Worth changing domain name?

Aso · October 27th, 2008, 06:20 PM

I have a site that's almost a year old now, which does fairly well in the search engines (well, Google anyway

).

The site is for a self-employed builder, and the domain name is simply his name (i.e. no builder-related keywords

).

Now way back when I registered it, I also nabbed [town]builder.co.uk, mainly to use as a redirect (and for the sake of having), but never thought about actually hosting the site on that domain.

So now I'm just wondering, is it worth the risk in switching domains (and having the old one simply redirect to the new one) in the hope of squeezing a bit more out of search results, or will it 'throw' things about / upset what I've already got?

(I should note the builder does not advertise his website, few people come directly to the site - not that it would matter, as I could still implement a 301 redirect).

AnsUK · October 27th, 2008, 07:34 PM

If it's already doing quite well with Google then why fix something that isn't broken? If you change the domain name then you're basically starting from scratch with trying to get the new domain listed. I know that you could redirect the old domain and pages to the new domain but i thinking you're just causing more problems than gaining anything.

D3niss3 · October 28th, 2008, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnsUK

If it's already doing quite well with Google then why fix something that isn't broken? If you change the domain name then you're basically starting from scratch with trying to get the new domain listed. I know that you could redirect the old domain and pages to the new domain but i thinking you're just causing more problems than gaining anything.

I would go with AnsUK, definitely right.

So don't change your domain name.

Therefore · October 28th, 2008, 10:51 AM

Why not? Just do not forget about redirect to save all SEO benefits.

welshstew · October 28th, 2008, 11:17 AM

It would all depend on whether you think the new domain will get him better leads than the current one.

Aso · October 29th, 2008, 02:20 PM

Cheers for the comments guys.

Quote:

If it's already doing quite well with Google then why fix something that isn't broken?

That's exactly what was at the back of my mind. It was more a case of taking risk in order to squeeze a bit more out it.

Sticking with how it is - thanks for making up my mind

avvy · November 17th, 2008, 12:27 AM

So i think you really need to make a decision. But for me if things are doing well in google i think you just need to re optimized your site

andyf · November 17th, 2008, 03:26 AM

IMO you should build another site[ domain having keyword in it] which would be telling more about main site and try to link it for main site, thus you can get traffic from this site to your main site

RDeering · January 12th, 2009, 02:26 PM

i wouldnt change it. we are having the same problem with www.bluearcher.com 's portfolio site. but ultimately we decided against it because our link building efforts would all be wasted.