Assertive Media
Domain Migration Support
Getting a domain name change WRONG could cost your business significant revenue loss! A simple domain change not executed properly could lead to your website vanishing from search engines or no longer being cited by AI!
Trusted by ambitious brands
What We Offer
A botched domain migration or one that's poorly executed could undo years of hard work overnight! And, the thing is, getting it wrong is a lot easier than getting it right.
At Assertive, we offer professional domain migration support services that help clients changing domain to minimize & mitigate potential traffic & ranking losses that are associated with changing domains.
Domain migrations are generally quite risky for businesses, especially established ones that have a large volume of clicks/impressions & rankings. It's for this reason that getting a domain migration right at the outset is absolutely crucial.
We offer a full domain migration support service that's designed to help clients avoid losing lost ground organically both at a ranking & traffic level.
Client Testimonial
We've been working with Assertive on our SEO & AI SEO Strategy, we're very pleased with the results, the team are fantastic & very helpful
We've been working with Assertive on our SEO + our AI SEO / GEO strategy for a while now. The team have been very knowledgable and supportive.
We had our first wholesale bulk order through chatGPT which is one of the largest orders we've had to date, we're getting more customers telling us they found us in chatGPT searches, so very pleased.
Appletons Wholesale
Verified client
Some of Our Clients
Why Domain Migration Support Is Important
It's important because getting a domain migration wrong can have a profound impact on rankings, traffic & revenue. Just changing a domain can undo years of hard work & SEO investment overnight and can in some cases take MONTHS to recover depending on the scale of the loss.
Domain migration support is important because it:
- Helps to prevent things going wrong - prevention is better than cure
- Helps with providing a smooth transition within search
- Stops visitors ending up on broken pages or not being able to find your brand
- Helps to prevent impact on revenue / leads
- Helps with ensuring places across the web are updated with your new domain
- Helps with inclusion into AI when domain changes
- Helps to prevent indexing issues or organic value loss
- Stops your website from vanishing from search
How We Can Support Your Planned or Upcoming Domain Migration
If your business is in the process of considering a domain change we can help you plan in a way that achieves the best outcome - we help brands with domain name planning, addressing CTLDS (country top level domain extensions i.e. co.uk, .com, .io, .co etc) as well as evaluating domains to see if they've been used previously and subject to any history that could impede onward performance.
We can support domain name decision making, keyword utilisation & branding, domain extension, international SEO considerations, domain history assessment and more.
Our domain migration service also includes pre-migration auditing and post-migration auditing to maximise the chances of a positive outcome once the domain changes.
Domain Name Change Advice
We can advise on changing a domain, whether you are using a branded domain or a keyword based domain (partial match or exact match) we can evaluate & provide guidance on what would work best for your brand.
We give clients advice on choosing a domain name that works & isn't going to be one that ends up being detrimental to the brand or performance.
Domain Extension Advice
For international brands who may have multiple domains or multiple country-level sub folders with translated content, we can advise on the right domain extension for your business taking into account any pre-existing international SEO set up, we ensure you chose the right domain extension based on your country level strategy.
Domain History & Background Checks
We can perform checks on domains before you finalise on one - this is to ensure you don't select a domain that may have been used/abused in the past where trust in the domain may have been lost or potentially penal.
We check to see if domains have history in Wayback, if they have traffic & ranking history and for any signs of traffic tanking across google updates, we see if they have been blacklisted, spammy links or markers that may render them unsuitable as a new domain target.
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Pre-Domain Migration Audit
This is where we effectively assess the domain and website looking for all the things that can impede a smooth migration such as website structural or technical issues as well as checking for page indexing performance and more.
We perform full audits to assess whether the domain is usable, if the site has any key issues and whether indexing is likely to impede "transitionary" performance.
Our audits are bespoke, manually built from data and provide clear insight and actionable guidance to execute before changing domain.
Domain Migration Assistance
We can help prepare and work alongside you during the domain migration and switch over to ensure everything goes smoothly. From checking that all appropriate tags and directives are in-place through to ensuring that all HTTPS redirects and handling are in place, to ensure Google knows about the domain change (Google search console change of address).
This is the perfect time to catch any issues so they can be addressed before the website is recrawled and before indexing takes place - missing issues at this point is when things typically start to go wrong.
