Will changing our domain name hurt our SEO?

It can, and a dip is common while search engines re-crawl. Google's own site-move guide says rankings may fluctuate and that it can take a few weeks or more before Google shows the new URLs instead of the old ones, longer on big sites. A careful move keeps that dip short: every old URL redirects one to one to its closest new page, nothing important is dropped, and the new site is tested before launch. What hurts is redirecting everything to the homepage, letting the old domain lapse, or launching with a stray noindex tag.

How much do SEO website migration services cost?

Our migration work is a fixed fee, priced after a short scoping call. The main factors are how many URLs you have, how many sections and templates the site uses, whether the domain, the brand name or the platform is changing, and whether your site runs on a CMS or custom code. You get the number in writing before we start. If you're already in our AI Search Program, migration work is included.

How long should we keep the old domain and redirects?

Keep the old domain for good. Google's site-move guide says to keep redirects for at least a year and as long as possible. We go further, because links, bookmarks, old articles and AI assistants keep sending people to the old URLs for years. A domain renewal costs very little next to the traffic it keeps. If the old domain lapses, someone else can buy it and every link pointing to it.

Do we need to use the Change of Address tool in Search Console?

Only when the domain or subdomain changes. Google's guide says the tool is for moves from one domain or subdomain to another, and isn't needed for a switch to HTTPS, a www change or path changes on the same domain. For a domain move we file it in Search Console and also use the Site Move tool in Bing Webmaster Tools, after the redirects are live.

Why do ChatGPT and other AI assistants still use our old name?

Because much of what they know was learned before you moved, and the sources they cite still say the old name. A model's training data is a snapshot, so it can keep your old brand for a long time. Assistants that search the web re-read your pages, but they also read review sites, directories, old press and other people's articles that still use the old name. We keep the old name in your titles during the transition, update the outside profiles you control, and track AI answers weekly so you can see the switch happen.

What is a 301 redirect map?

It's a spreadsheet that lists every old URL and the one new URL it should send people and search engines to, using a permanent 301 redirect. Each old page goes to its closest match, never all to the homepage. Pages you're retiring either redirect to the best related page or return a 410 so search engines drop them on purpose. Your developers or CMS load the map, and we test every row before and after launch.

Can you handle a redesign or a platform change on the same domain?

Yes. A redesign or a move between platforms, like WordPress to Webflow or a CMS to custom code, often changes URLs, templates, internal links and schema even when the domain stays put. It gets the same inventory, map and tests as a domain move. The Change of Address tool doesn't apply, but sitemaps, crawl checks and monitoring do.

Do you guarantee we won't lose rankings?

No, and be careful with anyone who does. Search engines and AI assistants make their own decisions on their own schedule. What we control is whether every signal they need is in place and tested, and whether you can see the numbers each week. If something slips after launch, we find the cause in the logs and fix it.

Domain moves · rebrands · redesigns · fixed fee

SEO Website Migration Services That Carry Your Rankings and AI Citations Over

A website migration keeps its SEO when every old URL redirects to its closest new page, the new site is tested before launch, and someone watches rankings and AI answers for weeks after. We do that for domain moves, rebrands, redesigns and platform changes: inventory, a one-to-one 301 map, tests by section, launch-day submissions and 8 weeks of monitoring. It's a fixed fee, priced after a short scoping call, and included if you're on our AI Search Program.

Book a strategy call → See every step

1 to 1

every old URL mapped to its closest new page

Every section

tested on staging before launch day

8 weeks

of ranking and AI-answer monitoring after launch

The short version

How do you migrate a website without losing SEO?

To migrate a website without losing SEO, list every URL the old site has, decide which pages are worth keeping, and redirect each old URL with a permanent 301 to its closest new page. Test a sample from every section before launch, submit the new sitemap on launch day, file a change of address if the domain changed, and keep the old domain and its redirects for good. Then watch rankings, crawl logs and AI answers for at least 8 weeks, because search engines and AI assistants take time to switch over.

That's the work SuperDupr does on every migration, following Google's guide to site moves with URL changes.

What kind of migration are you planning?

Each type of move breaks something different. The plan starts with knowing which one you have, and often it's more than one at once.

