I have a domain that I've had for a while and still receives some traffic. I want to redirect that traffic to my new site using either htaccess/mod rewrite or using a php redirect in the index page of the old site. Is this a no no that I will get penalized for by google? And if not, which method of redirection would be better for seo purposes, using htaccess or using a php redirect method?
If you're moving the same site to a different address, with all the same pages, then the htaccess RewriteEngine on Redirect 301 / http://www.arabiantales.org/ Code (markup): method in your old site's address root folder (or adding your old site address as an addon domain and sticking that in the folder) is perfect as all your cached pages will be redirected to the new address, and you will not be penalized for it.
If your site has been moved, you should stop worrying about being penalized. As long as you will redirect to another domain, there is no way to make it rank well, no matter what type of redirect you will be using, in your case 301 error.
Thanks guys. It's not the case of moving the site. I simply have one domain that I do not use any longer but it still gets some traffic. My goal is to redirect this traffic to my new site, which is a completely different type of site and different domain. I was really just wondering if there would be a penalty from google on this. I didn't think it would affect page rank and was not my intent. From the responses you guys have given me, it looks like I should not have any problems doing the redirect. Thank you very much for your answers and for helping out on this.