Change Domains But Keep Your Traffic – .htaccess 301s

By  on  

Changing domains was a big decision. My biggest concern was being able to keep my user, RSS feed, and search engine traffic. Luckily, the power of the .htaccess file allowed me to do so:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule (.*) http://yournewdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

The above .htaccess file code, placed on the old domain, redirects the user to the same URL on the different domain.
Quick, easy, and functional.

Recent Features

  • By
    Designing for Simplicity

    Before we get started, it's worth me spending a brief moment introducing myself to you. My name is Mark (or @integralist if Twitter happens to be your communication tool of choice) and I currently work for BBC News in London England as a principal engineer/tech...

  • By
    Conquering Impostor Syndrome

    Two years ago I documented my struggles with Imposter Syndrome and the response was immense.  I received messages of support and commiseration from new web developers, veteran engineers, and even persons of all experience levels in other professions.  I've even caught myself reading the post...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Create Keyboard Shortcuts with Mousetrap

    Some of the finest parts of web apps are hidden in the little things.  These "small details" can often add up to big, big gains.  One of those small gains can be found in keyboard shortcuts.  Awesome web apps like Gmail and GitHub use loads of...

  • By
    iPhone-Style Passwords Using MooTools PassShark

    Every once in a while I come across a plugin that blows me out of the water and the most recent culprit is PassShark: a MooTools plugin that duplicates the iPhone's method of showing/hiding the last character in a password field. This gem of...

Discussion

  1. One more note. I recommend keeping your old domain for at least a year. Make sure to give users and search engines time to update.

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!