Hi all This is my very first post on this site and I would appreciate your comments as I am a bit concerned. I have a client that has top ratings in its main keywords in Google and wants to really upgrade the site. At the moment it’s in 9 languages all in HTML and not very user friendly. What the client wants is the following 1. Make the text fully dynamic calling from a MYSQL server 2. Change the domain name 3. Change the hosting company 4. Change and add more text to the site All this sounds a nightmare for keeping the current rankings but what I guess what would be a good start is to 1. Keep the old server and do a 301 redirect to the new one 2. Keep the same Meta Tags The rest I am not so sure.......any suggestions would be great Thanks
Changing the domain name is going to be the biggest hurdle. As algorithms evolve and some engines account for time and age factors, the changing of a domain could really hurt. Nevertheless, I would advise going to extreme lengths to make sure every old page on the old domain redirects (301, of course) to the appropriate new page on the new domain. And yes, of course try to keep the same copy and meta information if the page currently ranks well. Again, with the domain change the transition will probably not be pretty. I'm about to have to go through this as well with a client, and I've been warning them about it for months (very competitive, financial vertical).
Thanks for the advice skanxalot Would it help to keep the old site and name online and intact and just add a redirect to the new site and name? This way we have 2 sites the original site that users enter that know the old brand and are redirected to the new site, and the promotion of the new site. Or just keep the old name and point it to the new site?
make sure you doesn't have two sites running same content, your newer site will be penalized for duplicate content. anyone, feel free to correct me.