Changed company name/URL

We're a small company very new to SEO, and we recently changed our name, including a new web address. Our old URL comes up very high in searches we have targeted, but our new site does not. We want to link our original address to our new site, but we don't know what effect that will have on the original's better positioning. What is the recommended course of action?

the plan of action when changing brand names is to get a load of 301 redirects set up and grit your teeth!

If your going to be using different (as in unique) content on the new site, then it should be fine on it's own, as in no duplicate content penalties.

If the new site is replacing the old one, your going to have to 301 redirect each specific page from your old site to the relevant page on your new site, a lot of work but is the best way.

Thank you so much. With the redirects, will that affect the original site's SE position?

The original site will no longer exist and will no longer be listed.

The redirect redirects all requests for an old URL to a new URL.

Only the new URL can be listed.

You have to use the 301 redirects, especially if the sites content is the same at the new location - otherwise you may see the rankings of the old site disappear and you will be left with nothing. With the 301 redirect, the rankings SHOULD be transferred over to the corresponding replacement page.

I say "should" because nothing is 100% certain in the world of SEO as Google is a mysterious creature.

Here's a 301 resource post we have schwagner. It's a good starting point setting up and managing 301 redirect properly.

You're not alone in making a change like this, though as alluded to, there will be some rustling of the feathers as the process sort itself out.

The 301 redirect will help protect most of the value of inbound links to your original domain, but the new one will need to grow it's own list of links to legitimately stand on it's own in the rankings.

Are the phrases the old domain rnaks well for big convertors or generic/high traffic phrases?

If so, tread carefully.

You will mostly likely see a dip in traffic, but for how long remians known only to the engines themselves. If your site generates inbound links at a reasonable pace on it's own anyway, any pain will be shorter lived.

You can help things along by getting a dedicated link building campaign started for the new domain - look to the directories in this list first as a decent source for some links. After that, grab you hat and start contacting other sites to ask for links. Keep it limited to related topic sites with decent reputations themselves. Ask politely then hope for the best - don't harass webmasters.