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6k+ backlinks, client's about to change URL...

by PBMax
30 replies
  • SEO
    • |
So I have 6K niche-specific, relevant backlinks for my client and I just found out they want to change their domain name/URL.

I suggested that they buy whatever name they want, but forward/redirect it to the one we have now. I hope they do. If not, what are my options? If they up and bail this current domain name, all my efforts are out the window right?

EDIT: So they're changing the name. If they don't redirect the new name to the old, will redirecting the OLD name to the NEW work as well?
#backlinks #change #client #url
  • Profile picture of the author Intrepreneur
    Setup a redirect, it's fine and will recuperate over time.

    The domain expiring won't really matter either as hopefully by that time they will have built up more authority.
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    SEO, copywriting and backlinks service UK
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Aren't they your client?
      Why are they telling you what to do?
      If they don't take your advice, they are no longer a client.
      But then, if they are doing things without you, not much of a client
      to begin with.

      Who cares if your hard work goes out the window on a former client?

      I don't get you people.

      You act as if you have never heard of such a situation...as redirects
      and what they are used for.

      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 PBMax
        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

        Aren't they your client?
        Why are they telling you what to do?
        If they don't take your advice, they are no longer a client.
        But then, if they are doing things without you, not much of a client
        to begin with.

        Who cares if your hard work goes out the window on a former client?

        I don't get you people.

        You act as if you have never heard of such a situation...as redirects
        and what they are used for.

        Paul
        Um...okay? Since they own the company, not sure they need to run a URL change by me.

        Clearly they're a current client, so not sure why you tangent into "former client" territory.

        My question is valid and thanks for not helping answer it?
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  • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
    The way to do it is sitewide 301 redirect from the old domain to new.

    This will cost the site ~15% of it's link benefit, it will have a negative impact on current SERPs.

    They will need to keep ownership of the old domain for as long as any of the 6K backlinks are pointing at it. If your client can change all the links over time they can let it expire, if not it needs to be owned by them for as long as important links are pointing at it.

    Generally speaking this is a bad idea SEO wise because of the 301 redirect dampening factor (the ~15% loss)..

    Has to be a really good reason to make a change like this.

    David
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by SEO-Dave View Post

      The way to do it is sitewide 301 redirect from the old domain to new.
      That's a bad idea especially If OP built links to internal pages that currently rank in Google SERPs. Those ranked pages will be toast, doubtful the Home page redirect will rebound If the Home page was never optimized for the ranked internal page keywords.

      Scale that up to 100s/1,000s of internal pages & you have yourself one pissed off client in panic mode.

      Do a 1 for 1 matching URL 301 redirect to save the ranked page positions in the SERPs. There's no way around it, somebody is doing the manual/tedious work, redirect, verify, redirect, verify...

      If the redirect is done correctly it should be seamless in the SERPs, PR percentages & whatnot mean nothing.

      If you want to do a site-wide redirect only do it as a catchall for failed organic link building or 404 fail page.
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      • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
        Originally Posted by yukon View Post

        That's a terrible idea especially If OP built links to internal pages that currently rank in Google SERPs. Those ranked pages will be toast, doubtful the Home page redirect will rebound If the Home page was never optimized for the ranked internal page keywords.

        Scale that up to 100s/1,000s of internal pages & you have yourself one pissed off client in panic mode.

        Do a 1 for 1 matching URL 301 redirect to save the ranked page positions in the SERPs. There's no way around it, somebody is doing the manual/tedious work, redirect, verify, redirect, verify...

        If the redirect is done correctly it should be seamless in the SERPs, PR percentages & whatnot mean nothing.

        If you want to do a site-wide redirect only do it as a catchall for failed organic link building or 404 fail page.
        Sheesh Yukon, you've indicated multiple times you ain't a clue about SEO, but this is dire, this is basic SEO 101 stuff!!!

        It's piss easy to setup a sitewide 301 redirect that automatically does what you'll spend days manually setting up.

        It's this easy added to the root .htaccess file:

        If the new domain is the www version, this also covers the non-www version as well.

        Code:
        RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.old-domain.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.new-domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^old-domain.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.new-domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

        If the new domain is the non-www version, this also covers the www version as well.

        Code:
        RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^old-domain.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://new-domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.old-domain.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://new-domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]
        You really should stop attacking me Yukon, I know a lot more about SEO than you do, it's getting embarrassing. We've had the nofollow apparently doesn't delete link benefit which all good SEO's know and now you don't even know how to setup a basic sitewide 301 redirect!

        You should make a copy of these two snippets Yukon, can save you hours of time manually setting 301 redirects. I used to do it your way 10 years ago :-)

        Thank you for the laugh, it's what I expect from the average forum poster.

        David
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        • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
          I like how you all think the 6,000 links the OP has managed to create for his "client" are all good links.
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          • Profile picture of the author PBMax
            Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

            I like how you all think the 6,000 links the OP has managed to create for his "client" are all good links.
            They are. All in the same niche. And "client" in quotes? If it was my site, I'd say it was my site. Why lie?

