Navigating SEO Challenges After a Domain Migration: A Friend’s Dilemma
It’s a common scenario for businesses looking to rebrand or enhance their online presence: a domain migration. However, this strategic move can sometimes lead to dire consequences if not executed flawlessly. A friend of mine recently faced such a situation, and I’m reaching out to our community for insights and solutions.
My friend operates an independent browser called Horse and made the significant decision to transition from the old domain, browser.horse, to the new one, gethorse.com, approximately three and a half months ago. While the intent was to boost accessibility and credibility with a “.com” domain, the outcome has been frustratingly disappointing.
The Current Dilemma
Here’s where things stand:
- The old domain, browser.horse, continues to dominate search results for brand-specific queries.
- In stark contrast, the new domain gethorse.com is conspicuously absent from search results, including for basic queries and even its own homepage.
- The new domain is only visible when users specifically search using the query “site:gethorse.com.”
- Even unique search combinations — such as the site title along with the subtitle — yield results favoring the old domain instead.
My friend had previously posted on the Google Search Console Help forum, but the root cause remains elusive, leaving him in a frustrating limbo. You can view his original query here.
Insights from Google’s Search Console
In his post, he detailed the measures taken during the migration, confirming that:
- A comprehensive 301 redirect strategy was implemented for every URL.
- The website content remained consistent across both domains.
- A Change of Address was submitted and approved in Google Search Console (GSC).
- The new domain was indexed promptly, with no reported crawl errors, coverage issues, or sitemap problems.
- Internal links and other SEO fundamentals like canonicals and robots.txt were updated to reflect the new domain.
He even reached out to his major backlinks, like a notable article on MacStories, ensuring they pointed to the new address. After a careful, patient wait of eleven weeks, the realization hit hard: the old domain persists in search results for branded queries, while the new domain remains virtually invisible.
At this stage, he