New Domain SEO 301 Redirects

[quitano]

I own a boxing website, BoxSch.com. This site is a Boxing Schedule database that includes boxing records etc… I’ve only been live for 10 months. I receive 50,000 people a month. I have the top rankings on Y&G for “Boxing Schedule” “Boxing Schedule 2007”, “Pro Boxing Schedule” and many other keywords. I just brought proboxingschedule.com . I would like to permanently change my domain from boxsch.com to proboxingschedule.com. However I don’t want to lose my ranking.

I’ve be doing a lot of research on 301 redirect and mod-rewrite. I cannot find a step by step tutorial on how to implement this.

Some questions:
Do I change my domain with my hosting company then redirect old to new? Or do I set up the new domain as a new website and redirect the old to new?

Is it worth it? I already have top ranking, I’ve just doing this for re-branding.

Do I risk losing my rankings altogether or just for a short period of time?

Thanks for your time

[Linknz]

301 Redirect

301 redirect is the most efficient and Search Engine Friendly method for webpage redirection. It's not that hard to implement and it should preserve your search engine rankings for that particular page. If you have to change file names or move pages around, it's the safest option. The code "301" is interpreted as "moved permanently".

IIS Redirect

* In internet services manager, right click on the file or folder you wish to redirect
* Select the radio titled "a redirection to a URL".
* Enter the redirection page
* Check "The exact url entered above" and the "A permanent redirection for this resource"
* Click on 'Apply'

ColdFusion Redirect
<.cfheader statuscode="301" statustext="Moved permanently">
<.cfheader name="Location" value="http://www.new-url.com">

PHP Redirect
<?
Header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" );
Header( "Location: http://www.new-url.com" );
?>

ASP Redirect
<%@ Language=VBScript %>
<%
Response.Status="301 Moved Permanently";
Response.AddHeader("Location","http://www.new-url.com/");
%>

ASP .NET Redirect
<script runat="server">
private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
Response.Status = "301 Moved Permanently";
Response.AddHeader("Location","http://www.new-url.com");
}
</script>

JSP (Java) Redirect
<%
response.setStatus(301);
response.setHeader( "Location", "http://www.new-url.com/" );
response.setHeader( "Connection", "close" );
%>

CGI PERL Redirect
$q = new CGI;
print $q->redirect("http://www.new-url.com/");

Ruby on Rails Redirect
def old_action
headers["Status"] = "301 Moved Permanently"
redirect_to "http://www.new-url.com/"
end

Redirect Old domain to New domain (htaccess redirect)

Create a .htaccess file with the below code, it will ensure that all your directories and pages of your old domain will get correctly redirected to your new domain.
The .htaccess file needs to be placed in the root directory of your old website (i.e the same directory where your index file is placed)

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Please REPLACE www.newdomain.com in the above code with your actual domain name.

In addition to the redirect I would suggest that you contact every backlinking site to modify their backlink to point to your new website.

Note* This .htaccess method of redirection works ONLY on Linux servers having the Apache Mod-Rewrite moduled enabled.

Redirect to www (htaccess redirect)

Create a .htaccess file with the below code, it will ensure that all requests coming in to domain.com will get redirected to www.domain.com
The .htaccess file needs to be placed in the root directory of your old website (i.e the same directory where your index file is placed)

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
rewritecond %{http_host} ^domain.com [nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com/$1 [r=301,nc]

Please REPLACE domain.com and www.newdomain.com with your actual domain name.

Note* This .htaccess method of redirection works ONLY on Linux servers having the Apache Mod-Rewrite moduled enabled.

How to Redirect HTML

Please refer to section titled 'How to Redirect with htaccess', if your site is hosted on a Linux Server and 'IIS Redirect', if your site is hosted on a Windows Server.

More info is on the link below.

301 Redirect - How to create Redirects

[weslinda]

Start with both domains pointing at the same content. Easiest way to achieve this is to update your DNS server to point to the same IP / Content area.

