Domain migration SSL / SEO concerns

Publishing help SEO
1

Hi all,

We are launching our new website on Webflow and migrating our domain from .io to .ai. I don’t have enough expertise in this area, and I have done some research but wanted to check with experts in the Webflow community.

We are ranking very high for our domain keywords currently. I am worried that the migration would hurt our ranking. Specifically, I have the following questions regarding SSL cert:

  1. We have a custom SSL cert with Sectigo for the new domain but cannot afford an enterprise account to upload our custom SSL cert. Does custom SSL affect/improve SEO? Or is there no difference between using our own or Webflow’s SSL service (Let’s Encrypt)?
  2. Assume we’re going with Webflow’s SSL, our current domain (.io)'s SSL cert is from a different issuer than Let’s Encrypt. Would the switch in SSL issuer affect our SEO?

For keeping our SEO rankings up, we plan on doing the following:

  • Add 301 redirects to the new domain
  • Update Google search console with new domain
  • Upload new sitemap to search console
  • Ask third parties to update URL
  • Customer communications - on the fence about this one, I’m thinking soft launch first then add it in the monthly newsletter ~2 weeks after the website switch

Any other tips would be greatly appreciated!

2

No it does not. A valid trusted cert is all that matters. With E-commerce I have seen conversion rates increase with EV certificates but for most sites this is a non issue.

There is a lot at stake when moving to a new domain. I would not “leave it to a forum post” and recommend instead that you rely on the expertise of a consultant with experience or at a minimum follow Google’s guidelines step by step.

I haven’t had any issues doing domain / site technology moves in the last 20+ years and see Google’s guidance on the matter as very complete.

Site Moves & Migrations | Google Search Central