I recently bought a new domain name to transfer my site to, even though I was starting to get very good rankings in Google for great keywords. I though in the end, this would help me a lot. The domain includes the number one keyword I am looking for, which is "free sounds". This of course goes great with the domain I bought- www.free-sounds.net. However, I am now wondering if this was such a great move. I obviously lost all of my rankings and expected PR. Do you think this was a was decision? The last domain was audiofiles.org, which was not only a .org, but not very relevant to my keyword. Thoughts?
Think long term. If you were achieving what you wanted with your current name, switching would not be a good idea. If the old domain name was holding you back, chuck it. Sure, you'll suffer a bit in the short term. But if you plan to keep the site going for many years to come, who cares? Success on the internet is a marathon, not a sprint.
Good advice. I don't think it will take too long to get my results back- a few months most likely. Nice quote, now I see that the change was for the best in the long run. Hopefully I can take the top 10 results for "Free Sounds" in the future with a little work.
I am not sure if the .net domain name will help you much in the long run. Most people still think all web sites end with .com. .net or .org names are very hard to market. I would rather go with a .com name if you try to brand your web business. As to the rankings for your old domain, you can do 301 permanent redirect so that your rankings will be transferred to your new domain. Good luck!
The .com was taken, and the owner has not responded to emails. So that is out of the question. Probably won't use the redirect. I will just redo the ranking process.
I disagree that .NET names will not help you in the long run. If you're just talking SEO wise, Google could really care less. .Com/.Net/.Info they don't really weight any ending more than anything else. As far as putting it on a billboard, and hoping people type it in. It would probably be better with a .com, but not that bad with a .net. Most people realize that the internet is getting crowded now. I have many websites in top 10 positions with a non .com domain name, they all get plenty of traffic so I could care less what it ends with. MR
Why not? it takes all of a minute to set it up. And you instantly get all the links from the old domain pointing to the new one. Instead of starting from scratch you get to start right where you left off.
agree with axemedia. It does not make sense not to use redirect as you don't lose anything, but u'll lose all your traffic without it.
i also disagree with your statement. You might want to qualify where you get such conclusions before giving such advice. As long as a site has quality content, it does not matter whether it is .com or .net or .whatever. Your definition of 'most people' is also flawed as i do not think that this is true anymore. In the past perhaps, but not now. I would definitely not lose all my rankings and cached pages just because of switching to a .com. Personally, think that domain names' role in overall SEO is paltry compared to so many other factors. Unless your domain name really sucked and gave a bad impression to your site, focus your energies on other more crucial parameters of SEO..... like keywords, content, backlinks.
Using keyword on domain is the next biggest SEO tricks IMO. Also put it in your meta-title. Regarding loosing the rankings and PR with other domain --that is temporary. You must think in the long-term perspective. Just build links steadily, and you will get back all your rankings in a vogorous way. Best of luck --that is the best thing you did.
Thanks for all the help guys. I can't really add a redirect, as my add-on domains are limited, and all of them are in use. It's ok, I don't mind rebuilding my links. Especially since I am redesigning the template, and will be neglecting content updates for a few weeks.
Yes it will help, I agree with others, you must always thing long term as for .nets being harder to market thats complete BS imo
It might sound stupid but just exchange links that where on site before. If you do not remember all the links try google search for links to the site to start with. If old site was ranked good do same thing and new site should get good rank after some time.
You can hard code this redirection as well. Between the <head> tags of your pages you can put <META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="5; URL=http://www.newsitename.com"> If you can't redirect the pages at the system level then I suggest hard coding it (at least on your homepage) this is a 2 minute process which will save you a lot of headaches.
just do the redirect from the domain registration account, not your host. There should be an option to do a URL redirect. You don't need any hosting to do this.
As far as I noticed myself, it really doesnt matter whats after the dot, if its a net, com.....etc Some experts say URL keywords will help your website in Serp, but who knows with the all Mighty G....
Zac there is no need to sacrifice current incoming links or rankings when changing over from one URL to an other. All you need to do is a 301 permanent redirect, that way you will gain all the previous linking and ranking efforts that you have thus created instructing search engines that the site has moved and this is its new current location. CHeck how you can set up various types of 301 redirects
Personally I would've stuck with the old domain, but that's just me... Domains aren't the be all end all.
Yeah the old domain would be alright too. I think these days MANY people, especially the younger generation know about all the different types of extentions. So I don't think it would matter + if the .com leads to nothing or ads, they will know it's .net and that they wrote the wrong extention.