If I do a 301 redirect, for example: http://abc.domain1.com/abc.html to http://www.domain2.com/abc.html Once I setup the redirect can I put completely new content on http://abc.domain1.com/abc.html and not have it effect the SEO for http://www.domain2.com/abc.html? Meaning the old page will now have different content on it (not duplicate) and the new page http://www.domain2.com/abc.html will have the PR and SERPs of the original since it has been redirected. I apologize if I stated this in a confusing way as I'm a bit confused about this process. Let me know if I need to clarify anything about my question. Thanks everyone!
No because your first URL is redirecting to your second, so if you put content on the first it will just redirect and you won't even see the content.
Thanks for putting me on the right track here sweetfunny So my next question is how long should I keep the 301 redirect for? Once the PR and SERPs have changed over to the new page is it safe to get rid of the old page with the 301 redirect? Thanks
You don't need to save the old web page at all, just enter the 301 redirect code into your .htaccess file and you can delete the old web page.
Exactly, you don't even need a page on the original URL because the request doesn't get that far.. Apache processes and executes the mod_rewrite directives before it fetches and displays the webpage. As for how long to keep the rewrite rule in your .htacces that just depends, it's main long-term job is to pass links and visitors to the new URL. When visitors are no longer hitting the old URL and when there's no links pointing to it then it's safe to remove it. So it's best to try and get your backlinks pointing to URL 1 modified to link to URL 2 to speed things up. But definitely leave it intact for at least 1 PR update.
301 redirect will not transfer pagerank sorry to say.. why? hmm because companys could register like X domains.. then 301 them 1 main site.. then just sell them. but the main point is that it can lead to loads of scamish/link scamish things