Change site name SEO impacts

Question

My site is merging with my friends one so the domain and the site title will change, currently my page title's are structured

<title>Contact Us | Example Industries</title>

But when we change the name of the company I was thinking of changing it to

<title>Contact Us | Cool New Site Name</title>

I have a sitemap.xml file which I can add in Google Webmaster Tools to reindex my pages, but is there anything I need to be aware of when changing names, should I still reference the old name initially maybe in the title or meta description. What is the best approach here?

Answer 1

My site is merging with my friends one so the domain and the site title will change

If your site is moving to a new domain, you should let search engines know using the steps listed here:

• Tell Google when your site moves
• Bing - Site Move

Also, be sure to avoid duplicate content issues by using 301 redirects if your previous site is still accessible.

But when we change the name of the company I was thinking of changing it...should I still reference the old name initially maybe in the title or meta description.

You should change the name in the title and description and no longer reference the old name because it will confuse visitors when they see it in your SERP and browser tabs/bookmarks, as well as possibly result in search engines indexing the old name. If you want to let visitors know your site has moved, you could add a statement to your page's content instead.

Lastly, you should add the new site to Google Webmaster Tools and submit the sitemap for it under that, making sure you no longer have URL's to the old site in it.

Answer 2

SEO tends to be tricky issue and one can never be to sure as to which ways,"hacks" will definatelly work for your site,that said as much as i have been in the SEO "world" many issues would play an important role and not only the site title! some other more ways you/both of you should consider is:

1.First come up with your site SEO campaing ie. keywords, location etc

2.use an analytic tool eg google analtics,Alexa

3.take advantage of free and paid SEO tools eg google webmaster

4.Use known and unknown SEO tools eg puting keyword in title tags

5.SEO is a slow continuous process so be PATIENT.