Whilst changing the domain name for your dental website is far from a regular occurrence, there are occasions when it becomes necessary. For example, where a domain name is not portable e.g. based on a specific location and the practice moves address, a change would be likely. Another scenario might be where a website is in the name of a practitioner and then the business (and website) is sold on.<\/p>\n
Because an established and successful dental website<\/a> is a very valuable asset and source of new patient referrals, it is sensible to preserve it even where a change of domain name is unavoidable due to the circumstances noted above.<\/p>\n On initial inspection many might think that moving a website would simply be a case of re-publishing the information on the new name. This is actually a large part of it but there are other elements which are absolutely critical – for example, preserving your Google ranking and also ensuring that anyone who clicks on existing web results, gets through to the new site.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A 301 re-direct is a piece of web code which effectively acts as a sign-post from an old URL (www address) to a new one. It is a search engine friendly technique which tells Google and other search engines that a web address has moved permanently from one location to another. When implemented correctly, the rankings and entries in the search results should be preserved other than for a short period whilst the search engine re-calibrates. This technique is recommended by Google and we have used it to good effect on a number of occasions when moving websites for dentists.<\/p>\n The technique itself is quite straightforward although it does help if you have experience with some web coding and in using a technique called htaccess – a ‘container’ file which houses the re-direction code. You also need to make sure that you have a comprehensive list of the old website urls and the corresponding new ones so that all can be mapped correctly (and not just the home page).<\/p>\n This can vary from a few days to a couple of weeks; however if all is done diligently, the new domain should appear quite quickly and without any significant fall in rankings.<\/p>\n In short – no. If your site has been subject to bad SEO and to the point that clean-up and recovery would take too long, it may be wise to switch to a new domain. However, simply re-directing the old, penalised version is likely to just pass the penalty forward. In this case, it’s more sensible to start afresh with a new www address, potentially new content and fully dissociated from the old version.<\/p>\n There are occasional circumstance where moving your dental website from one domain to another is necessary. The ‘301’ re-direct technique is the correct way to do this, is recommended by Google and should preserve your search engine rankings.<\/p>\n If you would like to discuss this in more detail or any other aspect of managing your website, please get in touch with the Dental Media team<\/a> on 01332 672548<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The correct way to change a practice domain name Whilst changing the domain name for your dental website is far from a regular occurrence, there are occasions when it becomes necessary. For example, where a domain name is not portable …<\/p>\nNot just a case of publishing the same details on a new www address<\/h3>\n
The role of the ‘301’ re-direct<\/h3>\n
Is it easy to do? Can I do it myself?<\/h3>\n
How long before Google recognises the website move and re-ranks it accordingly?<\/h3>\n
My website was hit by a Google penalty – can I use this technique to recover?<\/h3>\n
Summary<\/h3>\n