Type of move	What changes	Biggest risk	Change of address tool?
Domain move	Every URL's host name	Lost links and a long dip if URLs redirect badly or the old domain lapses	Yes, in Search Console, plus Bing's Site Move tool
Rebrand	The name, often the domain too	Buyers and AI assistants searching the old name and finding nothing that ties it to the new one	Yes, if the domain changes
Redesign	Templates, navigation, internal links, sometimes URLs	Pages losing the content, headings or schema that earned their rankings	No, same domain
Platform change	The CMS or code, and usually URL patterns	Changed URL patterns, missing redirects and leftover noindex tags from staging	No, unless the domain changes too
Merging sites	Two sites become one	Duplicate pages competing, or the weaker version winning	Yes, for the site that goes away

Source for the change of address column: Google Search Central, site moves with URL changes.

What do you do before, during and after the move?

Most of the work happens before launch. Launch day should be boring.

Before: weeks out

Inventory every URL

We pull every URL the old site has from your sitemaps, Search Console, analytics, server logs, your CMS and a full crawl, plus the pages other sites link to. Google's guide names the same sources. A URL nobody listed is a URL nobody redirects, and those are the ones that quietly break.

Before

Triage before you move anything

Each URL gets a call: keep, merge, redirect to a better page, or retire. A move is the cheapest moment to drop thin or outdated pages, so you don't carry them over and maintain them on the new site. Pages that bring signups, links or AI citations are protected first.

Before

Build the one-to-one 301 map

Every old URL points to its closest new page with a permanent 301 redirect, never a blanket redirect to the homepage. We check for chains and loops, and we update your own internal links to the new URLs so people don't hop through redirects on every click.

Before

Keep the old name in view during a rebrand

Titles, the about page and key product pages carry both names for a while, like "NewName (formerly OldName)". Buyers and AI assistants still search the old name, and this tells both that the names belong to the same company. We drop the old name once the new one shows up on its own.

Before: on staging

Test a sample from every section

Blog, product, pricing, docs, help center, landing pages: each section gets tested on staging for status codes, redirects, canonical tags, noindex and robots.txt rules, titles, headings, schema and internal links. Large sets of URLs get tested with scripts, as Google's guide suggests, and failures go back to your developers before launch.

Launch day

Tell search engines

The redirects go live, then we file the change of address in Google Search Console and the Site Move in Bing Webmaster Tools if the domain changed. We submit the new sitemap, keep the old one in Search Console for tracking, and ping IndexNow so participating engines hear about the new URLs right away.

Weeks 1 to 8

Watch the logs, rankings and AI answers

We check server logs for Googlebot, Bingbot and AI crawlers like GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot, to confirm old URLs answer with a 301 and new URLs with a 200. We track rankings and traffic on both domains and re-run your AI prompts weekly to see which name and which URLs the assistants cite. Anything off gets fixed and noted in a weekly report.

IndexNow is a shared protocol that lets a site tell search engines a URL was added, changed or removed. Its official site lists Microsoft Bing, Naver, Seznam.cz, Yandex and Yep as participants. Google isn't on that list, which is why the Search Console steps still matter.

Why should you keep the old domain forever?

Because the old domain is where your links point. Google's guide says to keep redirects for at least a year, and as long as possible. Links from other sites, old emails, bookmarks and articles written years ago keep using the old URLs long after the move.

If the old domain lapses, every one of those links breaks, and anyone can buy the domain and the traffic that comes with it. A renewal is a small yearly bill. We put it on your list as a standing item, not a one-year task.

Why do AI assistants keep your old name and URLs for so long?

AI assistants learn from two places, and both lag behind a move. The model itself was trained on a snapshot of the web from before your change, so it can keep naming your old brand until it's retrained. Assistants that search the web, like ChatGPT search, Perplexity and Google's AI answers, read live pages, but they also read the review sites, directories, lists and old articles that still use the old name and link to the old URLs.

So we treat the AI side as its own part of the move. Your own pages say both names during the transition. The profiles you control, like review sites, directories and social bios, get updated the same week as the launch. And we track a set of prompts across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini each week, so you can see when the new name and URLs start showing up. AI answers often shift within weeks of new pages going live. Google usually takes months to fully settle.

If you want to see how AI assistants answer about you before the move, the $1,500 AI Search Audit gives you that baseline. For how assistants choose what to cite, see Justin's explainer on how to get cited by ChatGPT.

Can you buy migration help on its own, or only in the program?

Either way. The work is the same. What changes is what happens after week 8.

	Standalone migration	Inside the AI Search Program
Price	Fixed fee, priced after a scoping call	Included in the monthly program, priced after a call
Best for	A move is the one thing you need help with	You want SEO and AI search run every week, before and after the move
Inventory, triage and 301 map	Included	Included
Pre-launch tests by section	Included	Included
Launch-day submissions	Search Console, Bing, sitemap and IndexNow	Search Console, Bing, sitemap and IndexNow
Monitoring after launch	8 weeks of rankings, logs and AI answers	8 weeks of close watch, then ongoing weekly reporting
Rebuilding pages after the move	Not included	Part of the program

Read more about the AI Search Program and how we handle AI search reporting. B2B and SaaS teams planning a rebrand should also see B2B and SaaS SEO. If the new site runs on WordPress, see WordPress SEO services. Want a full check of the current site first? See our SEO audit services.

