SEO consequences of a website relaunch

[caravan]

The company I work for has been working on the rebranding of a series of websites for a new client. I have been asked for some advise on the potential pitfalls they need to be aware of with regard to the implementation of one site in particular.

The existing site is well placed on the search engines for their chosen search terms and is bringing in traffic and sales. However the clients wants to move the new website onto a new domain as this is part of their rebranding exercise to bring all the different elements of the company under one umbrella. They have expressed concern that with the launch of the new site they would like to minimise the impact of any possible loss of rankings as the summer is approaching and historically their busiest period of the year.

I would like to clarify my thoughts and their available options with others before I make my recommendations to them.

My initial thoughts are that they keep the new website on the current domain (it's not broken so don't fix it) as it is well aged, has good rank and trust value. The implementation of a new website would then require us to use 301 redirects in order to bring the changeover into line.

As the client wants to change the location of the website to a new domain my concern is that the platform on which they stand will be lost. Would the use of 301's to the new domain help to re-align the existing ranking and trust values from the old domain to the new or will they be effectively be starting from scratch, thus losing all their existing rankings.

A third option has been suggested is that they put the site onto a sub domain of the current domain. Would this be a better option than using a brand new domain or would the search engines see this as a new domain itself. Would the sub domain benefit from the trust value that the parent domain has?

[inertia]

Hi Andy. Ive been in this situation with a few customers and it can be a real headache explaining to a customer that they should stick with their old domain.

There are a few options available. How about redirecting the new domain to the old one using mod rewrite? That way you can add the new domain to any company literature and branding but it will seamlessly redirect to the old domain when a customer types it in. The only problem with this is that you loose branding in the URL and in the SERPs.

Setting up a site 301 redirect will not be a seamless transfer. In theory the search engines should transfer all the PR, SERPs, trust etc to the new domain but it will take time for this to happen and they will see some drop in SERPs as the search engines re-align their index. If you're going to try this option then you should be thinking about a few things - its going to take a few weeks (possibly months) for the site to re-align. You should also think about getting all the in bound links changed to the new URL and this can be very time consuming!

I wouldn't recommend setting up a sub domain. Google used to treat sub domains as separate sites but they changed their algo last year and now see them as sub-folders. I'm not sure how this could work with regards to branding to be honest?!

If they can get away with it, leave the domain as it is!!!

[bj]

Um, why not have both?

As they rebrand and develop business on the new site, they can slowly phase out the old as people become aware of the new brand and the old starts to drop off the radar.

[z28com]

I was able to transfer all of my stuff to a new domain using 301 re-directs and in a short time the new site had all of the PR5's that it had once before.

It shouldn't take long. Don't give up hope.

[MrGamm]

Yes... truth be told... some people like moving around... to the point where all that brand awareness dumps straight into the toilet... but hey... maybe burts-crematory-o-rama.com just doesn't give the right message...

I would be wary of anyone making you redirect across TLD's... these people just want to make other people's life hell... if that's the case find an employer/client who isn't going to waste your time...

Whatever you do... make sure you can undo it... the truth is... your never going to know until you try for yourself... no matter what anybody tells you...

don't tell somebody they can't when they want... bill them... and let them make their own decisions...

301... and check your absolute urls...

[Seminole386]

I agree with BJ. A few lost sales more than offsets the cost of runing two sites. In time you can build the rankings for the new site. I often builded a 2nd site and then change the links from my old site to the home page of the new one. Visitors seem to accept it with no problem. Then I phase the old site out as traffic declines.

[ran_dizolph]

don't tell somebody they can't when they want... bill them... and let them make their own decisions...

Uh, kinda disagree.

It's part of our job to help our client understand things they don't understand, such as the situation this thread is about. We need to do our best to help them make a competent decision, as it is ultimately their decision to make.

[MrGamm]

Uh, kinda disagree.

It's part of our job to help our client understand things they don't understand, such as the situation this thread is about. We need to do our best to help them make a competent decision, as it is ultimately their decision to make.

no I understand what your saying... but my point is... it's completely possible to do... changing a domain name is doable... so to tell your client they can't makes an seo look like an idiot...

hope that clears it up...

[kevsta]

if the website is staying the same 301's seem to work pretty well recently, maybe a little dip but have done a few this year and been pleasantly surprised none have suffered much if any drop.

[marcel]

You could lose your entire ranking...
But if you do it right your ranking will improve.


I just completed the total redesign of one of my websites to Drupal

My rank is much better now
- I was #5 on come words

Now I am on#4 on the same words
my website improved because
- Drupal modules lets me keep exactly the same URL structure. VERY IMPORTANT ( use PATHAUTO module )
- Drupal module let me duplicate the same <title></title> tag info ( custom title module )
- I added a blog with relevant content - don't know if it matters. ( default installation )
- I kept part of the same design
- I analysed my traffic and make sure the same links all work.