Changing domain name 301 .htaccess correct way?

Hi to all. I hope I am in the right section.

I want to do basic change of my domain name, where all files are staying in the old folder. My old domain name is quite new,with no links pointing to it, so i dont care so much about link juice to be transferred, but want to do it right anyway.

Is this the correct way of doing it?:

1. point new domain name to the old folder
2. add to existing .htaccess these lines:
-RewriteEngine On
-RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.new.com/$1 [R=301,L]
3. verify new domain name in google webmaster

Thank you

 

also: Will I need to keep my old domain name after it is all redirected? or may I simply let it go?

 

Just click on redirects in cpanel and set one up like that, much easier, but yes, 301 redirects are the correct way to go, you'll want to keep the domain even when you've redirected it.

 

hi Tuxxy. thanx. I am afraid i dont have a function "redirects" on my host, they use something else than regular cpanel. why do I need to keep the old domain? there are no links pointing to it. I want to keep it only until it expires (8months). than drop it. domain names here cost eur30 per year

 

Jarik,

You almost have it right. Due to the fact that both the old and the new domains will be on the same host you will need to use a slightly different .htaccess rule to prevent the new domain from redirecting to itself otherwise you will end up with an infinite loop:

1) Point the new domain to the folder.
2) Add this to the .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.newdomain\.com
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Code (markup):

3. Verify new domain in Google.

As to your later question. You need to keep the old domain purely for the transition period, while you are waiting for Google to index your web site under the new domain and for those pages to rank. Then you won't lose any traffic or link juice (even though it's a little, it still counts).

HTH