Philosophy of 301 Redirects for Black Belts and Wizards alike...

provisionalpatent · 06-14-2011, 03:29 PM

Guys and gals:

A big fat question about the philosophy of 301 redirects:

Story: I sold this website (MFC):
massflowmetersandcontrollers.com

To this company (SI):
sierrainstruments.com

They want to make "all" the traffic from (MFC) to come to (SI).
The problem is (MCF) frequently out ranks (SI) in the natural Google results.

My question is:
What is the BEST thing to do to have (MFC) bolster the ranking of (SI)?

I can change ANYTHING on both sites so no holds barred..

My GUT tells me Googls is "smarter" than just editing the HT access file cuz it does not seem like it is in the spirit of high quality search results.

I COULD do a simple 301 redirect on each page from (MFC) to (SI) but that does not seem Google happy either.

Why not completely edit the (MFC) site to have well designed and Google hypertext links with hot articles POINTING to (SI)...

Seems un-good to abandon (MFC) to me but what do you SEO Wizards know about this?

Their BIG concern is they ALWAYS want (SI) to outrank (MFC) in the rankings but the (SI) site has lots of flash and the URL's are not pretty like those of (MFC)..

Should we convert (MFC) to a Wordpress Blog? If so got a theme that would work.. Do not want any eCommerce on (MFC) but want to POINT from (MFC) to the (SI) eCommerce specific pages based on product offering...

This could be a Final Exam for SEO School by golly!

If you answer, with a reasonable reply, I will THANK you!

smorse1 · 06-14-2011, 03:49 PM

Best practices and what I have had the best luck with is using your htaccess file to map equivalent pages from the old site to the new one using 301 redirects.
Don't use a meta refresh on the individual pages as this won't pass the juice from any backlinking you have to that page over to the new one.
Eventually the old site will fall out of the rankings but all the link juice will be redirected to the new site. This is, in fact the correct way to do this, and I have seen the benefits of the 301 redirect when doing this.

paulgl · 06-14-2011, 04:17 PM

The answer is none of the above.

Re-reading your post, it sounds if they have bought the domain, not
the website, and just want the love transferred.

If they bought the website, but hate the domain, the best way is
to transfer the whole site to the new domain, then do a 301
redirect from old to new.

The problem with just doing a 301 redirect, is that over time the
tingle will fade. The new site has to stand on its own.

If it were me, I would keep the old site intact, but put a link
at the very top to the new site, telling people this site is no
longer updated and is now at newdomain.com, complete with
anchor text. That would give the link some juice. I would
add this link to each and every page. Very easy if the site
was made using php, asp, etc. All stuff on the old site will
remain safe on search engines.

Then completely start SEOing the new site, doing all backlinks
to the new site.

One of the main problems with a 301 redirect in your situation, and
people forget this, is that now the dynamics of your old site are then
changed and lost. You want to feed off of it, not obliterate it. If you choose
to just 301 the site, I would only do a main page 301. I would make a
custom 404 error page, with links to all subpages on the new domain.

I hate going to a page I find in google, only to be dumped somewhere that
I have no idea what it is. I'd rather see links and explanations. IMHO,
that keeps all link juice intact.

After 6 months, you could then probably 301 the whole site.

Paul

RevSEO · 06-14-2011, 04:45 PM

It also sounds like you've got a bigger problem on the new site. Flash and crappy URLs are horrible for SEO reasons. I'd talk seriously to the company about redesigning the main website as well for he best benefit altogether.

Have you talked to them about doing this?

provisionalpatent · 06-14-2011, 05:14 PM

I talked a little bit about it.. they LOVE flash and the guys in devo may be hard to convince.. I think they may need a little bit of educating... We can help em..

Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate it...

