OpenAI cease/desist leading to Rebrand. Best Practices?

Talking to my friend today, I've learned he has received a cease/desist letter from Open AI. He has "been kindly asked to remove the word 'gpt' from his branding." He is already in the process of changing the website and product name from 'gpt ai power', to simply 'aipower.' He's already begun updating his new site, an EMD with .org TLD.

What are some best practices when redirecting a domain for a minor rebrand like this? I know the standard best practices involved 301 redirects, but I'd like to make sure I don't forget something or make a slight miscalculation if 'best practices' have changed recently. Plus, I'm certain someone here will have at least one tidbit of information that I may not be aware of.

I know some of you PBN/expired domain Jedi's probably have master strategies in redirecting domains with the most minor possible traffic/SEO drops. I'm just looking for any guidance on how to navigate this transition best.

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to give me recommendations and advice!

If the new site is an exact copy (without GPT) you can use simple HTACCESS to redirect + GSC. If pages have changed URL structure (permalink) and it is not an exact copy at the URL level, you will need to specify the 301 redirects in HTACCESS + GSC. That is what I do. There is always a small blip in traffic but it should very quickly recover all things being equal.

Hircus said:

I know some of you PBN/expired domain Jedi's probably have master strategies in redirecting domains with the most minor possible traffic/SEO drops. I'm just looking for any guidance on how to navigate this transition best.

Click to expand...

To ensure you lose as little traffic as possible, ensure every old URL redirects to the appropriate page. The exact page with the same exact content.

If you make any mistakes that results in lots of error 404, that's where and when you stand a chance to lose most traffic and ranking, if not all.

fasttrak said:

If the new site is an exact copy (without GPT) you can use simple HTACCESS to redirect + GSC. If pages have changed URL structure (permalink) and it is not an exact copy at the URL level, you will need to specify the 301 redirects in HTACCESS + GSC. That is what I do. There is always a small blip in traffic but it should very quickly recover all things being equal.

Click to expand...

HenryObi said:

To ensure you lose as little traffic as possible, ensure every old URL redirects to the appropriate page. The exact page with the same exact content.

If you make any mistakes that results in lots of error 404, that's where and when you stand a chance to lose most traffic and ranking, if not all.

Click to expand...

Thank you both for your responses!! HTACCESS is something I hadn’t thought of. Fantastic idea!!!

I appreciate you both!!