One for the books

[LiviLou]

Out of curiousity, I check the redirect page from my old site, http://webpages.charter.net/onepageatatime/ This page has a better pagerank with google than my new site. http://www.pagesforchildren.com/

Can anyone tell me why?

[mm99]

You may have a lot of things still pointing to your old site. I too have moved sites and used a redirect. In some cases, it seems like the traffic to the old site would never end. If the content of both is equal, it's just a matter of time. Just LEAVE the old page there, change any links to the old page that you can and don't worry about it. Leave the old page there and leave it alone.

You did use a java meta redirect, didn't you?

peace...Paul

Reedit: I just took a look after posting and noticed that you used a page indicating that the visitor will be redirected. Sometimes the ses don't care to much for that because they have been abused in the past.

A better idea is to place the following in the head of the original page. This way the ses will find something if they look, and will ignore the java. Your visitor won't notice anything, if they aren't look at the address bar. Place this right after the title and mention your new url at the new location.

<script language="javascript"><!--
location.replace("http://www.mynewsite.com")
//-->
</script>

I think it looks more professional as well.

peace...Paul

[minstrel]

Out of curiousity, I check the redirect page from my old site, http://webpages.charter.net/onepageatatime/ This page has a better pagerank with google than my new site http://www.pagesforchildren.com/. Can anyone tell me why?
Well, first because your new site is new and the various search engines haven't had a chance to catch up with the change - neither have other sites that link to you. After speaking with you about your site a few weeks ago, I linked to you from one of my pages on children with special needs - I wasn't aware that you had moved your site, so the link to your old site is still on my page.

The very first thing you need to do is this - enter the following into Google search:
+"http://webpages.charter.net/onepageatatime"

Include the quotation marks and note that the plus sign is outside the quotation marks.

Next, go to each website that has a link to your site and locate the "contact" or "email" button - click on that and send them an email saying that your site has changed and asking them to update the links on their websites - NOTE: it is best to specify the full URL where you found the link (i.e., including the specific page) - on a large website, getting a request to "update my URL" may be ignored because it's too much work to track down where it is, and a linkchecker won't show it as broken if the redirection page is still there (although Xenu will identify page redirects for you as well).

Wait a month or so - repeat this procedure - send a second or third email with the opening "If you haven't already done so", since search engines do lag, and continue until you don't find any more links to the old site.

Then wait for the search engines to catch up.

Supplemental question: did you move to a new host? or did you just establish a new domain name for your site?

Incidentally, I don't know if charter.net or your new host is having a problem, but I couldn't get to the old site at all just now and the new site partially loaded and then just stopped.

[LiviLou]

The very first thing you need to do is this - enter the following into Google search:
+"http://webpages.charter.net/onepageatatime"

I didn't know about that little trick.


I wasn't aware that you had moved your site, so the link to your old site is still on my page.


Alot of info got erased off my harddrive, like most of the places that had linked to me, as well as some of the places that I was supposed to link to. That is why I wasn't able to contact you personally. I apologize for the mix up on my site.

Thank you for your help.

[minstrel]

I just took a look after posting and noticed that you used a page indicating that the visitor will be redirected. Sometimes the ses don't care to much for that because they have been abused in the past.
Really? I was under the impression that the opposite was true, providing that the page content makes it plain what is being done... that's the way I've always done it...

Do you have a reference or source for this, Paul? I'm not saying you're wrong but I've been given other advice in the past so if the previous info was incorrect it might be important for me again some time in the future... :-)


A better idea is to place the following in the head of the original page. This way the ses will find something if they look, and will ignore the java.
But then the spider will continue to index the old page instead of the new one, no? that's why I always thought the idea of having your new URL in the text/content of the old page gave the spider something important to "see".


Place this right after the title and mention your new url at the new location.

<script language="javascript"><!--
location.replace("http://www.mynewsite.com")
//-->
</script>

Not sure I understand what you mean by "mention your new url at the new location" - you mean a notice saying something like "welcome to the new location of www.thissite.com"? If so, why? Simply for the information of visitors, you mean? or for some other reason?

It's late... I'm feeling obtuse tonight...

[minstrel]

I wasn't aware that you had moved your site, so the link to your old site is still on my page.

Alot of info got erased off my harddrive, like most of the places that had linked to me, as well as some of the places that I was supposed to link to. That is why I wasn't able to contact you personally. I apologize for the mix up on my site.
No need to apologize :-)

It can be a pain tracking down links to your site when it changes but it's better than having people get lost when your old domain name/URL doesn't work any more. I learned the hard way a few years back when I changed to a new domain name, and in my naivete let the old one lapse after about 6 months of redirecting traffic to my new site - the old domain name was then scopped up by a porn site because my rankings in search engines weren't bad - I spent a lot of hours over the next few months trying to track down everyone who linked to me and begging them to update the links.

Don't just look at Google's database, by the way - do AltaVista and Allthe Web and AskJeeves, etc., etc., too.

[LiviLou]

Don't just look at Google's database, by the way - do AltaVista and Allthe Web and AskJeeves, etc., etc., too.

That is something I really need to do. When I did google, I noticed alot of the links that were supposed to be there, weren't. Thanks for all of your suggestions!

[mm99]

The reason for the java type of redir is because the usual delay meta redir can be read by ses and has long been used for se abuse, mainly for redirecting the ses to content that is tweeked to the ses preference. The java redir will redir seamlessly and quickly move to the new page. You simply submit the new url to the ses and they really do adjust nicely. It works well for me so I know it does work.

The only downside I can think of is that the user should be made aware of the new url at the new site but, even if the still has the old url bookmarked or whatever, it will still go to the new site.

The java redirect is a common knowledge item as far as I know and I've come across it's recommendation any number of times. Here's one that I feel explains the various ways to redir and the why/whynots of them:

http://www.webworkshop.net/auto-redirecting_methods.html

If you use the refresh type aas a means for the user to be advised of the new url, it should also be longer and maybe larger than what I saw in the site. The blurb above recommends at least 5 sec.

I might also point out that in my case, I am using the same url anyway because it is a redir itself, so that won't change.

Also, if we are looking at a smooth transition, note that I mentioned that when I moved to the new location and I submitted the root, it caused problems in all cases and none when I moved, redirected the org root, changed the url redir and shut up. I got double listings instead with the old root leading to the new if clicked. The old url can really hang out for quite a while. It's been ranked, bookmarked, written in notebooks etc. and should be handled w/ care. We've all seen listings say "We've moved to..." and this will avoid that as well. Having content like that could cause the rankings to tank.

Minstrel mentioned, "I'm not saying you're wrong but I've been given other advice in the past so if the previous info was incorrect it might be important for me again some time in the future"

Basicly, I have more or less mentioned how it actually went for me in recent practice, so it is a practical matter. I told how it worked for me, in other words. I'm not saying I'm right or wrong either. Things change, and as far as I'm aware, the java redir is now preferred. I'm seeing it a lot more often than the meta delay these days.

peace...Paul

[minstrel]

The reason for the java type of redir...
Thanks for all that info, Paul - I've saved it for future reference and when I get a chance I'll have a look at that web reference...