I don’t get it. All to often too often, clients dream up big ideas about how to re-invent their business by radically redesigning their website. Whether it’s because they think their website is out of date or because the executives are bored with the current website, they rarely seem to ask themselves whether they will better serve their customers with a fresh look on the website.

Sometimes, the changes businesses seek are not a design change at all. Some clients, after years on web, decide they need a new domain name. They always cite a creative reason for doing so. Some businesses have a domain name that’s hard to remember or spell. This makes it tough for customers to remember after hearing an ad on the radio or TV so they want to make it easier. Others are convinced that their search engine rankings will improve if they switch to a more keyword-rich domain name. Some just want to change because they managed to registered a new clever domain name and want to move their site to it.

No matter what the reason, I want to briefly talk about why it is an absolutely terrible idea, 95% of the time, to ever change your domain name.

Why your current domain name is already valuable

First off, your current domain name probably has more value than you know. What I mean is that, in the eyes of the search engines, a domain with age and reputation is instantly more valuable than any newly-registered domain. Why? Because the web is full of SPAM. Since the search engines work hard to reduce SPAM, they give priority to trusted domains. A domain with history is more trusted than a new domain. If the search engines have been crawling your domain for several years, you’ve already earned a level of trust that cannot be bought by hiring any SEO company or building any number of quality links.

Reason: Your search rankings will suffer like a chronic dieter at a Chinese buffet

No matter what you do, changing your domain name will negatively affect your search engine rankings and traffic in the short and medium-term. There are many technical things you can do to minimize the negative impact of a domain name change. Included in these are using 301 redirects, updating links and building links to the new domain. No matter what you do, there will still be negative impact. Maybe your search engine traffic will drop off for a month and maybe they will drop for several months. Either way, you’ll miss out potential customers during this period.

Besides age, what else do I lose by changing domain names?

Links for one. Over the years, many websites have been linking to yours. When you move your website, you’ll need to use permanent redirects on the old pages so that users clicking on old links still make it to your website. However, search engines will not respond as kindly. You’re new domain will not likely receive full credit for your old links, even with redirects in place.

But my SEO consultant told me that I need keyword phrases in my domain name to rank highly for those terms…

While a keyword-rich domain name helps search engine rankings, the loss of age and reputation from changing to a keyword rich domain name will often do more harm than good. Granted, I’d choose a keyword-rich domain name for any new project. But I’d almost never change to a new domain from an established domain just because it is keyword rich.

What do I do if I want to market an easier to remember domain name?

This is easy; just 301 redirect you new domain name to your existing. This way, your customers will reach your website no matter which domain name they type. The search engines won’t care that you are pointing another domain name at your website so there will be no penalty there.

So, what’s in a domain name? Age, trust and value. Don’t risk losing all three on whim.

Tags: domain names, features | Category Organic Search