done this since 2000. I wish it had a shorter name, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. If you are totally unindexed, then fine. Change it. If you have even minimal position, you would be throwing away a precious asset to change the domain, even if you could duplicate the tags, links, ads, and directory listings.
Don’t do it!
Good update. Will 302 redirect help in SE rankings?
Pratheep
[…] WebProNews is reporting live from this year’s Search Engine Strategies Conference in New York which will be held until April 13th. The video link below addresses the issue of changing your domain name. What are the consequences and is it recommended… find out at http://videos.webpronews.com/2007/04/11/ses-conference-changing-domain-name/ […]
[…] Persoonlijk vond ik dit een zeer interessant onderwerp, want ook ik ben hier ooit mee geconfronteerd geweest. Op WebProNews vond ik een interview met SEO expert Jill Whalen waarin hij vertelde dat dit vaak geen goede optie is. “With Google’s aging delays, sometimes even if you put the same website up on a new domain, you’ll lose rankings immediately.†[…]
interesting info. why change if its allready indexed. as mentioned use redirect.
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[…] WebProNews Video Blog Blog Archive SES Conference: Changing Should a domain name or website name be changed after it has already been in existence for a while? Some say yes, and some say no. This is just one of the many helpful topics that is being covered at […]
[…] WebProNews Video Blog Blog Archive SES Conference: Changing Should a domain name or website name be changed after it has already been in existence for a while? Some say yes, and some say no. This is just one of the many helpful topics that is being covered at […]
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I changed my own domain name after reading lots of other people’s advice and did managed to regain my rankings…but it did take time. I wrote an article about my experience: http://aldebaranwebdesign.com/blog/changing-domain-names-seo/
Nice.. Really nice..
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