            Bonus question: What do you consider a "good" link?
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            • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
              Originally Posted by PBMax View Post

              They are. All in the same niche. And "client" in quotes? If it was my site, I'd say it was my site. Why lie?

              Bonus question: What do you consider a "good" link?
              If you must know the client was in quotation marks not because I thought you were lying but because I don't think the company hired a SEO if the SEO has to come here and ask a forum how to do SEO for the "client". You will think that is mean but its this kind of thing that is making it harder and harder to convince people SEO is a legit professional business.

              Bonus question? Wheres the bae pay for the SEO training you are getting first then we can talk about bonuses

              and you are underscoring my point by having to ask what a good link is. 6,000 good links you got for the "client"? uh-huh.

              Originally Posted by PBMax View Post

              I didn't use a personal PBN for the links, so I don't have control of them.
              The plot thickens.
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              • Profile picture of the author PBMax
                Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

                If you must know the client was in quotation marks not because I thought you were lying but because I don't think the company hired a SEO if the SEO has to come here and ask a forum how to do SEO for the "client". You will think that is mean but its this kind of thing that is making it harder and harder to convince people SEO is a legit professional business.

                Bonus question? Wheres the bae pay for the SEO training you are getting first then we can talk about bonuses

                and you are underscoring my point by having to ask what a good link is. 6,000 good links you got for the "client"? uh-huh.



                The plot thickens.
                You are incredibly unlikable. This is a forum. A marketing forum. (Say what?) Ergo, people will come to ask questions. You, arrogant as you are, seem to think that WF is something else.

                PBN are great, and apparently where you put all your eggs, but they aren't everything.

                I wouldn't pay you for advice. I wouldn't take yours for free. In fact, a "no you" thread is ideal because you contribute nothing, ever.

                I know what a good link is, my question was do you? And if you think it's just a PBN link, then you don't have a clue.
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                • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
                  Originally Posted by PBMax View Post

                  You are incredibly unlikable.
                  I am literally weeping in my cereal. the very thought that you don't like me is bringing my world to an end

                  This is a forum. A marketing forum. (Say what?) Ergo, people will come to ask questions. You, arrogant as you are, seem to think that WF is something else.
                  Yes Sherlock it is the place to ask questions but people who have to ask BASIC questions SHOULD NOT BE TAKING PEOPLE'S MONEY to come a forum to ask how to do their job. Paul was right. Seriously you don't know how to do a redirect and how it can affect or not affect the search results then you have no business doing SEO for "clients". Learn a business first before you offer it as a business...you think?

                  What a novel thought. Learn first then offer how to do what you have learnt as opposed to take the money first and then rely on the forum to teach you for free how to do what you were hired to do.

                  and YES like it or not I WILL comment on it because people like you JUNK up my profession. You affect every other SEO. You give a bad impression of SEOs and you turn customers off in droves from ever hiring real SEOs. As such it IS my business because the state of the industry affects my bottom line

                  PBN are great, and apparently where you put all your eggs, but they aren't everything.
                  and where did I say they were Sherlock? I said the plot thickens because we could exclude one way you got them and because given you know so pitifully little about SEO but are taking people's money it is HIGHLY dubious that you pulled off a link bait campaign that got the client 6,000 organic links. As further evidence - Had you done that you would have brought killer traffic to the company and they would be hanging on your every word rather than ignoring you about a domain name change

                  I wouldn't pay you for advice. I wouldn't take yours for free. In fact, a "no you" thread is ideal because you contribute nothing, ever.
                  Dude welcome to reality. I turn down people like you all the time that wave cash in my face. They are amazed when it happens but you literally could not be my client in anything unless you snuck in unaware - and cease from the lying. You have been asking questions and getting answers from me before until I called you out on not knowing what you were doing but taking clients

                  You like a lot of people think the forums are here for you to feed off. You give nothing but questions on how to do the job you were paid to do and think answers are owed to you. Get some more thanks and come back. You have no credibility on what or who has offered anything here.

                  as for the one not having a clue....ummm whose the one asking how to do a simple redirect for SEO purposes.????

                  Call your client and give them back the money. Or better yet call your client and let them see this thread with you asking how to do your job and they will demand it back.
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        • Profile picture of the author PBMax
          Originally Posted by SEO-Dave View Post

          Sheesh Yukon, you've indicated multiple times you ain't a clue about SEO, but this is dire, this is basic SEO 101 stuff!!!

          It's piss easy to setup a sitewide 301 redirect that automatically does what you'll spend days manually setting up.

          It's this easy added to the root .htaccess file:

          If the new domain is the www version, this also covers the non-www version as well.

          Code:
          RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.old-domain.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.new-domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^old-domain.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.new-domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

          If the new domain is the non-www version, this also covers the www version as well.

          Code:
          RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^old-domain.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://new-domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.old-domain.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://new-domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]
          You really should stop attacking me Yukon, I know a lot more about SEO than you do, it's getting embarrassing. We've had the nofollow apparently doesn't delete link benefit which all good SEO's know and now you don't even know how to setup a basic sitewide 301 redirect!

