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Advice on 301 redirecting an old domain name

by thedan
15 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hey all,

I will be redirecting an old e-commerce domain to a new e-commerce website. The domain has been active for over 10 years, and was registered in the late 1990s.

For multiple reasons, including selling the old domain name, it will need to be 301 redirected to the new (similar niche) e-commerce domain.

Does anyone have any experience with doing this on old, established domains? Like.. How long should the domain be 301 redirected to "suck out" all the SEO juice to the new domain before selling it?

Anything else to know or consider before doing this? The old domain is PR5 and very established as an authority domain in the niche, ranking in the top 3 for a number of terms.

Any advice/input is appreciated!
#301 #advice #domain #redirecting
  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    If you are doing this, you don't want to sell the old domain. Once someone buys that, sets up a new site on it, and Google crawls it to realize there is no longer a 301, you lose the benefit at the new domain.
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  • Profile picture of the author msabihj
    I hope you are making good from the old domain.

    The idea is whenever you will sell your old domain, the new owner will remove 301 so you will get nothing. The links remain active as long as there is 301. It is not about time. The links are pointing to your old domain and they will keep on pointing to that old domain no matter who owns it. So even if you keep 301 active for, say 3 months or maybe 6 months, you will get the juice but as soon as you will remove 301, you will not get any juice.

    This is my understanding of the matter developed after redirecting 3 domains.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Obviously, you care very little about your new website.

      Either that or the old, valuable domain is really a piece of garbage.

      So, the question is moot.

      Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Originally Posted by thedan View Post

    Hey all,

    I will be redirecting an old e-commerce domain to a new e-commerce website. The domain has been active for over 10 years, and was registered in the late 1990s.

    For multiple reasons, including selling the old domain name, it will need to be 301 redirected to the new (similar niche) e-commerce domain.

    Does anyone have any experience with doing this on old, established domains? Like.. How long should the domain be 301 redirected to "suck out" all the SEO juice to the new domain before selling it?

    Anything else to know or consider before doing this? The old domain is PR5 and very established as an authority domain in the niche, ranking in the top 3 for a number of terms.

    Any advice/input is appreciated!
    The way I'm reading this, you've already dropped the old domain so a 301 redirect is impossible. You can't redirect something you don't control.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      The way I'm reading this, you've already dropped the old domain so a 301 redirect is impossible. You can't redirect something you don't control.
      I think he wants to keep it live, suck out the juice, then sell it.

      Like I said, no matter. You are killing the golden goose.

      I have no idea why it is such the "in thing" to burn and churn domains.

      You are starting a new site, same niche, ecommerce, blah blah blah, but
      are not going to use a supposedly entrenched, valuable domain?

      Or....the inane story about a guy who knew a guy who said something about a 301...

      Knocking head against wall.....for the umpteenth time.

      Paul
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      If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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  • Profile picture of the author thedan
    Thanks everyone for the advice! To be clear, the "new" domain is 6 years old and has been operating for that long as well.

    For multiple reasons, the old domain has to go, and has not sold anything for ~2 years -- its value is sending customers to the "new" ecommerce domain.

    So... It seems prudent to keep the old domain up and running until a decent bid comes in for the old domain. When that happens, I think we'll try to 301 it before the sale, even though the consensus is that it won't matter in the long run. I'll report back what happens, though it may be awhile.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Originally Posted by thedan View Post

      Thanks everyone for the advice! To be clear, the "new" domain is 6 years old and has been operating for that long as well.

      For multiple reasons, the old domain has to go, and has not sold anything for ~2 years -- its value is sending customers to the "new" ecommerce domain.

      So... It seems prudent to keep the old domain up and running until a decent bid comes in for the old LLL.com. When that happens, I think we'll try to 301 it before the sale, even though the consensus is that it won't matter in the long run. I'll report back what happens, though it may be awhile.
      Like I said, you make no sense. The old domain has zero value to your "new"
      website, for multiple reasons.

