Moving a website to a new domain name

Moving a site to a new domain essentially means grouping old and new website URLs as mirrors.

For the new address to be included in the search results, the robot must define it as the main mirror of the old domain. This will also allow you to transfer some accumulated metrics from the old site to the new one. For example, external links of the old site are treated as external links of the new one. At the same time, on the External links page in Yandex.Webmaster, you can see URLs specified on a third-party site.

Attention. When you change the main mirror, Yandex doesn't guarantee that the number of site pages in search results, the page ranking, or traffic will remain the same.
  1. Step 1. Add your old and new sites to Yandex.Webmaster
  2. Step 2. Check if the sites' content matches and they are available to the robot
  3. Step 3. Set redirection from the old URL to the new one
  4. Step 4. Use the “Relocate site” tool
  5. FAQ

Step 1. Add your old and new sites to Yandex.Webmaster

Add your old and new sites to Yandex.Webmaster and verify your rights to manage them. For more information, see Quick start.

Step 2. Check if the sites' content matches and they are available to the robot

Make sure that:

  • The new URL is not grouped with someone else's site mirrors. If it is, separate the sites. You don't need to separate sites if:
    • The grouped mirrors differ only in protocol (HTTP/HTTPS).
    • The site URLs differ only in the "www" prefix.
    • The new URL is recognized as a secondary mirror of the site you are moving from.
  • The old and new URLs are available to the robot:

    • The server response takes less than 10 seconds and contains an HTTP status with the 200 OK code for the new URL and 200 OK or a redirection code (permanent or temporary) for the old URL.

      Check the server response

    • The robots.txt files on the old and new domains are allowed for indexing by the Yandex robot. The robots.txt files must have the same content so the robot can use the same URLs for checking mirrors.

      You can also configure a redirect from the old site's robots.txt to the robots.txt of the new one. Then Yandex will use the target file. In this case, make sure that the directives in this robots.txt are correct for both sites.

      Check the robots.txt files

Step 3. Set redirection from the old URL to the new one

On your sever, set up a redirect with the 301 or 302 HTTP code from the old website's pages to the corresponding pages on the new website, which should be included in the search.

If the site's domain name and directory names have changed, you need to install a double redirect. For example, the page URL http://сайт.рф/стр/ changed to http://example.ru/page/. The redirect should work like this:

http://сайт.рф/стр/ -> http://example.ru/стр/ -> http://example.ru/page/

If possible, don't set a redirect from all pages of the old site to the main page of the new one. Such redirects are inconvenient for users and, consequently, slow down the new site indexing by the Yandex robot.

Note. If there are more than two sites in the mirror group, make sure they all have a redirect to the site that should become the main mirror.

Step 4. Use the “Relocate site” tool

The robot learns about the main mirror the next time it crawls the site. To speed up detection of changes, use the Relocate site tool:

  1. Go to Yandex.Webmaster and choose the website you want to move from.
  2. If you are moving to a new domain or another domain zone, go to the Indexing → Relocate site page and enter a new address in the box or select it from the list.
  3. Click Save.

The main mirror is changed within a few weeks. To get messages about changing the main mirror, subscribe to notifications.

After the main mirror is changed, the new site URL is included in the search.

FAQ

There is no “Relocate site” page in Yandex.Webmaster

You can relocate the site that is currently the main mirror. You can check the main mirror in the My sites list in Yandex.Webmaster. If the site is grouped with and is a secondary mirror of the other, separate them. Yandex.Webmaster will then display Separating mirrors instead of Relocate site. Then change the main mirror according to the instructions above.

I followed the instructions and indicated the main mirror in Yandex.Webmaster, but there is still a secondary mirror in the search. Why?

It will be in the search until the corresponding pages of the primary mirror are indexed, even if you set a redirect. The pages will be excluded from search results after several updates of the search databases.

Secondary mirror pages may still be stored in the robot's database and displayed in Yandex.Webmaster, but not in search.

To keep track of search database updates, subscribe to notifications.

After changing the domain, the number of pages or their ranking decreased

If a new domain is already recognized as the main mirror, there might be slight changes in the number of site pages in the search results, site ranking, or traffic. These changes might be noticeable over several search database updates.

What should I do if the site's directory structure changed and the domain name didn't?

See the recommendations in Site structure.

Why wasn't the relocation request accepted?
  • In the source code of the site that should become the main mirror contains the rel="canonical" attribute. Delete it and submit the request for moving again.
  • The site is unavailable or responds with a long delay.
  • The sites' content doesn't match. Check if the internal page URLs and headers match.
  • The site is moving to another domain zone without a redirect.
  • Site indexing is prohibited in the robots.txt file.
  • Violations of the Search rules are detected on the site. View the details on the Security and violations page in Yandex.Webmaster and fix the errors. After 2 weeks, check that the message about the violation disappears from Yandex.Webmaster, and re-send the request.
  • The request was sent from the site to move to.
  • Internal service error. Try sending the request later.
Request was sent by mistake

Select what the mistake in the request was:

The wrong site was selected for moving
You changed your mind and don't want to move the site, but the request is already sent

If you selected the wrong site from the list on the Indexing → Relocate site page in Yandex.Webmaster and sent the request, it will eventually be rejected, and the site won't be moved.

In this case, the request can be processed and the sites will be grouped as mirrors. You can't cancel the request. Wait for the changes to be applied in the search results and then move to the domain you need.
Why does the request take so long to process?

The site relocation request is fulfilled when the new site URL becomes the main mirror and is included in the search results. This can take from a few weeks to months, depending on the relocation type, the speed at which the robot crawls the sites and the mirror updates in the search results.

Check whether the following conditions are met:
  • Both sites are available to the robot.
  • The site's old URL redirects with a 301 or 302 HTTP code to the new one, which won't be considered the main mirror.
  • The site relocation request in Yandex.Webmaster is processed.

If all conditions are met, the data will be updated automatically over time.

When you change a site's URL or main mirror, it usually takes about a month for changes to appear in the search results. If you followed the instructions when moving or separating sites, but the changes didn't appear in the search results, contact support.

Tell us what your question is about so we can direct you to the right specialist:

The main mirror changed by mistake
The site is presented in the search results with the wrong URL
Site domain name changed
HTTP / HTTPS changed
The "www" prefix is added or removed
The moving request isn't accepted
Sites are not separated for a long time

The main mirror of the site may change if a redirect or the rel="canonical" attribute pointing to the site that became the main mirror is set on the old site pages. To avoid automatic selection the main mirror in the future, make sure that all non-main mirror pages redirect to the corresponding pages of the desired main mirror.

This means that the robot selected the main site mirror automatically. Specify the correct website URL for the robot, following the recommendations in the Moving a website to a new domain name section.

Main reasons why the sites aren't grouped:

  • In the source code of the site that should become the main mirror contains the rel="canonical" attribute. Delete it and submit the request for moving again.
  • The site is unavailable or responds with a long delay.
  • The sites' content doesn't match. Check if the internal page URLs and headers match.
  • The site is moving to another domain zone without a redirect.
  • Site indexing is prohibited in the robots.txt file.
  • Violations of the Search rules are detected on the site. View the details on the Security and violations page in Yandex.Webmaster and fix the errors. After 2 weeks, check that the message about the violation disappears from Yandex.Webmaster, and re-send the request.
  • The request was sent from the site to move to.
  • Internal service error. Try sending the request later.