Post-Migration Auditing
Once the domain migration is complete, we can then assess performance across all key metrics including clicks, impressions, CTR, position, we track rankings & indexing performance as well as GA4 metrics around conversions, sales, leads etc.
With post migration auditing we can ensure that things continue to go smoothly & to deal with any issues if and when they arise - such as indexing issues or a sudden increase in non-indexed pages.
Real client results
Case Studies
Lenovo EMEA
One of the world's largest computer manufacturers Assertive supports search across EMEA markets.
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BNP Paribas Cardif
International insurance group Warranty Direct programme growth via SEO.
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Pharmacy Online
Online dispensary for prescription & over-the-counter medications.
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SCI-MX Nutrition
One of the UK's leading sports nutrition & protein supplement retailers.
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Audley Travel
Tailor-made luxury travel bespoke itineraries crafted by destination specialists.
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Emma Sleep
Award-winning sleep products mattresses, pillows and bedding.
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Orangeries UK
Bespoke orangeries design, manufacture and installation across the UK.
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Justerinis & Brooks
Fine wine & spirits merchant one of the world's oldest, established 1749.
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Craft Irish Whiskey
Ultra-luxury, super-premium Irish whiskey crafted in small batches.
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Sykes Dream Cottages
Dorset's largest holiday cottage agency with 300+ properties.
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Large Mortgage Loans
UK leader in High Net Worth mortgages finance for larger property purchases.
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SQS
Global IT service management & infrastructure software organisation.
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How Much Does Domain Migration Support Cost?
It really depends on the size of the website, the domain, the niche & history behind it. We typically charge £150-£200 per hour for support services across pre-migration, during migration and post migration.
Generally 10-20 hours are needed at a minimum for a domain migration but it could require more hours depending on various factors. Please get in contact with us for a bespoke quotation.
Our Domain Name Migration Process
So this will vary from client to client as we are sometimes brought in to help at different phases of client projects. But, in general our process looks as follows:
- You get in contact / submit an enquiry and provide us with an overview
- We provide you with a quote for support
- If you proceed, we then establish a contact medium and then begin getting involved
- We establish where you are with your domain name change process
- We perform a pre-migration SEO audit that goes through 100+ point check (migration checklist)
- Recommendations are generated segmenting technical SEO, page indexing, content and other potential impactors along with degree of potential impact and urgency for resolution
- Once fixes/recommendations are in place, we prepare for the domain migration (updating external references to the old domain, GMB, schema, internal links etc)
- Domain migration is executed (subject to DNS/record migrations)
- Post migration checks are conducted immediately to ensure there are no issues
- Google change of address is submitted
- Post migration impact analysis, reactive monitoring and tracking in place to ensure rankings and traffic are maintained
Why Choose Us?
There are lots of reasons to choose Assertive as your SEO agency & migration partner, some of these include:
- Extensive experience with supporting businesses with domain name changes and migrations
- Good track record of helping websites to maintain ranking post migration
- Our in-house SEOs have at least 10 years of real world experience
- Established since 2007
- Client-first and founder led
- Revenue focused
- Award winning
What Issues Most Commonly Result in Lost Rankings
Below are some of the most common mistakes that we help clients to avoid with our domain migration support service.
Redirect Mistakes
- Blanket-redirecting everything to the homepage instead of mapping each old URL to its exact new equivalent. Google treats these as soft 404s and the page-level equity can be lost.
- Using 302 (temporary) redirects instead of 301 (permanent) - signals to Google the move isn't final, so ranking equity never fully consolidates onto the new domain
- Redirect chains & redirect loops (old URL to intermediate to final). Each hop dilutes equity and wastes crawl budget; some redirect chains stop passing signals altogether
- Only redirecting the top/indexed pages and ignoring the long tail - including old URLs that still hold valuable backlinks or queries
- Forgetting protocol and host variants - http/https, www/non-www, trailing-slash versions all need handling, not just the "clean" URL
- Removing the redirects too soon. They need to stay in place long-term (effectively indefinitely) - pulling them after a few months can retrigger SEO issues or losses
Planning Mistakes
- Not crawling and inventorying the old site first - this can lead to all sorts of issues including orphaned pages, sustained internal links to the old domain creating the need for persistent redirects
- Changing the domain and redesigning/restructuring URLs at the same time. If traffic drops you can't isolate the cause, so it's best to make one change at a time
- Not vetting the new domain's history - prior penalties, spam, or expired-domain abuse can carry history that suppresses performance post migration
- Migrating at the worst possible time - peak season or a revenue-critical period, with no buffer to absorb a temporary dip or recover.
