Not sure this was the right forum catagory but couldn't find a better one so here goes... When theres been a change to a new server host hence a new url how does one make the transition without loosing the search rankings from the old url..? [Example: "http://abc.com" is the old url which has decent search engine rankings. The website now resides at the new url: "http://a2z.com" Don't want folks to get a "404 non exisitng web site" message on the abc.com listing but the web site has moved to a2z.com] Hope that wasn't to long winded. Any insights appreciated...
You do that with a 301 redirect. I want to do the same, but haven't been able to find out if doing it would hurt my rankings.
That is another case, they are saying that if you have a domain that shows different backlinks for www.domain.com and domain.com you should do a redirect. What I want to do is point all my pages to a totally diferent domain.
A 301 redirect is the correct way to do this, but there are a few different ways to set up a 301. It can be a simple 301 which sends any request for a page on the old domain to the new domain. Redirect 301 / http://www.yourdomain.com/ It can be more complicated that will send and request for a page by name on the old domain to the same page on the new domain eg. mydomain.com/page1.htm sent to mynewdomain.com/page1.htm this is a little more complicated to set up though. and is best done through mod rewrite. Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine on RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^yourdomain\.com RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.yourdomain.com/$1 [R=permanent,L] A php 301 header("HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently"); header("Location: http://www.newdomain.com/newdir/newpage.htm"); exit(); an ASP 301 <%@ Language=VBScript %> <% Response.Status="301 Moved Permanently" Response.AddHeader "Location", "http://www.newdomain.com/newdir/newpage.asp" response.end %> --------------------------------- One thing though, using a 301 is NOT seemless, the only way to make it seamless is via BIND/Local DNS so if you have access to this then that is the way to do it. The search engines are better at understanding 301's, but be warned, while the change will be quick, it can take a month or two for the backlinks in Google to catch up, and Yahoo is notoriously bad at handling complicated 301's. The only way is to keep the domain name if you want nothing to be put at risk, (sorry).
wow... Pretty Comprehensive... thank you! I'm kinda surprised that nobody seems to have tried the 301 protocol and can report one way or another what the pros or pitfalls are... I've got some time to plan this thing so if it takes Google, Yahoo and MSN 30 days or so to catchup on the ranking and backlinks thats not a problem for me. I suppose I might just have to try the 301 url redirect leaving both url's active during the 30 day transition cycle. That may be the only way to actually see how the PR and backlinks transfer to the new url... Not sure what other approach to take... Has anybody here ever done anythng like this before..?
Just as a postscript: I found a pretty good link which explains how to properly set-up 301-redirects for anyone else who may need to complete this process: 301 REDIRECT INSTRUCTIONS: http://www.webconfs.com/how-to-redirect-a-webpage.php