I am about to redo a site for a client who launched within the past year and paid some SEO money to have their site rank a little better. However, they’ve been contacted by a similar company with a similar name and have been forced to re-brand so I’ll be building a new site with a new name, logo, and URL, but the content will virtually all be the same.
They’ve asked that the original site remain for a period of time (with perhaps a splash page redirecting them to the new one) so that they can maintain the name recognition. I’m wondering if a straight re-direct is better in Google’s eyes though.
Definitely, the way to go. Don’t forget to check your backlinks on the old site (google console) and try to get as many changed as you can. My best guess would be they’ll still take a hit on SEO, at least for a short while. You could consider a limited time PPC campaign if the business depends on the website.