Great Rail Journeys US Google Ads Migration Case Study

PROTECTING MORE THAN TWO DECADES OF HISTORY

The Challenge

When Vacations By Rail became Great Rail Journeys, the advertising challenge was more than a simple name change. Behind the established brand sat a Google Ads account built over more than two decades, containing years of campaign data, established structures and live activity supporting the business across the US.

Starting again would have meant losing all of that history., But simply adding the new domain into existing campaigns was not straightforward either, because Google requires all URLs in an ad group to share the same domain, which meant the two brands could not simply coexist within the existing structure whilst the migration took place.

The challenge was to:

Move active advertising onto the new Great Rail Journeys domain
Retain the existing Google Ads account and its historic context
Limit disruption to live campaign activity
Identify policy or destination issues immediately
Have a clear route back if the migration did not go as expected
Maintain enough oversight to respond after launch, not simply during it

WITH HISTORY, COMES COMPLEXITY

A Google Ads account built over more than two decades carries far more than campaigns and keywords. It contains years of performance data, established structures and commercial learning that cannot simply be recreated in a new account.

Moving that history onto a new brand and domain required every campaign, advert, asset, URL and tracking dependency to work together. The migration needed to protect what Great Rail had already built while preparing the account for what came next.

Our work

The Stats

Careful testing, detailed contingency planning and live collaboration enabled Black Lab to move Great Rail’s paid search activity without abandoning the account history behind it.

22+

Years of Account History

The existing Google Ads account was retained, preserving more than two decades of campaign history and commercial context.

Live Campaigns Migrated

Black Lab coordinated the migration of 88 active campaigns onto the Great Rail Journeys brand and domain.

Active Policy Violations

The new Great Rail campaigns began spending without policy violations affecting the live activity at launch.

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The Results

The new Great Rail Journeys campaigns began spending while the existing account and its historic context remained intact.

No policy violations affected active campaign activity at launch, allowing the business to move onto its new brand and domain without having to rebuild its paid search presence from the beginning.

Black Lab continued monitoring the account after the migration and identified early cost-per-click pressure around searches for “Vacations By Rail”. Customers were still searching for the established name but arriving on a website carrying the new Great Rail identity.

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The Results

The team refined the ad copy and landing-page experience to explain the relationship between the two brands more clearly. This created a more relevant journey for legacy-brand searchers while Great Rail Journeys began establishing its new identity.

Testing completed during the migration also generated useful data from US territories that had previously sat outside the core campaign activity. A project designed to protect existing performance therefore produced new evidence that could help inform future geographic growth.

The outcome was more than a successful domain change. It was a controlled migration that protected commercial continuity, preserved years of account learning and gave the new brand space to grow.

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“The goal wasn’t just to move the campaigns, it was to preserve more than two decades of learning while creating space for the new brand to grow - all whilst maintaining commercial performance for the client. The preparation meant that when migration day arrived, every person knew their role, every dependency had been considered and we had a route back if anything behaved unexpectedly.”

Ady Matheson-Bruce | Senior Performance Marketing Manager | Black Lab

The Solution

The Paid Media team developed a controlled migration strategy designed to protect the existing account, maintain live advertising activity and provide a clear route back if anything behaved unexpectedly, mapping the different ways the account and Google’s systems could respond to the new brand and domain. New campaign assets were tested, approval behaviour was monitored and contingencies were developed for campaign status, spend, tracking and potential policy issues.

Every stage was documented in a line-by-line migration runbook, setting out:

What needed to change
The order in which each action should happen
Who was responsible for every stage
How campaign activity would be monitored
What would trigger the rollback plan

Campaign copies were prepared in advance, alongside two mirrored Google Ads Editor setups, live reporting dashboards and policy monitoring. This gave the team a coordinated migration route and the ability to restore activity quickly if required.

On migration day, three of our paid media specialists worked on site alongside the Great Rail team. Together, they followed the runbook while monitoring campaign approvals, activity and early spending signals as the new brand went live.

Planning a rebrand or domain migration?

Frequently asked questions

Can you change the domain used by an existing Google Ads account?

Yes, you can change the domain used by an existing Google Ads account, but every affected ad, asset, URL and landing page needs to be reviewed. Google also requires the display and landing-page URLs to use matching domains, with the same domain used throughout an ad group.

Do you need to create a new Google Ads account when rebranding?

You don’t necessarily need to create a new Google Ads account when rebranding. The right approach depends on the account structure, the scale of the change and the risks involved. In this case, retaining the established account allowed Great Rail US to preserve its historic account context.

What should a Google Ads domain migration plan include?

A robust Google Ads domain migration plan should cover campaign and asset changes, URL policies, conversion tracking, approvals, reporting, responsibilities, launch sequencing and rollback options. Monitoring should also continue after launch so changes in cost, traffic and conversion behaviour can be addressed.

Can a rebrand affect paid search performance after launch?

Yes, a rebrand can affect paid search performance after launch. Customers may continue searching for the previous brand, while ads and landing pages begin using the new identity. Ad copy and landing pages may need to explain the relationship between the names while the new brand becomes established.