Then use a 301 redirect to rewrite inquiries for your old domain to the new domain.

Then you don't have to change anything else.

I have done this with solid results at a current large medical website that used to have three different domains pointing to it. Due to old inbound links with the old URL's this is definately the way to handle this.

Most importantly, leave these redirects in place for at least 6 months, if not permanently based on links to your site from other domains.

By doing this, the engines will update to the new domain name, and you shouldn't lose any of the current traffic you are receiving.

[craigmn3]

Currently nothing on your new domain is indexed and everything on your existing domain is.
If you simply switch content from one domain to another it's going to take quite a bit a time to get things fully indexed on the new site through 301.
During this time you will see a loss of rankings

I would suggest rebuilding the old site onto the new site, but with enough change and originality that you won't trigger the Dupe Spam filters. And allow your new site to get indexed.

The result of this will be the same as using 301 except you will experience no down time, no loss of ranking

[powersitedesign]

There are some examples for Mod Rewrite and 301 redirection on my blog at these links:

The Cotton Club » Blog Archive » Using mod_rewrite in Apache
Microsoft Developers Blog: Cotton Rohrscheib: 301 Redirection for SEO Advantages...

Funny thing is that I haven't gotten around to putting ModRewrite in place myself yet.

[weslinda]

craig...pointing the new domain to the current content and implementing redirects will not result in a loss of traffic...i know this from specific experience on a large scale site.

building a new site will take far greater time and effort than you are outlining and is probably not a realistic option for most clients.

by leaving the old domain live, but redirecting the current content will be updated in all major engines much more quickly than the solution you are suggesting

[quitano]

craigmn3 are you telling me that if I implement what weslinda is telling me that I will lose rankings for a while? So I should have 2 websites for a while…allow the SERPs to index the new domain then 301 the old to new?


BTW, thanks everyone for the help.

[bj]

I think weslinda has it right.

[quitano]

weslinda:

you've done this before? And no lost in traffic or ranking right? From what i've been researching, weslinda, option is what most other seo experts suggest.

so if i implement the 301 redirect all i have to do is redirect

Pro Boxing Schedule 2007 to www.proboxingschedule.com coming soon! and all my links like

HBO Boxing Schedule 2007

will be

www.proboxingschedule.com coming soon!

I don't have to redirect this in the 301?

[deepsand]

Originally Posted by quitano

craigmn3 are you telling me that if I implement what weslinda is telling me that I will lose rankings for a while? So I should have 2 websites for a while…allow the SERPs to index the new domain then 301 the old to new?


BTW, thanks everyone for the help.

No, you will not lose ranking by using re-direction.

And, since all you are trying to accomplish is re-branding, there's no valid reason for putting any effort into re-building what's already built.

And, if your host provides for such, just logon to your account, and use the forwarding feature to re-direct the new domain to the existing one. It's the quickest & easiest way to accomplish the task.

__________________________________________________ ________________________

[quitano]

Everyone thanks for the help. I'll let you know it goes.

[weslinda]

As long as you are changing nothing but the domain name, then you are perfectly fine with the action I've discussed.

Better yet, anyone that has bookmarked your old domain, or has links on a page to your old domain, all of those links and actions will still work.

Rewrite old domain to new, and needn't do anything else.

[deepsand]

Originally Posted by weslinda

As long as you are changing nothing but the domain name, then you are perfectly fine with the action I've discussed.

Better yet, anyone that has bookmarked your old domain, or has links on a page to your old domain, all of those links and actions will still work.

Rewrite old domain to new, and needn't do anything else.

Do you not mean "rewrite new domain to old?"

__________________________________________________ ________________________

[weslinda]

no...he's going from one domain to another...rewrite/redirect old to new. but it's easily misunderstood.

I'd also make sure that a rewrite is in place to guarantee either .domain.com or www.domain.com but not allowing both.

[Webnauts]

Weslinda is right!