      Paul
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      If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      Originally Posted by thedan View Post

      Thanks everyone for the advice! To be clear, the "new" domain is 6 years old and has been operating for that long as well.

      For multiple reasons, the old domain has to go, and has not sold anything for ~2 years -- its value is sending customers to the "new" ecommerce domain.

      So... It seems prudent to keep the old domain up and running until a decent bid comes in for the old domain. When that happens, I think we'll try to 301 it before the sale, even though the consensus is that it won't matter in the long run. I'll report back what happens, though it may be awhile.
      There is zero point in doing a 301 redirect if you are selling the domain. It only provides benefit as long as the 301 redirect is in effect.
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    • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
      Originally Posted by thedan View Post

      So... It seems prudent to keep the old domain up and running until a decent bid comes in for the old domain. When that happens, I think we'll try to 301 it before the sale, even though the consensus is that it won't matter in the long run. I'll report back what happens, though it may be awhile.
      I'd keep the old domain running, and try to get some link benefit to your money site. Well, unless they're in totally different niches or something like that, or the old domain was branded for the exact same company already. But if you're willing to sell the domain that doesn't really seem to be the case.
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  • Profile picture of the author Slade556
    Why not keep both? I know it's none of my business, but why sell an aged domain, which is already well-optimized (I assume)? Make both work, earn double the income!
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  • Profile picture of the author thedan
    Thanks all for the feedback on not doing a 301 - it does make sense. I think the best course of action is to keep linking from it and sending traffic to the new domain.

    The reason... legal issues. The client I consult for wants to sell it, but not in a rush sale. I'm just looking at options and was thinking a 301 might suck the juice dry just before a sale.
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    • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
      Originally Posted by thedan View Post

      The reason... legal issues. The client I consult for wants to sell it, but not in a rush sale. I'm just looking at options and was thinking a 301 might suck the juice dry just before a sale.
      This has been said multiple times already, but it doesn't work that way. "Google juice" isn't a container that you can suck dry. You get the benefit for the period the backlinks point to the site, and lose it when the redirect drops. To me that seems like a pointless exercise unless you're keeping that domain at least for several months.
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      Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
      Who told me this? An ex Google web spam engineer.

      What's your excuse?
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      • Profile picture of the author thedan
        Understood, thanks. Why would several months make a difference compared to short term, if the benefit is only for the duration of a working 301?
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        • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
          Originally Posted by thedan View Post

          Understood, thanks. Why would several months make a difference compared to short term, if the benefit is only for the duration of a working 301?
          Having backlinks for just a short while is pointless. Having them for a couple of months is a little less pointless at least. Maybe you're able to pull some leverage from that redirect in that time frame.
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          Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
          Who told me this? An ex Google web spam engineer.

          What's your excuse?
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        • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
          Originally Posted by thedan View Post

          Understood, thanks. Why would several months make a difference compared to short term, if the benefit is only for the duration of a working 301?
          The power of the old domain is in it's aged backlinks, these are gold.

          This assumes the old domain has decent backlinks that have been around for years, if not the domain is worthless: age per se does not equal value.

          Although PageRank is way out of date with a 10 year old domain it will give you a rough guide at the links quality, what is the old domains home page PR? If PR4+ probably a valuable domain (valuable backlinks), if PR2 or less probably not that valuable links wise. Higher the PR more likely it has valuable backlinks.

          The way to move domains is setup up a 301 redirect and over time change the old backlinks to point to the new domain, this can take years if ever. You could find after 5 years of having a 301 redirect and contacting all the places the quality links are from to change where the link goes you still have quality links that point at the old domain. If thi ocurs you have to keep 301 redirecting forever (or Google goes under and links no longer matter :-))

          I've done this and work on a 5 year time scale, add the 301 and wait 5 years to see if there's still links pointing at the old domain, if there are pay for another 5 years.

          David
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          Freelance SEO Consultant
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