Should You Change Your Domain Name?

Sometimes I get a question from clients that always catches me a bit off guard.  The question is, "Should I change my domain name?"  My answer almost always is no, and for several reasons.

For starters, moving to a new domain name is risky and potentially dangerous to your business.  The only reasons you should ever consider this is if you have been at the domain a very short time, you have no investment in the old domain name, or if you are moving away from a shared hosting (like Wordpress or Blogger) to your own domain.  Even if one these applies, you have to manage the switch very carefully.  Why?  The reasons are pretty simple.

You should picture your potential domain move like moving a business that has been in the same location for several years.  Your customers, clients, readers, etc, are all used to going to the same place, and even though you can let them know about the move, some may simply not come.  This is true in the physical world, and on the Internet.

Also, picture everyone that is trying to visit your business relying on old information from the phone book (or for those more tech savvy - Iphone, Google Map, Yelp listing, etc).  Search engines are the same way.  A move away from your current domain means that all of your hard work for search engine optimization is gone, and you may potentially fall (or even leave) the search engine rankings for a good while.  Is this worth it?

In addition, any link popularity that you have built up will also be gone.  Say goodbye to that hard work as well.  You will have to start from scratch on that as well.

You will also lose the authority from having a new domain in lieu of an older one.  Search engines treat websites kind of like we treat people.  You wouldn't expect a baby to have a lot of authority, but someone with a few grey hairs - that is someone that you will pay attention to.

Last but not least, and perhaps the most dangerous part of changing your domain name is the decline in traffic associated with such a switch.  You may lose anywhere from 40-95% of your traffic due to the time it will take to index, the fall out of search engines, and old clients not knowing your new site name. If you are an online retailer, this can be a dangerous thing indeed.

So think a bit before you change names.  Although you can 301 redirect from your old site, you had better absolutely be certain that it is the right long term move for your site, or else the move will result in a lot of headaches and problems that can only be cured with patience, hard work, and time.