06-14-2011, 03:29 PM	#1
provisionalpatent Provisional Patent Guy Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Monterey Ca Posts: 13 Thanks: 9 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Philosophy of 301 Redirects for Black Belts and Wizards alike... Guys and gals: A big fat question about the philosophy of 301 redirects: Story: I sold this website (MFC): massflowmetersandcontrollers.com To this company (SI): sierrainstruments.com They want to make "all" the traffic from (MFC) to come to (SI). The problem is (MCF) frequently out ranks (SI) in the natural Google results. My question is: What is the BEST thing to do to have (MFC) bolster the ranking of (SI)? I can change ANYTHING on both sites so no holds barred.. My GUT tells me Googls is "smarter" than just editing the HT access file cuz it does not seem like it is in the spirit of high quality search results. I COULD do a simple 301 redirect on each page from (MFC) to (SI) but that does not seem Google happy either. Why not completely edit the (MFC) site to have well designed and Google hypertext links with hot articles POINTING to (SI)... Seems un-good to abandon (MFC) to me but what do you SEO Wizards know about this? Their BIG concern is they ALWAYS want (SI) to outrank (MFC) in the rankings but the (SI) site has lots of flash and the URL's are not pretty like those of (MFC).. Should we convert (MFC) to a Wordpress Blog? If so got a theme that would work.. Do not want any eCommerce on (MFC) but want to POINT from (MFC) to the (SI) eCommerce specific pages based on product offering... This could be a Final Exam for SEO School by golly! If you answer, with a reasonable reply, I will THANK you!
	Last edited by provisionalpatent; 06-14-2011 at 05:07 PM. Reason: Add thank you note

06-14-2011, 03:49 PM	#2
smorse1 Active Warrior Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Nebraska Posts: 56 Thanks: 11 Thanked 5 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Philosophy of 301 Redirects for Black Belts and Wizards alike... Best practices and what I have had the best luck with is using your htaccess file to map equivalent pages from the old site to the new one using 301 redirects. Don't use a meta refresh on the individual pages as this won't pass the juice from any backlinking you have to that page over to the new one. Eventually the old site will fall out of the rankings but all the link juice will be redirected to the new site. This is, in fact the correct way to do this, and I have seen the benefits of the 301 redirect when doing this.
	Last edited by smorse1; 06-14-2011 at 03:55 PM. Reason: added some clarification to the answer

06-14-2011, 04:17 PM	#3
paulgl Plundering the Web War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 4,849 Thanks: 804 Thanked 1,199 Times in 886 Posts	Re: Philosophy of 301 Redirects for Black Belts and Wizards alike... The answer is none of the above. Re-reading your post, it sounds if they have bought the domain, not the website, and just want the love transferred. If they bought the website, but hate the domain, the best way is to transfer the whole site to the new domain, then do a 301 redirect from old to new. The problem with just doing a 301 redirect, is that over time the tingle will fade. The new site has to stand on its own. If it were me, I would keep the old site intact, but put a link at the very top to the new site, telling people this site is no longer updated and is now at newdomain.com, complete with anchor text. That would give the link some juice. I would add this link to each and every page. Very easy if the site was made using php, asp, etc. All stuff on the old site will remain safe on search engines. Then completely start SEOing the new site, doing all backlinks to the new site. One of the main problems with a 301 redirect in your situation, and people forget this, is that now the dynamics of your old site are then changed and lost. You want to feed off of it, not obliterate it. If you choose to just 301 the site, I would only do a main page 301. I would make a custom 404 error page, with links to all subpages on the new domain. I hate going to a page I find in google, only to be dumped somewhere that I have no idea what it is. I'd rather see links and explanations. IMHO, that keeps all link juice intact. After 6 months, you could then probably 301 the whole site. Paul
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06-14-2011, 04:45 PM	#4
RevSEO RevSEO.com High PR Links Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: NYC Posts: 853 Thanks: 26 Thanked 111 Times in 93 Posts	Re: Philosophy of 301 Redirects for Black Belts and Wizards alike... It also sounds like you've got a bigger problem on the new site. Flash and crappy URLs are horrible for SEO reasons. I'd talk seriously to the company about redesigning the main website as well for he best benefit altogether. Have you talked to them about doing this?
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06-14-2011, 05:14 PM	#5
provisionalpatent Provisional Patent Guy Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Monterey Ca Posts: 13 Thanks: 9 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Philosophy of 301 Redirects for Black Belts and Wizards alike... I talked a little bit about it.. they LOVE flash and the guys in devo may be hard to convince.. I think they may need a little bit of educating... We can help em.. Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate it...