[zbatia]

I agree with craigmn3
You will not get the same ranking if you just redirect the URL and shut down the old site.
It takes time to get back on track in a term of ranking with a new name. I would suggest doing it slowly. Add the fresh content to a new web site and make sure it does not fully dublicate the content of existing one.
Also, keep in mind that if you took care about linking from other web sites, you will have to go back and ask all of your sponsors to correct (or better add!) a new link. You may be good with keywords but PR matters.
On another note, as it was mentioned above, if you host the site on Apache web server, just use the control panel and set the 301 redirect there (no coding is required!).

Baltimore Web Design. Baltimore Web Development and SEO. DC Web Design, Internet Marketing, Web and E-mail Hosting. Web Design. | only not Hillary.

[zbatia]

I disagree with *weslinda* due to the fact that I experienced a problem with ranking when I simply used 301 redirect. The fact is that some of the search engines don't like any redirections - it can be a signature of spamming. Therefore, the ranking is dropping down...

[deepsand]

Recent case in point:

Penn State University's Athletic Department just recently moved from gopsusports.com to gopsusports.cstv.com with no loss of ranking being evidenced, even though the content at the new domain is not wholly identical to that of the old.

[jordanmcclements]

I agree with zbatia - if you use 301 you will lose rankings for a while at least (I have experienced this)..

However - if you leave the old site exactly as it is and use the control panel provided by your host to redirect the new domain name to the old domain site - you will not lose rankings BUT all existing old links and references in Google etc will remain..

e.g. if you type in 'irishviews.com' into your address bar - you will see the 'ni-photos.jmcwd.com' web site - so I can use 'irishviews' for branding - but the actual web site is STILL ni-photos.jmcwd.com - so this is not a complete solution...

(Or have I misunderstood?)

[deepsand]

Originally Posted by jordanmcclements

I agree with zbatia - if you use 301 you will lose rankings for a while at least (I have experienced this)..

However - if you leave the old site exactly as it is and use the control panel provided by your host to redirect the new domain name to the old domain site - you will not lose rankings BUT all existing old links and references in Google etc will remain..

e.g. if you type in 'irishviews.com' into your address bar - you will see the 'ni-photos.jmcwd.com' web site - so I can use 'irishviews' for branding - but the actual web site is STILL ni-photos.jmcwd.com - so this is not a complete solution...

(Or have I misunderstood?)

The latter is in fact precisely what I proposed as the best solution.

Also, using a 301 to re-direct the new domain name to the old should have precisely the same effect.

As for the loss of ranking when doing a 301 from the old to the new, there seems to be a bit of contradictory evidence in hand. As I've elsewhere noted, Penn State just recently employed such with their very large Atheletic Dept.'s site, with no visible penalty; others here have reported similar experiences.

Still, there are those who claim to have had negative consequences. The problem in these instances is that we've no evidence that the use of a 301 was the only change.

And, from Google itself, we have explicit statements encouraging the use of 301s.

Very curious indeed.

__________________________________________________ ________________________

[jordanmcclements]

Originally Posted by deepsand

The latter is in fact precisely what I proposed as the best solution.

Still, there are those who claim to have had negative consequences. The problem in these instances is that we've no evidence that the use of a 301 was the only change.

And, from Google itself, we have explicit statements encouraging the use of 301s.

Very curious indeed.

Google is not perfect - they may encourage the use of 301's BUT there is no guarantee that your ranking will not be affected at any point...

I have had personal experience of this with a web site where nothing changed apart from the domain name and a 301 was used to redirect the entire site from old to new (all page names etc remained identical) - and rankings dropped very significantly for a few months before they got back to where they were.

By necessity - there will always be a short period between having the new domain go live, and arranging for all external links to be changed to the new domain name - so maybe this plays a part in the drop in rankings?

Having said that, this was about 2 years ago - so maybe Google have improved vastly with regards to 301's since then??

At any rate, you have to decide if you want to risk a bit of short term pain for long term gain I guess...

