How do I move to a new domain without losing rankings?

You move to a new domain with the least loss by forwarding every old address to its matching page on the new domain, telling Google about the move in Search Console, and changing nothing else at the same time. Even when it’s done well, expect a period where rankings shift while Google reprocesses the site. Nobody can promise that a move costs nothing, so the first question is whether to move at all.

Decide whether the move is worth it

Move when the business reason is strong, and stay when it’s cosmetic. A change of company name, a merger or a legal problem with the old name are good reasons. Wanting a domain with a service or a city in it’s a weak one, because a keyword in the domain name isn’t the advantage it’s sometimes sold as. A domain that has been in use for years has links, listings and customer habits attached to it. Redirects carry most of that across. They don’t carry it instantly, and I wouldn’t assume they carry all of it.

The steps, in order

Each step depends on the one before it.

1. Register the new domain and look into its past. A name that someone else used before can come with a history you don’t want.
2. Add and verify both domains in Google Search Console.
3. List every address on the old site and match it to the same page on the new domain. The simplest map keeps the paths identical, so /water-heater-repair/ on the old domain goes to /water-heater-repair/ on the new one.
4. Put the site live on the new domain with its text, titles and structure unchanged.
5. Set a permanent redirect, known as a 301 redirect, from each old address to its match.
6. Update the site itself: internal links, the sitemap, and the canonical tags, which are the lines of code that tell Google the main address for each page.
7. File the change of address notice in Search Console. It’s built for moves from one domain to another. It adds to the redirects and doesn’t replace them.
8. Submit the new sitemap.

Update everything that points at the old domain

Redirects catch old links, but a direct link is cleaner, so change the ones you control. For a home-service company that list is longer than most owners expect:

• The website link on your Google Business Profile.
• Directory and review site listings.
• Social profiles.
• The landing page addresses in Google Ads and Local Services Ads.
• Links from suppliers, trade associations and local groups that will update them if asked.
• Truck wraps, invoices and email signatures, at whatever pace is practical.

Check email separately. If your addresses use the old domain, moving the website must not break the mail, and that is a different setting from the redirects.

Keep the old domain

Pay the renewal and leave the redirects running for as long as you can. If the registration lapses, every redirect stops working on the same day, and anyone can register the name and put what they like on it. The yearly cost of a domain is small next to what it protects.

Don’t combine it with a redesign

A domain move on its own is one change, and you can measure its effect. A new domain, a new design and a new page structure launched together are three changes, and if calls fall afterward nobody can say which one did it. If both are needed, I’d do them in stages and measure in between. A rebuild brings risks of its own to your rankings.

After the move, watch both domains in Search Console. The old one should lose listed pages as the new one gains them, and any old address that returns “not found” needs a redirect added. I plan and test the map, then watch the result, as part of site migrations.