Comments on: Should you ever change your domain name?

By: Rachael

Rachael — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:22:24 +0000

I think that it can be a bad idea to change your domain name, many people can’t always remember how to spell the domain but remember part of it and search for it in google. Unless you are changing your whole brand image or you have somehow black listed yourself in google then it can be a good idea, but if you have built up a good page rank and traffic for that site then don’t change as you will end up starting all over again to build up your reputation.

Rach x

By: Martin Reed - Blog Author

Martin Reed - Blog Author — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:06:59 +0000

Smiley – I’m glad it all worked out for you in the end!

By: Smiley

Smiley — Sun, 04 May 2008 20:22:02 +0000

It paid off in the end, I’m getting more hits. People kept losing my old site because of the hyphen.

By: Change in domain name ? - AdminFusion

Change in domain name ? - AdminFusion — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:44:23 +0000

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By: Martin Reed - Blog Author

Martin Reed - Blog Author — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:15:50 +0000

Smiley – Looks like the decision paid off after all, eh? Congratulations.

Domaining – Thanks for offering your advice and encouragement.

By: Smiley

Smiley — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 07:48:53 +0000

Thank you, Domaining — and thank you for your encouragement!

By: Domaining

Domaining — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:27:31 +0000

I am really pleased it has worked for you.

By: Smiley

Smiley — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:44:35 +0000

Just thought I'd let you know.. I think it worked! Google Search for friendly chat rooms Google search for friendly chatrooms (Done even better on Yahoo) Yahoo search for friendly chat Yahoo search for friendly chatrooms Yahoo search for friendly chat rooms Perhaps in a couple of years or say I may get found with just "chat rooms", huh? Just a few days after switching and already I have better positioning for the keywords I was after. Mainly because of the added "rooms" and also because of getting rid of the hyphen. This goes to show, choosing your domain name carefully is VERY important. Thanks for all your help & advice along the way.

By: Smiley

Smiley — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:44:05 +0000

I figured it out. You can only 301 the main URL, though.

It’s a PHP script, upload index.php into FTP which tells any search engine spiders going to the URL that its moved permanently to the new URL.

I’d post the script but your blog won’t allow it, it kept disappearing (hence the multiple posts, sorry about that)

The other pages I’ve simply used a META forwarding system.

I’m happy now. friendlychatrooms is much easier to remember than friendly hyphen chat

By: Martin Reed - Blog Author

Martin Reed - Blog Author — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:08:34 +0000

Smiley – Sorry I can’t really help you on the 301 front as I have never needed to do it myself. When you figure it out, drop a comment with your solution in case anyone else is having a problem. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.