[deepsand]

Originally Posted by jordanmcclements

<snip>

By necessity - there will always be a short period between having the new domain go live, and arranging for all external links to be changed to the new domain name - so maybe this plays a part in the drop in rankings?

<snip>

If all old URLs are re-directed, then all existing IBLs logically point to the new URLs; theoretically then, whether or not the source(s) of the IBLs is(are) changed to directly point to the new URLs would be moot, and therefore of no effect on rankings.

If such an effect does in fact occur, it might be deduced that the cause lies with Google not handling 301s as easily & as gracefully as they would have us believe. However, it might also be the case that canonical issues related to parameterized IBLs result in the intended 301 not being effected.

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[ArthurNYC]

Be very careful about pointing multiple domains to identical content. We have been punished for doing exactly what you are attempting ... moving from one domain to another.

I would post relevant content on the new domain and let it sit and then do the 301's.

No on cant tell you exactly how Google will respond and with top positions I wouldn't be quite to bold in making changes.

Good Luck,

Arthur

[weslinda]

literally, and I don't know why random people must fight this...i just did this. Took an environment of three domains that were out there, and polished with 301's to one. No issues.

No sense in building a new environment. Too much work for the time and energy. Google will honor properly handled 301's, without question.

[jordanmcclements]

It is entirely possible that Google does handle this sort of thing 100% correctly now, but like I say - a few years ago it definitely did not!

If anyone else has had no problems with doing this recently - then please let us know...

Thanks.

[jordanmcclements]

Here is another question on the same theme (bear with me)..

My current site is ni-photos.jmcwd.com . Most external links point to this.

My new domain name is irishviews.com . It currently does a 301 redirect to the above subdomain with which I have had NO problems at all (as pointed out by weslinda).

So currently Google see irishviews.com as being permanently redirected to ni-photos.jmcwd.com .

If I reverse the redirect, does anyone think I would have any problems at all?

(I would hate to lose lots of dollars through lost rankings).

[Webnauts]

I cannot imagine that you will have problems reversing the redirects.

[jordanmcclements]

OK.
How long will it take google to pick up the 301 properly?
I have some links to irishviews.com and loads to ni-photos.jmcwd.com all over the internet - if I have both sites live for a short time - is it duplicate content?
e.g. could it take the dupe content into account BEFORE it takes the 301 into account..?
Thanks.

[jordanmcclements]

And what about changing the 301 from irishviews.com to a 302 for a while first?

[deepsand]

Originally Posted by jordanmcclements

OK.
How long will it take google to pick up the 301 properly?
I have some links to irishviews.com and loads to ni-photos.jmcwd.com all over the internet - if I have both sites live for a short time - is it duplicate content?
e.g. could it take the dupe content into account BEFORE it takes the 301 into account..?
Thanks.

Per Google, the check for duplicate content is done after the 301 is resolved to the new target URL.

In fact, they specifically recommend using 301s as a means of avoiding the appearance of duplicate content, which can unintentionally arise from any number of causes.

[deepsand]

Originally Posted by jordanmcclements

OK.
How long will it take google to pick up the 301 properly?
I have some links to irishviews.com and loads to ni-photos.jmcwd.com all over the internet - if I have both sites live for a short time - is it duplicate content?
e.g. could it take the dupe content into account BEFORE it takes the 301 into account..?
Thanks.

Google actively works to help resolve "duplicate content" issues in a manner that is not detrimental to the site in question.

And, they recommend 301s as one means of reducing the appearance of duplicate content.

See 12SEP07 post at Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Google, duplicate content caused by URL parameters, and you for details.

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[jordanmcclements]

Thanks everyone for the replies (and sorry quitano for hijacking this thread).

On one of my low traffic sites, I will try out redirecting the old domain to the new one (instead of vice versa which definitely does not give any problems).

I will let you all know how I get on, but it may take a while as my credit card details have been stolen! So I'll have to wait to get my new card before I can purchase the necessary gubbins from my hosting company...

