Google's John Mueller said it "reduces some risk" to launch a new domain prior weeks before migrating your site to it. John said this helps both with internal site risks and also external site risks (like from Google's side).
This came up in a Twitter thread where Jan Caerels posted asking "Someone recently asked me if it was beneficial to launch a new domain a bit before the migration and redirect the whole thing a bit later (I suppose couple weeks)." He asked if this is a good idea and John Mueller of Google said yes.
Reduces the risk, imo.
— John Mueller (official) · #StaplerLife (@JohnMu) June 18, 2023
John then explained it is a good idea because "there are both internal & external things that could be risky. This lets you test the waters a bit beforehand. Being in a position where you don't have to do a secret overnight move makes life easier."
Yeah, there are both internal & external things that could be risky. This lets you test the waters a bit beforehand. Being in a position where you don't have to do a secret overnight move makes life easier.
— John Mueller (official) · #StaplerLife (@JohnMu) June 18, 2023
Googlers have said this before and I know I covered it but I honestly cannot find it right now.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