Does it matter what the site runs on?

No. Sites can run on WordPress, Webflow, Sanity, Contentful, another CMS or custom code. On a CMS, we load redirects and fix templates through its settings or API. On a custom-coded site, we open a pull request in your repository for the redirect rules and template fixes, and your developers review and merge it. If you'd rather not run the site at all, we can run it for you.

The redirect map and test results live in a shared sheet your team can read any time, so your developers always know what's left.

Who runs the migration, and what can't it promise?

Justin McKelvey runs every migration. He's spent 15 years building products, and shipped more than 50 of them, so redirect rules and server logs are familiar ground. More about Justin.

We hold our own sites to the same standard. On our November 2, 2026 scan against the page standard we use for clients, justinmckelvey.com scored 93 out of 100, superdupr.com 89 and getlocalcall.com 87.

The honest limit. Even a clean move can dip for a while. Google's own guide says rankings may fluctuate during a move, and AI assistants can keep an old name for a long time. We can't set a date for either. What we can do is make sure nothing is missing on our side, measure from a week-2 baseline, and fix problems as soon as the logs show them.

Questions about website migration SEO

Will changing our domain name hurt our SEO?: It can, and a dip is common while search engines re-crawl. Google's own site-move guide says rankings may fluctuate and that it can take a few weeks or more before Google shows the new URLs instead of the old ones, longer on big sites. A careful move keeps that dip short: every old URL redirects one to one to its closest new page, nothing important is dropped, and the new site is tested before launch. What hurts is redirecting everything to the homepage, letting the old domain lapse, or launching with a stray noindex tag.
How much do SEO website migration services cost?: Our migration work is a fixed fee, priced after a short scoping call. The main factors are how many URLs you have, how many sections and templates the site uses, whether the domain, the brand name or the platform is changing, and whether your site runs on a CMS or custom code. You get the number in writing before we start. If you're already in our AI Search Program, migration work is included.
How long should we keep the old domain and redirects?: Keep the old domain for good. Google's site-move guide says to keep redirects for at least a year and as long as possible. We go further, because links, bookmarks, old articles and AI assistants keep sending people to the old URLs for years. A domain renewal costs very little next to the traffic it keeps. If the old domain lapses, someone else can buy it and every link pointing to it.
Do we need to use the Change of Address tool in Search Console?: Only when the domain or subdomain changes. Google's guide says the tool is for moves from one domain or subdomain to another, and isn't needed for a switch to HTTPS, a www change or path changes on the same domain. For a domain move we file it in Search Console and also use the Site Move tool in Bing Webmaster Tools, after the redirects are live.
Why do ChatGPT and other AI assistants still use our old name?: Because much of what they know was learned before you moved, and the sources they cite still say the old name. A model's training data is a snapshot, so it can keep your old brand for a long time. Assistants that search the web re-read your pages, but they also read review sites, directories, old press and other people's articles that still use the old name. We keep the old name in your titles during the transition, update the outside profiles you control, and track AI answers weekly so you can see the switch happen.
What is a 301 redirect map?: It's a spreadsheet that lists every old URL and the one new URL it should send people and search engines to, using a permanent 301 redirect. Each old page goes to its closest match, never all to the homepage. Pages you're retiring either redirect to the best related page or return a 410 so search engines drop them on purpose. Your developers or CMS load the map, and we test every row before and after launch.
Can you handle a redesign or a platform change on the same domain?: Yes. A redesign or a move between platforms, like WordPress to Webflow or a CMS to custom code, often changes URLs, templates, internal links and schema even when the domain stays put. It gets the same inventory, map and tests as a domain move. The Change of Address tool doesn't apply, but sitemaps, crawl checks and monitoring do.
Do you guarantee we won't lose rankings?: No, and be careful with anyone who does. Search engines and AI assistants make their own decisions on their own schedule. What we control is whether every signal they need is in place and tested, and whether you can see the numbers each week. If something slips after launch, we find the cause in the logs and fix it.

Planning a move? Talk to us before launch

On a 30-minute call we'll look at your current site and the plan. You'll leave knowing the riskiest URLs and what the fixed fee would cover.

Book a strategy call See the AI Search Program