[jordanmcclements]

Hi guys and girls - got my new credit card...

I did have ireland-screensavers.com 301 redirecting to ireland-screensavers.jmcwd.com as it was cheaper (I did not have to buy a full hosting account for that domain).

I have now purchased the full hosting account for ireland-screensavers.com

I have uploaded a .htaccess to ireland-screensavers.com which contains the following line :-

redirect 301 / ireland-screensavers.jmcwd.com (WITH http:// in front of the ireland-screensavers.jmcwd.com bit)

So in theory - everything is identical to what it was as far as users and search engines are concerned.

In 2 days from now when the DNS has propogated around the internet, and I have finished uploading >200MB of files the new web server, I will reverse the redirects, so that the subdomain points to the domain rather than the domain to the subdomain and see if this causes any problems (Is it just me or this this very hard to write about in a coherent fashion??)..

NB - currently if you do a google search for ireland screensavers ireland-screensavers.jmcwd.com comes up as no. one - so I am hoping in a few days, that ireland-screensavers.com will come up as no 1. If it does then, I will hence forth totally believe all the posters who say that Google handles 301 redirects perfectly these days, and will then go ahead and redirect ni-photos.jmcwd.com to irishviews.com - which I have been meaning to do for about a year!

[jordanmcclements]

A day after doing this I dropped to position 2 - but I think this is just coincidence..

Google search results still show ireland-screensavers.jmcwd.com as the domain rather than ireland-screensavers.com

I assume it will take a few days yet as their cached copy of my (subdomain) site was 5 days old...

[incrediblehelp]

This is a tricky subject. I will just say most of the time I experience no loss in rankings, but I have seen loses for a few websites. I really think it depends on some outside factors like competition as well.

[jordanmcclements]

I had a feeling that there would not be a black and white answer for all circumstances....

At any rate - Yahoo have picked up the the 301 redirect (and I am still near the top there), MSN haven't picked it up yet, and Google have STILL not picked up the 301 redirect - but my old subdomain is back at their no.1 position again for 'ireland screensavers' - again we probably cant read anything into this..

[weslinda]

This conversation only started two weeks ago, I've seen these types of changes take up to three months in the engines.

Give it time, they will pick them up.

[jordanmcclements]

yeah - Google has still not picked the changes up although yahoo did ages ago.

Anyway - here is an important point to note....

.htaccess should say

redirect 301 / ireland-screensavers.jmcwd.com/ (WITH http:// in front of the ireland-screensavers.jmcwd.com bit)

NOT

redirect 301 / ireland-screensavers.jmcwd.com (WITH http:// in front of the ireland-screensavers.jmcwd.com bit)

(Notice the slash at the end.. Without this, links to specific pages on the old web site do not get redirected properly)..

[jordanmcclements]

Result.....

Google has now picked up the 301 redirect properly - and my SERPS have not suffered (at least not much anyway) - I am still in the top 3 for the search 'ireland screensavers'...

[deepsand]

Houston, we have lift-off.

If I've read all you posts correctly, 301s performed for you as advertised.

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[jordanmcclements]

Yes. But as Incrediblehelp said - it is a tricky area - and there a lot of factors to take into account - so this does nto mean that it will always work 100% perfectly for 100% of sites (but it certainly has encouraged me...)

[jordanmcclements]

I have now done the same thing with moving the subdomain ni-photos.jmcwd.com to irishviews.com with a blanket 301 redirect.

It seems to have worked as it should so far.

The only noticeable down side is that I no longer get the 'internal site links' results under my main URL which I used to get for some search results...

Maybe that will come back with time?

[jordanmcclements]

mmm..

Having said that - my traffic has now dropped by 50% as Google Images is no longer showing images from the old subdomain but hasn't yet got round to showing the identical images from the new domain (which is more than a little bit worrying)..

If anyone knows how long this will take or has any ideas how to speed the process up - I would love to hear!

NB - everything seems to be redirected more or less fine in the standard Google search results..