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I recently changed my website domain name to fit more with the suburb my business is in, and I have dropped from page 1 Google rankings to page 5. Why is this when the website content is still the same? How can I get back to page 1?

2010-09-25 08:17:00
301 redirect from old website to new one with .htaccess, it should get your rankings back soon..
Aibek
2010-10-03 19:11:00
that's actually what Google recommends itself.
M.S. Smith
2010-09-23 18:35:00
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Changing a domain is a big deal. All of the links that are coming in to your old domain only are only valid in Google's eyes for that domain. If you move, Google won't move with you. You have to re-build links to the new domain. Google also seems to be a little wary of changes in general. I have a blog post that i update routinely. It seems like every time I update it the post drops down to page 2 or 3 before rising back to a page one result. Best of luck on climbing back to the top!
Ryan Dube
2010-09-22 13:55:00
Steve's statement is accurate - additionally just about everything else in the algorithm related to your previous page rank, not only incoming links, were connected with your former domain. When you start a new domain, even if the content is identical, you are essentially starting all over. Have you considered configuring your previous domain to point to your new site as well? For example, I've configured TopSecretWriter.com and TopSecretWriters.com to the same site. Just direct that old domain to the same content and you'll keep the influx of Search Engine traffic coming in. In time, your second new domain will rise up in rank as well.
Steve Campbell
2010-09-22 13:03:00
You lost all of your link juice. Google ranks websites based on how many other sites are linking to the domain. Change the domain, lose the juice.The only thing you can do is go back to your old domain, but it's no guaranteed fix.
danasegarane
2010-09-22 07:27:00
I don't think its possible. You can do redirect to new domain from old domain.Refer : http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=83105