This is a situation I've never encountered before, (I usually work with non-e-commerce sites). I have a client that has been running an e-Commerce site since 2000, and does a respectable amount of business for a mom n' pop operation, ranking well for some high volume terms (albeit completely unintentional). Recently a company in the same business market has taken legal action, contending that the domain, infringes on trade-marked business name. The offer on the table for a limited time is $10k in cash, $10k in merchandise, and 3.5 years of redirect, sign over the domain and walk away. My question is: a) What are the likely effects of a redirect like this on rankings? b) What are best practices to keep these effects to a minimum? c) What is the most effective messaging to get links pointing to the new domain?
Technically a 301 redirect is supposed to pass on the rankings and links from the original website. The rankings wouldn't be passed on to the new website right away though. I have heard that Yahoo has a hard time dealing with any redirects.
a) What are the likely effects of a redirect like this on rankings? It works like 80-90% time. You will lose some ranking, say from #4 to #18 with 301 redirect b) What are best practices to keep these effects to a minimum? Keep same content and titles with zero other edits. Do slow changes c) What is the most effective messaging to get links pointing to the new domain? Send message to all those who are linking to your old domain that please change your link to new domain. Keep the mail personal and do put your pics and phone number for authenticity.