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Well-ranked site needs to shift site and traffic to new domain - But how?

by MChriston
17 replies
Here's the problem...

I have a friend who has a WP blog under her name (e.g. janesmith.com) which has developed a lot of interest for a specific niche. Seeing the opportunity she has managed to get a half-decent domain name for that niche and now wants to move all of her efforts to that site instead (let's call that niche.com)...

BUT...

She gets a lot of traffic for the original domain via search engines. Of course, if she starts afresh with the new domain... she loses her rankings.

So we have an SEO/traffic/techie kinda question...

Option 1 - Simply do a full domain forward from janesmith.com to niche.com and duplicate all content onto niche.com. But will the content still work for her from an SEO point of view ...because it was originally janesmith.com content

Option 2 - Keep janesmith.com and then duplicate content onto niche.com - and use some clever plugin to reroute permalinks from one to the other (so if visitor lands on janesmith.com/abc they automatically get routed to niche.com/abc). But what about, say, Google's view on duplicate content? And is there a plugin that can do this?

Option 3 - No need for janesmith.com to keep content because the clever WP plugin reroutes any 'old' permalinks to niche.com - Again, can anyone suggest a WP plugin for this?

Option 4 - Another idea which you can suggest which keeps her search engine traffic but lets her develop new site

So there you go! What do you think folks?

Thanks in advance,

Michael
#domain #shift #site #traffic #wellranked
  • Profile picture of the author Fadiz
    here's an article to help you do that Moving your site - Webmaster Tools Help
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    • Profile picture of the author MChriston
      Originally Posted by Fadiz View Post

      here's an article to help you do that Moving your site - Webmaster Tools Help
      Thanks Fadiz! That's great. Do you or anyone else know of a plugin that can automatically handle the 301 redirects?

      (there's a LOT of pages in the original blog that need moving)

      Thanks in advance,

      Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    If you keep the old domain AND you will use the same permalink structure for the site at the new domain... a simple .htaccess file on the old domain should redirect ALL the incoming queries to the new location.

    I have done this years ago:
    - had a WP blog at subdomain.example.com
    - had another blog at example.com/blog/
    - decided to move all posts from the subdomain to example2.com and also to move all the posts from .../blog/ to example2.com

    A few lines in a .htaccess file that sits at the root of example.com solved the issue.
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  • Profile picture of the author OldLodgeSkins
    Hi,

    Put the two domain names on the same hosting (in other words, you don't need to move anything), and use a .htaccess file to create a permanent redirection from the old one to the new one, something like this:

    Code:
    ########## Domain name change #############
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^hasta-luego.net [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.site-professionnel-discount.fr/$1 [L,R=301]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.hasta-luego.net [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.site-professionnel-discount.fr/$1 [L,R=301]
#######################################
    In my case I didn't want to drop hasta-luego.net because I still have e-mails coming into that domain, but I didn't want Google to see two duplicate sites, so here I'm instructing everyone - search engines and visitors - to redirect automatically any address on hasta-luego.net and www.hasta-luego.net to www.site-professionnel-discount.fr

    Seb.
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    Yeah, I did something similar to what Seb posted... except you don't need to have both sites on the same hosting. Why would that be a requirement in the case of a .htaccess 301 redirect?
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    • Profile picture of the author OldLodgeSkins
      Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath View Post

      Yeah, I did something similar to what Seb posted... except you don't need to have both sites on the same hosting. Why would that be a requirement in the case of a .htaccess 301 redirect?
      In his case his just wants on new domain on the same site.. Right? So why lose time and efforts moving the website?
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      • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
        Originally Posted by OldLodgeSkins View Post

        In his case his just wants on new domain on the same site.. Right? So why lose time and efforts moving the website?
        Wrong...

        1. Even if on the same host, when moving a WP install from one domain to another, you MUST move the files and the database.

        2. No, they don't want a new domain on the same site - they want the same content on a different domain.

        3. WP works extremely badly with domain redirects and having the installation in the "wrong" place; i.e. keeping the installation on the old domain and directing visitors/bots to an empty domain...
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  • Profile picture of the author zoobie
    You need to 301 redirect the old domain to the new domain to and keep the authority status, Page rank value, backlink etc. of your new domain.

    To do that, please refer to the document below

    301 Redirect - How to create Redirects - htaccess redirect
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    Given recent events with Googles new algorithm update, youd be MAD to do this.

