Moving to a new URL. What's the best way to preserve my ranking? 2

[Mike Lewis]

Hi All,

My main web site has never had its own domain name -- it's just a subdomain of my hosting company:

http://www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk

(Demon is the hosting company).

I've finally got round to registering my own domain name (

http://www.ml-consult.co.uk),

with a different hosting company.

My existing site enjoys excellent SE ranking, mainly because there are about 250 sites with a similar theme linking in to it.

My question is: What's the best way to move my site to my new domain, while preserving my ranking as far as possible?

Should I simply make a copy of each page on the new site, and gradually get all those linking sites to change their links to it, and eventually remove the old site. If so, how would the SEs regard two duplicate sites? Would they consider as as some form of spamming, and penalise me in some way?

Or, should I redirect every page on the old site to the corresponding page on the new site. If I did, wouldn't that immediately drop the old site's ranking to zero (because it would no longer have any content), before the new site had had a chance to acquire a high ranking of its own?

I'd appreciate any advice or comments you experts might have.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My sites:
Visual FoxPro (www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk)
Crystal Reports (www.ml-crystal.com)

 

[alrichey]

Hi Mike, I think no matter what you do you are going to suffer some if you have to change your URL.

However if you do server redirects then the domain stays the same at the client but is pointing to your new server or URL while those page ranks build. But make sure you maintain content.



Luke Richey, MCSE
Tometa Software, Inc.

http://www.tometasoftware.com/

Get stress relief at

http://www.mrtometahead.com/

 

[ChrisHirst]

A new url will take 9 to 12 months to gain any rankings in Google because of the aging delay.

For now keep both websites up and use a 302 redirect from demon to the new host, this should maintain the rankings. Start a process of having the links changed to the new site and get some new links. Then at around 7 - 8 months implement a 301 redirect in place of the 302. This should start the transfer of linkpop/PR over to the new hostname (takes around 12 - 20 weeks).
Assuming you are not maintaining the Demon site (and in my dealings with Demon nobody in their right mind would ) You will need to ensure that as many of your backlinks as possible are changed to the new hostname before taking down the original site, otherwise you will need to keep the site and the 301 in place.

There will be some unavoidable loss during the transition, especially with Google, but the above steps should minimise the problems.


Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Chris and Luke,

That's exactly what I needed to know. Many thanks.

I pay for my Demon account yearly in advance, with renewal in July. I guess I'll keep the account going for another 19 months (to July 2007). That should give me enough time to build up the ranking on the new site.

Chris, I note that you share my dislike of Demon. I've been with them for eight years now. I've never had an ounce of useful support from them, and their services are minimal. I wish I had made the switch years ago.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My sites:
Visual FoxPro (www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk)
Crystal Reports (www.ml-crystal.com)

 

[Fendal]

Hi,

If nobody minds me jumping on the end of this thread, could I just ask, how do you find a sites ranking ?, is there a site that tells you or a page on google, or is it more to do with how far down you are on the google search.

Thanks.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Fendal,

I'll leave it to the experts in this forum to give you a definitive answer.

When I said earlier that "my existing site enjoys excellent SE ranking", I meant that, if you search Google for something like "Visual FoxPro training UK", my site will come up in the top three.

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My sites:
Visual FoxPro (www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk)
Crystal Reports (www.ml-crystal.com)

 

[ChrisHirst]

Digital Point Keyword Tracker

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[dmears1]

This is a follow-up question to ChristHirst's post. My company is also wanting to switch an existing website to a new domain name. In your post you recommended a combination of 302 & 301 redirects as a good solution. I was doing some additional searching and ran across an article (written about 1 yr ago) in which it states that

A “302 redirect” command is an invitation for getting your site banned, since search engines don’t like temporary redirects.

I wanted your opinino on this article (if you have a quick minute to look it over). Your feedback is always appreciated.

http://www.Morter.com

http://www.DynamicLifeTraining.com

 

[ChrisHirst]

Just the usual speculation, misinformation and getting the cause and effects mixed up. 302 redirects [b}do not[/b] get sites banned. It is very difficult to get a penalty accidentally never mind a ban.

Google has a canonical problem with certain types of "jump" links when used with a 302 redirect for click tracking on directory links etc.
They do have to be formed in a certain way and a coincidence of circumstances has to occur before the "hijack" happens see

http://clsc.net/research/google-302-page-hijack.htm

I have been trying to "hijack" a site (of my own) without success so it's not easy.

This is what has been bandied about as being banned by the "we're all doomed!" soothsayers who seem to liken Google to a all-powerful entity just waiting to punish unwary webmasters.

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[dmears1]

Thanks Chris, I appreciate you taking the time to look that article over.

http://www.Morter.com

http://www.DynamicLifeTraining.com

 

[dmears1]

When implementing a 302 or 301 redirect, is it best to implement this via .htaccess or through server script (say PHP)? Is one way better for SEO than the other?

http://www.Morter.com

http://www.DynamicLifeTraining.com

 

[ChrisHirst]

whichever you can use the best and No

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.