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Must have tools when changing domain names

Changing domain names means you’ll need to migrate your entire website to another domain. A domain migration can be a huge operation. You’ll need to go through every little piece of content on your website and make sure it will end up in the right place on your new domain. And there is a lot at stake. If you fail to do it properly, you risk major loss of traffic.

Fortunately, with the right tools, you can save yourself from a lot of trouble. In this blog, we’ll first go over the basics of domain migration, and then discuss the best tools to use when changing domains.

In this article, you'll find:

  1. Best practices for domain migrations
  2. Best tools to help you with domain migrations
  3. How to redirect a domain using redirect.pizza

What is a domain migration?

With a domain migration, you’re giving your website a new address online. It involves moving your website to a different domain name. During this process, all your website's content, such as articles and pictures, will be transferred to the new address. It's crucial to do this carefully to ensure that no important information is lost and to maintain security.

Learn about domain migrations

What is the difference between a domain migration and a website migration

Migrating domains means changing your domain name, which automatically means that all the content of your website needs to be moved to the new domain. Website migration is more than that. It also means that you’ll be making changes in your CMS, moving from one server to another. Often this also means you’ll make other big changes. Changes in the website’s tech, for instance. Or changes in structure, design, name, or location.

Best practices for domain migrations

If you want your domain migration to go smoothly, there are some best practices to follow. We’ll shortly dive into some of them here.

Do not migrate to a different domain if you’re also planning to make other changes, such as a website migration or changes in the URL structure (except the domain name). Instead, approach each change separately to minimize the risk of technical issues and SEO disruptions.

During a domain migration, there is a potential risk of losing data such as files, databases, user accounts, and content. That’s why it’s essential to make proper backups.

Make sure you determine every step in the migration process in a detailed plan. Assess everything that needs to be migrated, including any subdomains and tools, and make a complete list of your URLs.

Of course, your users will like to know about it if you’re changing domain names. Transparent communication will help maintain trust while it ensures your visitors will know where to find your website in its new location.

Identify and debug bugs as quickly as possible. Also scan for other issues such as misconfigured redirects, to prevent broken links.

Monitor the site’s performance, both for the old domain and the new domain. Keep close track of the search engine performance. 

Ensure old URLs are correctly redirected to the new domain, using the right redirect type of redirects (for permanent redirects, you use 301 or 308 or redirects.) and install an SSL certificate so it runs on HTTPS.

Best tools to help you with your domain migration

Domain migration can be a burdensome process with lots of stuff to think about. Fortunately, you can enjoy the help of some useful tools. We’ll go over some of the tools available for a range of tasks.

1. Website Analytics tools

There are some useful website analytics tools available, such as Google Search Console and Google Analytics. These tools track the performance of your website and of all your separate pages, but they can also be very helpful in the process of domain migrations. 

For starters, you can use these tools to get a reasonably complete overview of all your URLs. This makes it easy to compile a list of all pages that need to be redirected. 

You can also use these tools to identify the best-performing pages. You can use this knowledge to make sure these pages receive the highest priority during the migration, and ensure proper redirection. 

After a domain migration, it’s important you signal the change of address to Google. Google Search Console is the tool to use for this. 

Lastly, website analytics tools are useful to closely monitor your website’s performance during and after the migration. 

2. Website crawling tools, such as Screaming Frog

Website crawling tools such as Screaming Frog can help you with crawling all your pages, assets, files and images live on your current domain. This will help you better understand the structure of your website. Crawling tools can help audit your current site and identify issues by scanning all your pages. 

Crawling tools are also helpful to identify any redirect chains on your website. A redirect chain is a sequence of multiple redirects that are linked to each other. In other words, when a URL is redirected to another URL, which in turn is redirected to another. Google will only follow a maximum of 5 redirects in a redirect chain. 

3. Back-up tools 

Making a backup is essential when migrating domains. And using a good tool can save you a lot of trouble. Many CMS providers or hosting providers have built-in backup functions. If you're using WordPress, there are also many dedicated backup plugins available. But of course, third-party backup tools, such as Acronis True Image, are an option too. 

4. Redirection tools

Redirect tools are essential for domain migrations because they ensure visitors are seamlessly directed to your new domain, avoiding broken links and lost traffic. This will also help maintain your SEO as redirects transfer link value from the old to the new domain.  Overall, redirect tools simplify the migration process, making it smooth for both users and search engines.

While many Content Management Systems do have built-in features for setting up redirects, they often fall short in functionality and lack the options for additional features, such as analytic tools, automatic HTTPS, or automatic DNS.

A redirect service such as redirect.pizza offers many benefits. We’ll shortly list some of them here.

The key benefits of using redirect.pizza to redirect your domain:

Built-in analytic tool

With our detailed analytics tool, you can easily see how your redirects are doing. It gives you clear info on data about the location of your visitors, what device they're using, from where they were referred, and which pages they're looking at.

Automatic HTTPS

Ensuring your security is a top priority at redirect.pizza. With our feature for automatic HTTPS, we’ll guarantee that all your SSL certificates are consistently renewed, keeping your security always up to date.

Improved Reliability and Performance

redirect.pizza assures fast, reliable redirects using our high-performance edge network. With servers spread over the world, we minimize delays, giving users a smoother experience.

Advanced Redirect Options

With redirect.pizza, there are plenty of advanced redirect options available. These include features such as path forwarding and other complex redirect rules. We also support many types of destination variables.

Broken destination monitoring

Our feature for broken destination monitoring will always ensure that your destination is reachable.

Automatic DNS

Automatic DNS makes it possible to apply automatic DNS in bulk, on multiple hosts or domains in one go. It’s the easiest way to manage all of your redirecting needs from a single platform.

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    How to redirect a domain using redirect.pizza

    To get started, simply enter your old and new domains above. Here's a step-by-step guide to redirecting your old domain using redirect.pizza:

    1. 1

      Step 1: Create a free account

      Create a redirect.pizza account. Once you've created the free account, you can access our redirect features. 

    2. 2

      Step 2: Create redirect

      After signing up, click on "create a redirect" to get started. In the create a redirect window, enter the source URL (such as the subdomain) and the destination URL (where the subdomain will be redirected to). Learn more in our getting started guide. 

      Create redirect

       

    3. 3

      Step 3: Adjust DNS settings

      The required DNS change pops up. Go to your domain registrar to make this DNS change for the A record. Alternatively, you can use our Automatic DNS feature to make these changes. It may take up to 24 hours for the DNS changes to propagate. 

    4. 4

      Step 4: Test your redirect and keep track of your analytics

      Type your (old) source URL in the address bar of your browser and click "enter". Are you redirected to the destination URL? Then the redirect is working! You can keep track of your redirect using the Redirect Analytics window. Are you experiencing issues? Check out our redirect troubleshooting guide. 

    Conclusion

    Migrating a domain can be a daunting task, but with the right tools and best practices, it becomes much easier. By using website analytics, crawling tools, backup utilities, and specialized redirection services, you can ensure a smooth transition.

    Remember to plan carefully, communicate changes to your users, and keep an eye on your website’s performance throughout the process. With careful preparation and the right resources, you can successfully move your domain without losing traffic or data.

    Related articles:

    Domain migration guide

    Learn everything you need to know for domain migrations

    Keep SEO intact

    Read our use-case: how to keep your website's SEO intact

    Renaming your website

    Read our use-case about how to use redirect.pizza when renaming your website