Changing Third Party URL

[Maxine1]

Hello,

We would like to change our custom third-party URL to another third-party URL we own.   Does anyone know how to do this without affecting our current SEO etc? please

There is an option in Domains to "Connect existing domains", is it as simple as entering the new URL here and it will change the website for us and keep all our SEO?

Can anyone help, please?

Thanks

[Imogen · Accepted solution]

Hi there, @Maxine1. Thanks for taking the time to reach out to the Shopify Community Forums with your questions around changing your domain and your SEO. My name is Imogen. It's good to meet you!

Changing your domain will have impacts on your SEO, largely on third party platforms and their search rankings. Google is a great example of this, as Google's bots will need time to reassess your domain and your pages and their relevance to certain search terms. As with when you would have initially started your SEO processes, you will want to look into re-submitting your sitemap once you have changed your domain. Additionally, you may want to look into Google Search Console, as this can help optimize things further after changing your domain. Beyond that, time will be important, as this is what will allow search engines like Google to scan your pages, recognize these changes, and provide you with ever improving search rankings!

[Imogen · Accepted solution]

Hi there, @Maxine1. Thanks for taking the time to reach out to the Shopify Community Forums with your questions around changing your domain and your SEO. My name is Imogen. It's good to meet you!

Changing your domain will have impacts on your SEO, largely on third party platforms and their search rankings. Google is a great example of this, as Google's bots will need time to reassess your domain and your pages and their relevance to certain search terms. As with when you would have initially started your SEO processes, you will want to look into re-submitting your sitemap once you have changed your domain. Additionally, you may want to look into Google Search Console, as this can help optimize things further after changing your domain. Beyond that, time will be important, as this is what will allow search engines like Google to scan your pages, recognize these changes, and provide you with ever improving search rankings!

[Maxine1]

Thank you so much for your reply, it is very helpful and appreciated.  Have a lovely day.

[KieranR · Accepted solution]

is it as simple as entering the new URL here and it will change the website for us and keep all our SEO?

Sort-of. You need to add connected domain in Shopify Admin. Part of this process will require you to login to your domain registrar or DNS provider and configure the correct "DNS records". Then you also need to change the primary domain in Shopify away from the old one to the new one. 

If the domain is very new (like days to weeks old), then you may want to leave it setup as a Shopify secondary "connected domain" for like 2 or 3 months while you get it setup in Google Search Console (GSC) and plan the move. Some people say there is a "sandbox" for new domains so personally I like to let the domain sit, setup in GSC and connected in Shopify (secondary) just redirecting to the old one for 3+ months to "warm up". Then make the primary domain switch. Just to avoid that risk, in case it's real...

Shopify auto-redirects all URLs on the old domain, which is very handy in these cases. Basically the redirects are done for you when both old & new are configured within Shopify the right way.

Also worth doing a change of address on the old domain in GSC:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9370220 

As well as the other poster mentioned, submitting the /sitemap.xml of the new domain in GSC. Although in most cases Google will find the sitemap of the new domain all by itself anyway, without needing to submit it.

how to do this without affecting our current SEO etc?

That's about all the actions  you can really do. It can be a bit hit and miss with the impact on SEO. Generally I'd say prepare for at least 2 weeks of weaker organic search traffic while Google transitions over to new domain. Could be longer, might be no impact. Might see gains for some strange reason. But by doing the secondary domain thing, the sitemap and the change of address - you should make things happen a bit quicker.

If you don't have that much organic search traffic or sales from organic search anyway, then not really too much to be concerned about to begin with anyway. Just change it, and don't worry about all the steps too much.  On the other hand, if you have a lot of organic search $$$ on the line, then you have more reason for doing everything possible. You might even want to mitigate risk by engaging an SEO agency or similar to help with an "SEO domain migration" before changing anything.

[Maxine1]

Thank you very much for the detailed reply, it is appreciated.  Have a good day.