Changing your business domain name without losing Google or email

Before

• Register the new domain in the business’s name, with auto-renew and two-step sign-in.
• Decide whether email moves to the new domain too, and plan that separately.
• List every page on the old site and where it will live on the new one.

The move

1. Launch the site on the new domainWith HTTPS working and nothing blocking search engines.
2. Redirect every old addressEach old page to its matching new page with a permanent 301 redirect, not everything to the home page. See 301 redirects explained.
3. Tell GoogleAdd the new domain in Search Console, then use the Change of Address tool on the old one. Submit the new sitemap.
4. Update everything that points at youGoogle Business Profile, social profiles, directories, email signatures, invoices, printed material as it’s reprinted.
5. EmailSet up the new domain’s email with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, keep the old addresses receiving and forwarding, and lock the old domain down so nobody can send as it.

After

• Keep the old domain registered and redirecting for years. If it lapses, someone else can buy it and inherit your old links. Our guide on expired domains shows what happens then.
• Watch Search Console for both domains for a few months.