Will redirecting domain lose optimization?

I'm working with a domain that has #1 position for the top three keywords in the niche. I'm planning on developing a new design on a new domain and will then begin to change all our backlinks to the new url. We'll also redirect our existing domain (which has the #1 rankings) to the new site.

Does anyone have any qualified opinions on whether this is a wise way to accomplish changing domain names and keeping our keyword positions?

 

Just out of curiousity, why would you want to do this if your domain already ranks for these keywords?

 

I think you could lose your ranking for this, since you will also lose all your content if you run a redirect...even if you have info on the page, the redirect will effect the crawlers, so I wouldn't do it.

 

While I appreciate the advice, I guess what I'm really needing to know is how best to do it, not whether to do it. We need to change our domain name and we want to dp so with as little effect on the SERPS as possible. So, while I understand there could be negative consequences, I'd like some advice on how to best do the changeover.

We can change the backlinks to the new domain slowly over time, or all at once. We can copy content over. We can do a permanent redirect (I understand permanent redirects work well with SE's). What's the best way to do this domain changeover?

 

While having that permanent redirect (and transferring the back links), do link building + social media mktg + more content for the new site.

That'll boost its ranking while getting the help of the redirect.

 

Do a 301 Redirect with your .htaccess file

 

Yeah do a 301 redirect and your Pagerank will move to new domain and backlinks will point to new domain also.

 

doing a 301 will change the backlinks?

 

It does tell the search engine that the page has moved. Google does pass the link juice to the new 301'd domain (takes some time) but other SEs are much slower compared to G.

So it would be the best scenario, if you could get the backlinks to point directly to new domain instead of keeping them pointing to old domain.

 

Good to know. I think we've got a game plan now!

 

Don't forget my green rep

 

Get a permanent redirect.

 

Um, you mean a 301 redirect?

 

Yes permanent redirect = 301

 

even changing the design without changing the domain name will affect your SERPS let alone changing the domain name as well

 

Some redirected domains are seen as cloaked domains.

 

Yes. The thing is, we need to and are changing domains. What I'm looking for is the best way to do that.

The 301 redirect appears to be the best option.

 

don't do that, you will lost your trust domain (your site age) and you site will be like new sites at google, you will lost eventing except your pr.

i think you could create a new site with home page only and keep your cornet site

 

Read This Carefully

 

Dude -- how many times do I have to state that we must transfer to a new domain name? Is that not clicking for you? Wow.