- Rushing it with no staging/QA window. Domain migrations should run over weeks, not be ran overnight
Technical Execution Mistakes
- Leaving canonical tags pointing at the old domain - you tell Google the old URLs are still the "real" ones, which can undermine the strategy and transition
- Letting the new/staging site stay blocked (leftover noindex or robots.txt disallow at launch) - or the reverse, letting staging get indexed before go-live and creating duplicates within Google's index
- Not updating internal links - they stay hardcoded to the old domain, forcing every click through a redirect hop instead of pointing directly to the new URL - this can lead Google to continue serving the old domain even long after the migration
- Forgetting hreflang on international sites - tags still reference the old domain, breaking the language/region cluster
- An outdated XML sitemap - still listing old URLs, not resubmitted to Search Console after the switch
- SSL/HTTPS not ready on the new domain at switchover - mixed-content warnings and security errors greet the first crawl and the first visitors
- DNS missteps - not lowering TTL ahead of the switch, or misconfigured records, causing slow or messy propagation.
Search Console & Notification Mistakes
- Skipping the Change of Address tool in Search Console, which is effectively relying on Google making the domain name change determination based on redirects alone - which often does not work
- Not verifying both domains in advance (ideally via DNS so verification persists through the switch) - this is a common issue and often overlooked
Measurement & Aftercare Mistakes
- No pre-migration benchmark, without a baseline of rankings, clicks, impressions and conversions, you can't properly assess impact of domain migration
- Not migrating analytics and tracking - GA4, tags and conversion tracking left tied to the old domain
- Walking away at go-live, the first few weeks are when indexing errors and crawl issues generally appear; not monitoring closely means catching problems weeks too late.
- Forgetting everything off the site - Google Business Profile, social profiles, citations, ad campaign URLs, and high-value backlinks updated at source.
- Letting the old domain expire. It's the bridge carrying your redirects and equity
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take?
Typically this isn't something a business should rush whatsoever. Domain migrations should be done over the course of a few weeks - firstly by going through a pre-migration assessment and then through the migration through to completion. Typically we advise clients 3-4 weeks, during which time we can ensure everything is properly configured and ready for transition.
This timeframe might be longer if there are issues that need fixing prior to domain change such as indexing issues. Actual domain name changes can be done in minutes and usually just require the appropriate DNS records to be migrated across to the new target domain (A, AAA, CNAME, TEXT etc). Once the domain DNS has been changed and swapped propagation can be anywhere from a few minutes to 24 hours.
How long will it take for Google to recognise the domain change?
It's usually very quick as we set up Google Search Console profiles for both domains, we then use DNS verification so that verification persists once the website is changed. We then use Googles change of domain name functionality in search console (COA - change of address) to notify Google of the new target domain.
How quickly the new domain is indexed is really dependent on a lot of factors - so exact timeframes are difficult to provide.
Will we lose our website rankings or traffic?
Generally, IF the migration process is done properly the impact on traffic and rankings should be minimal. However, there IS always a chance that some rankings and traffic can be lost whilst the domain change is underway.
Where our service helps is to mitigate potential for loss by ensuring the smoothest, cleanest domain name transfer as possible thus providing a layer of prevention rather than a cure. Generally ranking losses and traffic losses as a result of a botched or poorly executed domain migration can take a while to recover once issues are rectified.
How long will we have to keep our old domain?
You would naturally keep your old domain indefinitely - primarily because the cost is generally low and the work involved with updating all legacy backlinks is going to far outweigh the costs of just keeping the domain active.
Will we lose any of our backlinks or link equity?
No, with the appropriate single hop redirects (301/308) in place the link equity will be passed from your old domain to new domain. Then link building should resume focusing on the new domain whilst the redirects preserve pre-existing link equity.
Can we redesign the website / change the CMS?
You can but we HIGHLY recommend that significant overhauls are broken up. A domain name change shouldn't be done at the same time as a website overhaul or CMS change as this can compound potential issues - these things should be done separately.
We've changed our domain name but lost traffic can you help?
Yes, if you've already changed domain and lost rankings and traffic we can get involved by performing a loss analysis, ascertaining what's gone wrong & then to provide support in the way of recommendations or SEO implementation.
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