.htaccess redirection

[mantawebsolutions]

scenario situation:
I want to upgrade my website and wish to change the directory structure and file names. At the same time i do not want to let go of the "old" pages in fear of losing the click-throughs as some pages have been spidered and are doing well in Search Engines for specific keywords.

Is it a good idea to use a .htaccess file with the following redirect line included:
Redirect /olddirectory/oldfile.html http://yoursite.com/newdirectory/newfile.html

or

is there a better way of letting the SE's know that a page has moved from a old location to a new one ?

[pedstersplanet]

Originally Posted by divesouthafrica

Redirect /olddirectory/oldfile.html http://yoursite.com/newdirectory/newfile.html

redirect 301 /olddirectory/oldfile.html http://yoursite.com/newdirectory/newfile.html

Is best than a refresh meta-tag, personally speaking

[minstrel]

Originally Posted by pedstersplanet

redirect 301 /olddirectory/oldfile.html http://yoursite.com/newdirectory/newfile.html

Is better than a refresh meta-tag

Perhaps if your interest is only in re-directing SE bots. I've always preferred the meta refresh with a short delay (10 seconds) for visitors, because it allows you to explicitly tell them that a page has been renamed or moved and reminds them to update their bookmarks.

See http://www.psychlinks.ca/psychlinks.htm as an example.

[pedstersplanet]

Originally Posted by minstrel

Perhaps if your interest is only in re-directing SE bots. I've always preferred the meta refresh with a short delay (10 seconds) for visitors

I trust the PR is maintained when using this method too?

[minstrel]

Originally Posted by pedstersplanet

I trust the PR is maintained when using this method too?

You don't lose PR because the original page is still there - it's the one redirecting you to the new page. Then, in time, as bookmarks and backlinks change, the PR transfers to the new page.

[vitamins.com.au]

meta refresh looks good, but what if you have an index.html page that ranks very well and you want to automatically redirect visitors to a page with a PHP script that will send them to the a page specifically designed for their country.
Will Google devalue your index.html page ?

[minstrel]

If I understand your question correctly, no - actually redirections on index.**** pages are the easiest to do because most links to that page are actually links to www.sitename.com/ rather than www.sitename.com/index.html.

[mantawebsolutions]

i understand the logic on both the .htaccess redirect and standard meta refresh redirect, but i wish to take this further.

(hear me out and give me your comments, i am just exploring here, this may include some rambling...)

scenario:
link 1 - http://www.divesouth.co.za/safarisandtours/index.html
link 2 - http://www.divesouth.co.za/scubadivi...ris/index.html

Let's say that link 1 is listed in most SE's with a good google pagerank. This is the current page which will be replaced by link 2

Now, if i use the standard meta refresh redirect it means that i will have to keep link 1 active for a couple of months and replace the content of the page with "the page has moved" garble, etc.

This is good for a few reasons:
1. because i keep the old URL which holds good placement in SE's and good pagerank
2. it tells the visitor and SE that the page has moved and provides them with new link
3. eventually the pagerank moves over to new URL (link 2) and hopefully the SE's update to the new page

Alternatively i can use the .htaccess redirect which immediately points to link 2

this affects my SE rankings and pagerank because:
1. i do not keep the link 1 page
2. it immediately redirects to a new page with no pagerank or SE listing

both are good ways in redirecting visitors and SE's but it would seem that the old redirect is better if i wish to keep my SE placement and pagerank ?
or
does the search engine pick up that there are permenant redirects and immediately update my listing ?

am i correct in saying so ?