Changing your domain name is one of the riskiest moves you can make online — but it is also completely manageable when done right. Whether you are rebranding, shortening a clunky URL, or switching from .com to .com.au, the process is the same.

Get it right and your traffic follows you to the new domain within weeks. Get it wrong and you could lose months of SEO work overnight.

This guide walks you through every step, in order.

Why do businesses change their domain name?

The reasons vary, but the most common ones are:

  • A rebrand or business name change
  • Upgrading from a generic .com to a localised .com.au
  • Moving from a long, forgettable URL to a shorter one
  • Merging two businesses under one brand
  • Correcting a domain that was registered with a spelling mistake

Whatever the reason, the SEO risk is real. Google has indexed your old domain, built trust in it over time, and is sending traffic to it. When you change domains without the right redirects in place, that trust does not automatically transfer.

What happens to your SEO when you change domains?

In an ideal migration with everything set up correctly, you will see a temporary dip in rankings of around 10–20% for 4–8 weeks. Then traffic recovers and often exceeds the original once Google has fully crawled and reindexed the new domain.

In a poorly executed migration — no redirects, no Search Console update, no sitemap — you can lose 50–80% of your organic traffic permanently. Some businesses never fully recover.

The good news: most of the risk is avoidable.

Step 1: Register your new domain first

Before you do anything else, secure the new domain. Register your new domain through Australian Hosting Solutions to keep everything under one roof. Having your hosting and domain with the same provider simplifies DNS management and makes the migration far less stressful.

Once registered, do not point it at your website yet. You need to set everything up on the new domain before switching traffic across.

Step 2: Build and test your new domain

Set up a full copy of your website on the new domain. This includes all pages, blog posts, images, and files — the structure should be identical to your current site. Use your hosting control panel to create the new site, then do a full QA pass:

  • Check every internal link points to the new domain
  • Test forms, checkout flows, and any third-party integrations
  • Confirm the SSL certificate is installed and working
  • Check page load speed on the new domain matches or beats the old one

Do not rush this step. A broken new site is worse than staying on the old domain for a few extra weeks.

Step 3: Set up 301 redirects from every old URL

This is the single most important step. A 301 redirect tells both users and search engines that a page has permanently moved to a new address. It passes the majority of your existing SEO value to the new URL.

The rule is simple: every URL on your old domain needs a 301 redirect to the matching URL on your new domain.

  • olddomain.com.au/about/ redirects to newdomain.com.au/about/
  • olddomain.com.au/services/plumbing/ redirects to newdomain.com.au/services/plumbing/
  • olddomain.com.au/blog/ redirects to newdomain.com.au/blog/

Do not use a blanket redirect that sends everything to the homepage. URL-to-URL matching is what preserves your rankings. If you are on WordPress, a plugin like Redirection makes this manageable. For server-level redirects, your hosting provider can set these up via .htaccess or the control panel.

Step 4: Update Google Search Console

Log in to Google Search Console and add your new domain as a separate property. Verify it, then submit your new XML sitemap. Google will begin crawling the new domain from that point.

There is also a “Change of Address” tool in Search Console (under Settings) that specifically notifies Google of a domain migration. Use it. It speeds up the transfer of trust from your old domain to the new one.

Keep the old domain property active in Search Console for at least 12 months so you can monitor for crawl errors and confirm redirects are working.

Step 5: Update all backlinks and citations you control

Go through every place you have manually listed your website and update it to the new domain. This includes:

  • Google Business Profile
  • Social media profiles (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X)
  • Online directories (Yellow Pages, True Local, industry directories)
  • Email signatures
  • Business cards and printed materials
  • Any paid advertising campaigns running with the old domain in the URL

For backlinks on other websites — links pointing to your old domain from other sites — the 301 redirects will handle the SEO value. Reaching out to high-authority sites to manually update the link to your new domain is best practice but not always practical at scale.

Step 6: Update your registrar and keep the old domain

Do not let your old domain expire. Transfer the old domain to your current registrar if it is elsewhere, and renew it for at least 2–3 years. The redirects you set up in Step 3 need to remain live for that entire period.

If someone typed your old domain from memory six months from now, you want them landing on your new site, not a parked page or a 404 error.

Step 7: Monitor, monitor, monitor

For the first 3 months after launch, check the following weekly:

  • Google Search Console: crawl errors, indexing status, clicks and impressions for both properties
  • Google Analytics: sessions, bounce rate, and conversion rate on the new domain
  • Core Web Vitals: confirm performance has not dropped on the new domain
  • Rank tracking: monitor your top 20–30 keywords to spot any pages that did not transfer properly

If you see a specific page losing rankings but others are fine, it usually means that page’s redirect is broken or pointing to the wrong URL. Fix it immediately.

How long does it take for traffic to recover?

With everything done correctly, you can expect:

  • Weeks 1–2: Google starts crawling and indexing the new domain
  • Weeks 3–6: Rankings fluctuate as Google processes the domain change
  • Months 2–3: Most rankings stabilise and traffic begins recovering
  • Months 4–6: Full recovery, often with improvement as the new domain gains its own authority

Sites with stronger backlink profiles tend to recover faster. A newer site with fewer links may take the full 6 months.

Common mistakes that kill your traffic

  • Not setting up redirects at all. Traffic and rankings disappear immediately.
  • Using 302 redirects instead of 301s. A 302 is a temporary redirect. Google does not pass SEO value through it the same way. Always use 301 for permanent moves.
  • Redirecting everything to the homepage. Google treats this as a soft 404. Match old URLs to new URLs.
  • Letting the old domain expire. The redirects disappear and all the traffic they were passing through is gone.
  • Not updating Search Console. Google finds out about the migration much more slowly without the Change of Address notification.

Ready to register your new domain?

Australian Hosting Solutions makes domain registration and management straightforward for Australian businesses. Whether you are registering a brand-new domain, transferring your existing domain to AHS, or managing multiple domains under one account, the support team is available to help you through every step.

Browse all domain options at Australian Hosting Solutions to get started.

Frequently asked questions

Will I lose all my Google rankings when I change domain names?

Not if you do it properly. With 301 redirects in place and Google Search Console updated, most rankings recover within 3–6 months. You may see a short-term dip of 10–20% while Google reprocesses the migration.

Do I need to keep my old domain active after switching?

Yes, for at least 2–3 years. The 301 redirects that protect your SEO and catch direct traffic from people who know your old domain need to remain live. Letting the old domain expire breaks all of those redirects.

How long does a domain migration take?

The technical setup can be completed in a day or two. Full recovery in Google’s index typically takes 3–6 months depending on the size of your site and the strength of your backlink profile.

Does changing from .com to .com.au affect my rankings?

Moving from .com to .com.au can actually improve rankings for Australian search queries once the migration settles. Google uses the .com.au extension as a signal that a business is locally based in Australia.

What is a 301 redirect and why does it matter?

A 301 redirect is a permanent URL redirect that tells browsers and search engines a page has moved to a new address. It passes the majority of the original page’s SEO value to the new URL, which is why it is essential for any domain migration.