Enter the 301 Redirect WAR now! Get THANKED for giving a valuable answer!!

[provisionalpatent]

Guys and gals:

A big fat question about the philosophy of 301 redirects and the big fat 301 redirection old wives tales:

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 (except ugly links and flash on (SI).

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. True?

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

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

Their BIG concern is (SI) ALWAYS wants (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...

The (SI) site is IN LOVE with flash and ugly URL's...

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

I am looking for more info and suggestions... Suggestions to help (SI) and (MFC) understand the best way to do.. The sites are REAL.. You can look at em...

Here is a pretty HOT answer from Paul....


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

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. They love the domain. They just want ALL the traffic to ultimately end up buying their stuff..

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at the very top to the new site, telling people this site is no
longer updated and is now at sierrainstruments.com, complete with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. We will update BOTH sites forever...

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

[Fraggler]

A 301 redirect will push most of the link juice over to the SI domain but it won't help you with the extra relevancy that's on the MFC site. The 301 works well when you are just changing the domain name but the site content remains intact.

You are risking losing the higher rankings of the MFC site by doing the redirect.

Personally, I would update the branding on the MFC site without affecting the content or the structure of the site too much and use that site as a satellite site for SI. If it is branded well then the user will still think they are dealing with SI.

Also reference the domain from the SI site so people can see that MFC is a SI site. Make it all transparent.

This gives SI the benefit of having more points of entry for the customers - more ways to be found.

[provisionalpatent]

Thanks!
I like the link from (SI) to (MFC) but it may be a tough sell.. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of links from (SI) to (MFC)...

[Fraggler]

I wouldn't even worry about any SEO benefits (but there will be some). I would do the linkback purely for customer piece of mind. If they see SI actually owns that site by saying so on their website then the customer can shop with confidence.

There is no disadvantage that I can see.

You just need to let them know that by removing the MFC site they will lose the rankings and traffic that site is currently getting. That should be enough or them to realise it's a bad idea. They need to adapt to the situation and realise the potential in front of them.

They have the potential to have 2 pages in the top 10, and eventually a site at #1 and another at #2. That's like 60 to 70% of search traffic going to one of their sites.

[Dane Vaninc]

Why don't you just 301-redirect and use google webmaster tools to indicate a "Site change of address."

[Fraggler]

Originally Posted by Dane Vaninc

Why don't you just 301-redirect and use google webmaster tools to indicate a "Site change of address."

It isn't a change of address. The 2 sites are different. If the sites were the same and just the domain (address) changed then this is the best option.

[Abledragon]

Doing the 301 from MFC to SI will kill the ranking advantage that MFC currently has.

The SE's will follow the redirects and recognise that the content is different, so neither MFC nor SI will be returned for the search terms that currently get to MFC.

The link from MFC to SI is the best option, along with an explanation and an annoucement that MFC has been acquired. Keep everything transparent.

Cheers,

Martin.