redirecting to new domain

I have some old domain and now I would like to redirect whole old domain to new one.
Theme is the same, just new domain.

I would do this:

redirect whole old domain with .htaccess like this :

redirect 301 / http://www.newdomain.com/

then I would like to shut down old domain after some time and also quit with old hosting , but
are those backlinks will stay to new domain or I have to that .htaccess file
have on old server which will be redirecting to new one ?
Can I shut down that old domain and hosting after some time ?

 

yup you can! go ahead...

 

You mean SE's will see this redirection and they will "register" that ?

And then I can move .htaccess file and shut down domain ?

 

nope...SE will contain your old domain...once a user click on it your old domain will redirect to your new domain then once the new domain has been indexed then its a high time to shut it down

 

He was asking about the links out on the web still pointing to his old domain.

Basically - if you shut down your old domain, the search engines will not be able to see your 301 redirect in htaccess anymore therefore over time, they will not know where that old domain is suppost to point to. Since it has no idea where it points to - the old backlinks will not count.

Options:
1. contact all pages linking to you and ask them to change their links to the new domain.
2. leave old domain up with just the .htaccess file - keeping the backlinks from that old domain.

no htaccess = no 301 redirects = no old backlinks counted

 

thanks i slipped on that one...well better contact the people who have back links...

 

Thanks! That is what I'm looking for ..

I think that I will keep that .htaccess file because I'm to lazy to change about 5000 links

 

glad to help...

the only thing is, you will need too keep that htaccess file on your old domain where all the links are currently pointing to. So basically - you cant let that domain expire, and you will need some sort of hosting to store that file in.

 

Hosting is cheap, For that many links I'd just keep old site up indefinitely and do the redirect. Money well spent.

 

you can also put the old domain on your server alias but it will be only for the domain not the back links.. so as if some remember your site name it will be automatically redrected to the new

 

I understand all of that ..
and if I change file names I will must redirect each page by page like this :

redirect 301 /old/old.htm http://www.newdomain.com/new.htm

Or can I do something more easier for redirecting all files ?