---
type: Migration Guide
title: "Domain migration with SEO equity preservation"
description: "Move from one domain to another (rebrand, M&A, ccTLD consolidation) without losing rankings, indexation, or backlink equity."
resource: "https://prerendering.com/migrations/domain-migration"
tags: [migration, hard]
timestamp: 2026-05-11T00:00:00Z
---

# Domain migration with SEO equity preservation

Move from one domain to another (rebrand, M&A, ccTLD consolidation) without losing rankings, indexation, or backlink equity.

A guide for sites migrating between domains. Done right, equity transfer is near-complete within 60-90 days. Done wrong, you lose 30-60% of organic visibility for months. The difference is mostly redirect discipline and Search Console transition.

- Difficulty: Hard
- Typical duration: 4 to 10 weeks

## Preflight

- Both domains verified in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Full URL inventory of the source domain with traffic and link equity data.
- Decision: full structural mirror (recommended) or restructure-while-migrating (riskier).
- Outreach plan for top 50-100 backlinks — link updates accelerate equity transfer.
- Communication plan for users (email, in-app, banner).

## Steps

- **Mirror the structure on the new domain** — Deploy the new domain with the exact same URL structure as the old, content-identical. Stage and verify.
- **Configure 301 redirects from old to new** — One-to-one URL mapping. No chains. Test 100+ URLs with curl -I. Verify 301 status and correct destination.
- **Update canonicals on both domains** — Old domain canonicals point to new. New domain canonicals point to itself. Avoid cross-domain canonical loops.
- **Submit Change of Address in Search Console** — In the old domain property: Settings → Change of Address. Verify new domain ownership first.
- **Update internal references everywhere** — Email signatures, product links, social media, ad campaigns, partner integrations. Stale references slow equity transfer.
- **Reach out to top backlinks** — For top 50-100 backlinks (by Domain Rating × relevance), email asking for link updates. Even 30% success rate accelerates recovery.

## Rollback

- Within first 7 days: revert DNS, remove Change of Address. Equity loss minimal.
- After 14 days: rollback gets harder; consider proceeding and recovering rather than reverting.
- Keep the old domain registered and accessible for at least 12 months.

## Monitoring

- Search Console performance on both old and new properties — track combined impressions and clicks.
- Old-domain crawl frequency — should drop steadily as Google understands the move.
- New-domain indexation count — should rise to match old-domain baseline within 60-90 days.
- Backlink profile (Ahrefs / Majestic) — track updated vs still-pointing-old.
- Brand search query volume — should not change significantly during the move.

## Metrics

- Expected downtime: < 5 min (DNS TTL-bound)
- Typical rollback window: < 7 days for low equity loss
- Time to equity transfer: 60-90 days
- Acceptable temporary visibility drop: 10-30% in first 14-30 days

## Related

- [SEO Migration Strategy for Re-platforming Projects](/blog/seo-migrations-and-replatforming-strategy.md)
- [Indexation Recovery After Site Migrations](/blog/indexation-recovery-after-site-migrations.md)