Consequences of changing to a new domain address

[Remmy]

We are looking to change the domain address and I have seen blogs on how to do this in Hubspot settings, but I would like to know those who have past experience of doing this and what impact this has on your current traffic, SEO, successful page redirects? And are there any other changes which need to happen in Hubspot with regards to updating Google Analytics code? 

[Josh · Accepted solution]

Hi @Remmy,

The outcomes of changing a domain are variable. Here are some things to consider:

1. The history of a domain will be taken into consideration for domain authority. If you are moving from a domain that has been active for a long time to a domain that is brand new, you will likely see a decline in visibility.
2. Assume that 10% authority is lost on redirects, even if they are set up appropriately. This too could have a negative impact on visibility.
3. Redirects within HubSpot are very easy to manage, so you shouldn't have major issues with that.
4. I'm not exactly sure how you're deploying your Google Analytics tag, but to be safe, I would typically recommend that you pull in a fresh version of that code to HubSpot once you change the domain. If you are using Google Tag Manager to post your GA code, you shouldn't have to do anything other than any necessary changes in GTM itself.

In summary, you will likely lose some traffic, visibility, and domain authority as it relates to SEO. If this is a better long term solution for your business, do it, but understand it will take some time and work to get back to the same position. 

Josh

[Cnadler · Accepted solution]

Hi Remy,

In agreement with Josh's feedback RE redirects and analytics. We've had experience doing this for a number of clients over the years, and even when everything is migrated correctly there is always a noticeable dip in search visibility and traffic -- especially for established blogs that were previously on higher authority domains. Generally, we see a nice rebound after six or so months (give or take), but there's no guarantee you'll regain all of that ground. 

Having the blog hosted on HubSpot is nice, but if it's an established blog that enjoys a lot of quality traffic and that's a big part of your strategy, I'd argue it may not be worth the loss in traffic.

[Josh · Accepted solution]

Hi @Remmy,

The outcomes of changing a domain are variable. Here are some things to consider:

1. The history of a domain will be taken into consideration for domain authority. If you are moving from a domain that has been active for a long time to a domain that is brand new, you will likely see a decline in visibility.
2. Assume that 10% authority is lost on redirects, even if they are set up appropriately. This too could have a negative impact on visibility.
3. Redirects within HubSpot are very easy to manage, so you shouldn't have major issues with that.
4. I'm not exactly sure how you're deploying your Google Analytics tag, but to be safe, I would typically recommend that you pull in a fresh version of that code to HubSpot once you change the domain. If you are using Google Tag Manager to post your GA code, you shouldn't have to do anything other than any necessary changes in GTM itself.

In summary, you will likely lose some traffic, visibility, and domain authority as it relates to SEO. If this is a better long term solution for your business, do it, but understand it will take some time and work to get back to the same position. 

Josh