When Moving Your Website, Don’t Leave Your Search Rank Behind

If you are moving your website from one domain to another, it is a good idea to retain your site’s ranking in search results. The best way to keep your rank is to use 301 redirects.

A 301 redirect is simply an action tied to a link that tells the search engine that the link has permanently moved to a new location. This allows the search engine to follow the old link to your new link seamlessly, while avoiding the 404 “Not Found” errors.

Google has an informative video on moving a site from one domain to another, as well as info on 301 redirects. This video is embedded below, or you can click here to watch on YouTube.

If your website is hosted on an Apache server, the process involves editing your “.htaccess” file. More information on this method is available by clicking here. By far the easiest way to set up a 301 redirect is within the Content Management System called WordPress. There are quite a few plugins available that will allow for simple redirects from one link to another without requiring any programming knowledge.

Although 301 redirects are very important, they are just a part of the process of moving a site from one domain to another. Make sure to always do the necessary research and back up your site before you make any major changes. To learn more about moving your site, read this and watch the video below.

– Ian