Say someone has a subdomain h**p://subdomainname.domain.com. It has a lot of incoming links and has high SERP and PR. Then they decide to go one step ahead and buy the domain h**p://www.subdomainname.com. They redirect all current pages to the corresponding pages in the newly bought domain. What effect will this have on SERP and PR?
I'm pretty sure that if you do the correct 301 redirect, all of your PR should be passed on to the new domain and that your SERPS will remain close to the same.
OK. How is a 301 redirect done? Is it done by just adding the new domain as an add-on domain and directing it to the subdomain?
OK, maybe it would transfer PR... but what about all the links previously linking to your old subdomain? Would you have to go thru each backlink and ask them to change it to your new address? (I ask because my pgh site has the same kind of subdomain problem)
I did some referencing... You have to redirect using .htaccess file. redirect 301 / h**p://www.subdomainname.com/ All pages are automatically redirected to the new domain! 301 denotes "moved permanently". It is supposed to be the most search engine friendly redirect.
Even though the PR would transfer, the fact that the domain you are moving to is brand new, you will most likely be put into the Sandbox if this is a competitive term. Of course that would have a negative impact on your SERPs.
The 301 is a permanent redirect, 302 is a temporary and not very se friendly. I would leave your old links in place because you should get credit for them on your new domain, but I would also go get some links to your new domain.
I think the 301's should be good enough. The SEs should drop the redirecting domain from their index soon enough. You may have to wait for an official "pr update" to see the new pr but in Google's mind it will be there. The SERPs should respond faster. I don't think MSN is as good at following the 301 instructions.
I was under the impression that if you do a 301 to the new domain that you can avoid the sandbox. Is that not true?
I think that's true. It wouldn't make sense to put a site back in the Sandbox just because they changed their domain.
It might not make sense to be put back in the sandbox, but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't happen. The determing factor for the sandbox seems to be the age of the domain and it this case it will be a new domain that you are doing the redirect to. Here is a previous thread on the subject: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=29574
Complete post here This post is from october 2005 so hopefully the code has been updated. Matt Cutts mentioned elsewhere of someone making a domain name change without any problems but it's hard to find new info on this. You should also read this article: Switching to a New Domain Without Losing Your Google Rankings It will probably help you out the most if you are changing domains. If anyone finds any updated info on this matter, please post.