    If its performing, leave it alone.
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    BS free SEO services, training and advice - SEO Point

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  • Profile picture of the author OldLodgeSkins
    I admit I'm more used to Joomla (which handles multi-domains just fine if necessary) but I still don't see the point... Here in the end we'd just have one website, with one domain (the new one), all the traffic coming into the old domain being redirected to the new one before it actually hits the website. So the WP installation needs to be concerned by one domain only.
    Unless maybe I misunderstood MChriston's request - my understanding is that all the activity from the old domain is to be transferred to a new one, in the end there's still just one single website and all we're talking about is handling the domain name change without losing the rankings. No?

    Seb.
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    • Profile picture of the author onSubie
      Originally Posted by OldLodgeSkins View Post

      I admit I'm more used to Joomla (which handles multi-domains just fine if necessary) but I still don't see the point... Here in the end we'd just have one website, with one domain (the new one), all the traffic coming into the old domain being redirected to the new one before it actually hits the website. So the WP installation needs to be concerned by one domain only.
      Unless maybe I misunderstood MChriston's request - my understanding is that all the activity from the old domain is to be transferred to a new one, in the end there's still just one single website and all we're talking about is handling the domain name change without losing the rankings. No?

      Seb.
      Hi,

      Yes, you are correct about what is happening but in order for it to happen you need to move the files.

      "...all the traffic coming into the old domain being redirected to the new one before it actually hits the website. So the WP installation needs to be concerned by one domain only."

      But the 301 redirect is directing traffic from the old domain to the new domain. The new domain does not have the files so they need to be moved, as Istvan stated. It doesn't matter if they are on the same host.

      The old domain files are in one folder (public_html/old-domain.com) and need to be moved to the new domain folder (public_html/new-domain.com). (using hostgator shared for the example paths)

      In this scenario, traffic to the old domain will eventually dry up and most traffic will be coming to the new domain without a redirect.

      If you have multiple domains for one site, you can point (redirect) all the domains to the main site. But if you are moving a site from one domain to a new permanent domain, you need to move the files.

      Mahlon
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      • Profile picture of the author OldLodgeSkins
        Originally Posted by onSubie View Post

        But the 301 redirect is directing traffic from the old domain to the new domain. The new domain does not have the files so they need to be moved, as Istvan stated. It doesn't matter if they are on the same host.
        It does "have the files" if the two domains are pointing to the exact same location.
        That's what I had (still do) with hasta-luego.net and site-professionnel-discount.fr - but I'm using a real professional host not some cheap service, I only had to ask and they set the new domain to the same location as the old one... Of course if the host doesn't allows / supports this obviously it can't be done.
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        • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
          Originally Posted by OldLodgeSkins View Post

          It does "have the files" if the two domains are pointing to the exact same location.
          And that's exactly what I was trying to tell you since my first post here: WP will not work well with that kind of "domain pointing/redirect".

          Yes, I do WP since 2004...
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    Maybe I am not explaining it to you clear enough to get the important part...

    If you have a WP installation at OldLodgeSkins.com and you want to move its content to istvanhorvath.com - you MUST move the WP files and the related database to the second domain. Then use a .htaccess at OldLodgeSkins.com. It is absolutely irrelevant where the two sites are hosted (same host or not) the move must be done.

    So, all your theories about saving time and work IF they are on the same host - are nonsense. Is it clear now?
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  • Profile picture of the author OldLodgeSkins
    @Istvan: Nope.
    I would change the parameters of the WP site so it reflects the new domain I still don't understand why this should be a problem. But as I said I'm more used to Joomla than to WP. I just can't imagine a CMS that wouldn't let me change the domain name as I please...
    But we're getting off-topic aren't we? Me not understanding why the website has to be moved won't help, I assume you must have more experience with WP than I do so I'll just assume you're right.
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  • Profile picture of the author OldLodgeSkins
    Ok this is a big weakness of WP then...
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  • Profile picture of the author MChriston
    Wow, thanks for all the comments. Mucho appreciated.

    Okay, as a follow-up here are two dumb questions from Mr Non-Techie (ermm, me)...

    When doing the .htaccess 301 redirect will this mean the WHOLE janesmith.com will be pointing to niche.com? What if Jane wants to do something else with with janesmith.com?

    AND...

    Does the .htaccess 301 redirect mean that janesmith.com/abc will automatically route to niche.com/abc?

    Thanks for the clarification guys. It is MUCH appreciated

    All the best,

    Michael
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