Ok, I'm changing the domain name for a site I own. I want to place all the content from the old domain on to the new domain. Now if I redirect all the urls to the new site, how exactly does this work? 1. Will all the keyword rankings transfer as well? 2. How long will the search engines take to transfer keyword rankings? 3. If the old domain gets sold, and all the old urls get taken offline, will my new site then drop off the rankings, since there is no longer a redirect?
If you have a Linux server then you need to add a 301 redirect in your .htaccess for each page of the site like this redirect 301 /old-page.html http://www.newdomain.com/new-page.html Make each 301 start on a new line. Then don't forget to test each one to make sure it works. 1. Yes, they should in most cases. 2. Hard to say - it has been my experience not too long. 3. You definitely want to keep the .htaccess with the 301's in it at the old domain for as long as possible (note that you can delete all of the old files but it is the .htaccess with the 301's that is the important part).