A couple weeks ago, I wrote about Changing Domain Name Ownership Whois Information & Google Search Ranking Impact, and also was asked to post something on it at the SEW Blog. What happens when a company changes ownership and the domain name information must change or the company must buy a new domain. What happens to the site's rankings? That is the concern. Google did not want to comment so we are currently left with nothing.
A new thread at WebmasterWorld is named "Google Certified Domain Change" - just an idea. Tedster, WebmasterWorld Administrator, asked Matt Cutts at last weeks PubCon, about the idea.
Google create some kind of "certified domain change" service -- so that companies who really must rebrand, or who purchase a more desirable domain name for some other reason, have some recourse with Google other than getting buried in the SERPs and taking a financial hit.
This is not something that rarely happens. Companies rebrand often. I would love for this thread to grow and get feedback on it. I personally like this proposal.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.