How to Redirect Your Old Website to a New Domain
You redirect an old website to a new one with a permanent redirect on every old page, each pointing at its closest match on the new address, and then you keep paying for the old domain so those redirects keep working. That is the whole job. It usually comes up after a rebrand, a new business name or a move from a .com to a .co.uk, and none of it needs you to touch any code. It does need you to know what to ask for, and what you mustn't let lapse.
This guide is for the owner changing their address. If you are changing who builds the site but keeping the same name, the risks are different, and our guide to switching website company covers that move instead.
How do you redirect an old website to a new one?
You ask whoever runs your hosting to set up permanent redirects from the old domain to the new one, page by page, before or on the day the new address goes live. A permanent redirect, also called a 301 (the code a server sends to say a page has moved for good), sends anyone who types or clicks the old address straight to the new one without them noticing. Google's own site-move guidance recommends server-side permanent redirects from each old URL to its new equivalent, and advises going straight to the final page rather than hopping through a chain of redirects on the way.
"Page by page" is the part that gets skipped. Pointing the whole old domain at your new homepage is quicker to set up, but a customer who bookmarked your price list, or a Google result for your boiler servicing page, then lands on the front door instead of the room they wanted. On a small site the full list is rarely more than a couple of dozen lines: old address in one column, new address in the other.
If you want to hand the job over, this is the message to send to whoever runs your site:
We are moving from [old domain] to [new domain]. Please set up permanent (301) redirects from every page on the old domain to its matching page on the new one, not just to the homepage, and send me the list of old and new addresses so I can check a few myself. The old domain stays registered in my name.
Do you need to keep paying for the old domain?
Yes, for at least a year, and in practice for as long as the old address is printed anywhere. A redirect only works while you own the domain it lives on: let it lapse and every old link stops working at once. Google's help page for its Change of Address tool goes further and recommends continuing to pay for the old domain for at least a year so nobody else can buy the abandoned address and use it for something you would not want your name near.
For a local business the practical reasons usually outlast Google's. The old address is on the van, the business cards, last year's invoices and the sticker on a customer's boiler. Every one of those keeps working for as long as the redirect does. Dropping the old domain to save a renewal fee is the step in this whole process that is hardest to undo.
Email is the other thing tied to the old domain. If your addresses end in the old name, they only keep receiving mail while that domain is renewed and its email settings are left in place. Keep them running, or forward them to the new address, until the people who write to you have caught up. Our guide to having a business email address explains how closely your email and your domain are tied together.
What is Google's Change of Address tool, and do you need it?
It is a free setting inside Google Search Console that tells Google your site has moved to a new domain, and you need it only when the domain name itself changes. Search Console is Google's own free dashboard for site owners. According to Google's help page for the tool, you use it after the redirects are in place, it has to be run by someone who is an owner of both the old and the new site in Search Console using the same Google account, and it checks for working redirects on a few pages before it accepts the move.
The same page says the move is treated as in progress for 180 days, and that you should keep the redirects for at least that long, longer if the old address is still getting visits from Google Search. It is not needed if you are only moving to https, dropping the "www", or changing hosting companies while the address stays the same.
If nobody has set up Search Console for your site, this is a good moment to. Our guide on checking whether your website is working walks through what it shows and what it does not.
Will changing your domain name lose your Google ranking?
Not because of the redirects themselves, though you should expect a few weeks of wobble. Google's site-move guidance says plainly that 301 and other permanent redirects do not cause a loss of the ranking credit built up on the old pages, and that for a medium-sized site it can take a few weeks or more for Google to start showing the new addresses instead of the old ones. It also warns that rankings may fluctuate while that happens, which is normal rather than a sign something has broken.
The avoidable risk is doing everything at once. Google's Change of Address help notes that combining a move with a redesign of the content and page structure will probably see some traffic loss, because Google has to relearn the individual pages as well as the new address. If you can, move the site to the new name first, looking and reading the same, and change the design once the move has settled. It's slower. That's the price of doing it safely.
What else still points at your old address?
More than most owners expect, and the redirect covers all of it only while it stays in place. Google's guidance also suggests updating links on profiles you control rather than leaning on redirects forever, since each one adds a moment of delay. Work down this list on the day the new address goes live.
| What | What to do | How long |
|---|---|---|
| The old domain | Keep renewing it in your own name. | At least a year, per Google; longer if it is printed anywhere |
| Redirects from old pages | One permanent redirect per page, each to its closest new page. | At least a year; ideally for as long as you hold the old domain |
| Email on the old domain | Keep it receiving, or forward it to your new address. | Until customers and suppliers have stopped using it |
| Google Business Profile and listings | Change the website link to the new address. | Once, on the day the new site goes live |
| Vans, cards, invoices and social bios | Update as they are reprinted; the redirect covers the gap. | As long as any of them are still out there |
The one you can do yourself in five minutes is the website link on your Google Business Profile, because that listing is often the first place a customer finds you. Directories, your Facebook and Instagram bios and any trade listings follow the same way, one login at a time.
What should you do next?
Before anything goes live, get three things in writing from whoever runs your site: that the old domain stays registered in your name, that every old page will have its own permanent redirect, and who will file the Change of Address in Search Console. With those settled, a new name is a paperwork job rather than a gamble. For the wider picture, there's the rest of our guides to fixing your website and getting found.
If the rebrand means a new website too, ByRender builds from a short form and sends a private preview link before anything is owed, with the domain registered in your name. Setup is from £495 and care, covering hosting, security, backups and edits, is from £69 a month. You can see what a finished render looks like or start the form when you are ready.
Frequently asked questions
Can I just point my old domain at the new homepage?
You can, and it is better than nothing, but it throws away the work each individual page has done. Someone who saved your old prices page lands on the new homepage and has to hunt for it. Google's own guidance recommends mapping each old address to its closest new equivalent, and on a small site that list is often short.
What if I have already let the old domain lapse?
Check whether it is still available and, if it is, register it again in your own name straight away. If someone else has bought it, the redirect is gone and so is any say in what that address now shows, which is exactly why Google suggests keeping the old domain paid for after a move.
Does the same apply if I am only changing website company, not my name?
Only partly. If your address stays the same, there is no new domain and no Change of Address to file, and the risk sits in the page addresses changing during the rebuild. That is a different job, covered in our guide to switching website company.