My existing site has been around for a few years and it ranks fairly well overall with the search engines and exceptionally well with certain keywords. Is there a preferred way in which to redirect all traffic and all the site content to the new domain name while minimizing the potential repercussions from a SEO perspective? Thanks!
What you are inquiring about is called a 301 redirect. 8 times or so out of ten it works properly. I would need a link to be specific since we have to consider how well internal pages are doing. It is often times required to 301 specific pages as well as the main domain... feel free to pm a link. I am happy to take a look. If its not a big deal you can post the link here and 40 people will repeat what I said lol.....(sorry, having a long day) hope that helps, Nigel
You should also personally contact the websites that have the most valuable links to your website. Just e-mail the Webmaster and point out that the website is identical but the domain has changed. Most of them will update their links reasonably quickly. I was in the same position 18 months ago and managed to retain most of my links, and all of the really valuable ones (that's because the really valuable ones come from websites that are curated by very dedicated and helpful people).