To migrate your website from without losing SEO or search engine ranking

RajeshKumarin

i have purchased keralaorbit.com and earlier i was running my websites at keralaorbit.in. I want to migrate to permanently to keralaorbit.com without loosing SEO and Ranking. keralaorbit.in is hosted at cpanel

RajeshKumarin

To migrate your website from keralaorbit.in (hosted on cPanel) to keralaorbit.com without losing SEO or search engine ranking, follow this structured SEO-safe migration strategy:

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✅ Step-by-Step SEO-Safe Migration from keralaorbit.in → keralaorbit.com

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1. Prepare `keralaorbit.com` on the Server

Add keralaorbit.com as a domain in your cPanel.
Ensure the root folder (public_html/keralaorbit.com) is ready.
Copy all website files and databases from keralaorbit.in to keralaorbit.com.

2. Update Site URLs in CMS (if any)

If you’re using WordPress:
- Update Site URL and Home URL in wp-config.php or from admin dashboard.
- Use a plugin like Better Search Replace to replace all keralaorbit.in references with keralaorbit.com in the database.

3. Set Up 301 Permanent Redirects (MOST IMPORTANT STEP)

In cPanel:

Go to File Manager > open public_html/keralaorbit.in/.htaccess
Add the following 301 redirect to send all traffic (and SEO juice) to the .com domain:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?keralaorbit\.in$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.keralaorbit.com/$1 [R=301,L]

🔁 This ensures search engines update their indexes and users are transparently redirected.

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4. Update Google Search Console

Add the new domain (keralaorbit.com) as a new property.
Use the Change of Address Tool in the old property (keralaorbit.in) to notify Google of the migration.

🔗 Change of Address Tool — Google

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5. Update All Internal and Canonical Links

Replace all internal links on keralaorbit.com to point to .com (not .in).
Set <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.keralaorbit.com/..."> in HTML to indicate the preferred domain.

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6. Update Backlinks and External References

Manually update your high-value backlinks (social profiles, directories, guest blogs) to point to the .com domain.

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7. Update sitemaps and robots.txt

Regenerate and submit a new sitemap (e.g., /sitemap.xml) for keralaorbit.com.
Update your robots.txt on keralaorbit.com to reference the new sitemap:

Sitemap: https://www.keralaorbit.com/sitemap.xml

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8. Monitor the Migration

Use Google Search Console to monitor indexing and 404s.
Use Google Analytics to compare traffic before and after migration.

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⚠️ Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Using 302 redirects (temporary) instead of 301
❌ Missing redirects for individual pages
❌ Letting .in domain expire too early (keep it for 1 year at least)
❌ Changing URL structure during migration

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✅ Post-Migration Checklist

Task	Status
Site copied to `keralaorbit.com`	✅
301 redirects from `.in` to `.com`	✅
Google Search Console updated	✅
Sitemap regenerated and resubmitted	✅
All internal URLs point to `.com`	✅
Social links and profiles updated	🔄
Traffic and ranking monitored	🔄

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If you’re using WordPress, I can provide exact .htaccess, SQL scripts, and plugin steps. Want that too?