Being an SEO professional, you must always be ready to follow the right steps during the different stage of web development along with the major changes that is happening with the domain name. There are some cases when a website owner wants to change the name of the domain from old to new due to the upgrade in the web services he is offering.

It seems to be very simple for a web development team to change the name of domain from old to new domain by just putting a permanent 301 redirect in the htaccess file, however it is very critical as far as SEO is concerned associated with that domain name.

SEO factors associated with domain name change

If we are changing the name of domain which is running from last 2-3 years then you must consider some of the important SEO factors associated with the domain name change and these factors include:

1. Preserving the current PR of domain.
2. Preserving the authority of the domain.
3. Preserving the current keyword rank.

Steps to follow for preserving SEO factors during domain change

In order to maintain the reputation of website in front of search engine you should remember and follow the following mentioned steps:

1. Transit few of the webpages in phases, block the old web-pages and fetch new web-pages through webmaster.
2. Put a permanent 301 to the domain name.
3. Add new domain to webmaster and verify it with Search Console.
4. From webmaster search console, pick the website you want to move from.
5. Click on the gear icon at the top right and select Change of Address.
6. Now pick your new site from the list in webmaster console.
7. Then check that verification methods are done correctly.
8. Finally press the submit button and apply for the change of address request.

Hope this screenshot below helps you for this process.