          You should make a copy of these two snippets Yukon, can save you hours of time manually setting 301 redirects. I used to do it your way 10 years ago :-)

          Thank you for the laugh, it's what I expect from the average forum poster.

          David
          So those two code snippets need to in the website code? I have ZERO clue about on-page optimization. I'd send those two snippets to the webmaster.
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          • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
            Originally Posted by PBMax View Post

            So those two code snippets need to in the website code? I have ZERO clue about on-page optimization. I'd send those two snippets to the webmaster.
            Your root .htaccess file and only use one of them.

            .htaccess files can be a pain to create on a PC, few programs will let you make a file called

            .htaccess

            I have the code at 301 Redirect Htaccess in pre-made .htaccess files from many years ago.

            If your clients domain is accessed with the www. in the URL use code one, if the URLs lack www. use code two.

            What you do is make a verbatim copy of the old site on the new domain.

            Add whichever www or non-www rules to the very top of the .htaccess file found in root for the old domain (don't add it to the new domain).

            In root means when you log in with FTP where you see the main files which could be under /www/ or /public_html/ you add the .htaccess file. If one is already there, download it and add the code to the top and reupload.

            Any page accessed on the old domain like
            old-domain.com/awesome-post.html

            will automatically 301 redirect to
            new-domain.com/awesome-post.html

            The move from old to new will be seamless, no downtime. 85% of the SEO link benefit will pass this way, there will be SERPs loss unless you are trying to recover a pennalised domain (some have had success clearing penalties this way).

            You can leave the old site in place, with the new .htaccess file rules everything will automatically redirect.

            As I said before, it's not a good idea SEO wise, but that's how you change domain names whilst maintaining most SEO benefit. Plenty of businesses do this change for rebranding reasons, but not a good idea SEO wise. Try to talk your clients out of it unless they have a really good reason for making the change.

            David
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            • Profile picture of the author PBMax
              Originally Posted by SEO-Dave View Post

              As I said before, it's not a good idea SEO wise, but that's how you change domain names whilst maintaining most SEO benefit. Plenty of businesses do this change for rebranding reasons, but not a good idea SEO wise. Try to talk your clients out of it unless they have a really good reason for making the change.

              David
              If they simply redirect the new domain name to the old site, then all's good anyway right?
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        • Profile picture of the author tech84
          Originally Posted by SEO-Dave View Post

          Sheesh Yukon, you've indicated multiple times you ain't a clue about SEO, but this is dire, this is basic SEO 101 stuff!!!

          It's piss easy to setup a sitewide 301 redirect that automatically does what you'll spend days manually setting up.

          It's this easy added to the root .htaccess file:

          If the new domain is the www version, this also covers the non-www version as well.

          Code:
          RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.old-domain.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.new-domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^old-domain.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.new-domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]
          If the new domain is the non-www version, this also covers the www version as well.

          Code:
          RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^old-domain.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://new-domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.old-domain.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://new-domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]
          You really should stop attacking me Yukon, I know a lot more about SEO than you do, it's getting embarrassing. We've had the nofollow apparently doesn't delete link benefit which all good SEO's know and now you don't even know how to setup a basic sitewide 301 redirect!

          You should make a copy of these two snippets Yukon, can save you hours of time manually setting 301 redirects. I used to do it your way 10 years ago :-)

          Thank you for the laugh, it's what I expect from the average forum poster.

          David
          This will only work if the new site will have the same url structure as with the old site. And you'll gonna have to manually (or automate it) copy each and every page from the old site to the new one if you want to keep the rankings.
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          • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
            Originally Posted by tech84 View Post

            This will only work if the new site will have the same url structure as with the old site. And you'll gonna have to manually (or automate it) copy each and every page from the old site to the new one if you want to keep the rankings.
            Well Duh!

            Here's me thinking the content and images etc... would magically appear at the new domain.

            Go read what the OP wants to do. Change domains, not merge two sites together or change URL structure...

            It's like dealing with children here sometimes!

            No, you don't put your fingers in the light socket whilst changing a lightbulb.

            David
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            • Profile picture of the author tech84
              Originally Posted by SEO-Dave View Post

              Well Duh!

              Here's me thinking the content and images etc... would magically appear at the new domain.

              Go read what the OP wants to do. Change domains, not merge two sites together or change URL structure...

              It's like dealing with children here sometimes!

              No, you don't put your fingers in the light socket whilst changing a lightbulb.

              David
              The OP did not mention this, but what if:

              When changing domains its up to the owners on what they are gonna do, what if they want the new domain to have a different setup?

              they want new pages, like the url to go new-domain.com/product/enhancements/penisenlarger when the old domain only has old-domain/penisgobigger?

              or new-domain.com/ownersthoughts/penisneedsenlarging from old-domain/penistoosmallnotgood

              or blog or search pages that ranked. and they use a new search engine for their site?
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              • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
                Originally Posted by tech84 View Post

                The OP did not mention this, but what if:

                When changing domains its up to the owners on what they are gonna do, what if they want the new domain to have a different setup?

                they want new pages, like the url to go new-domain.com/product/enhancements/penisenlarger when the old domain only has old-domain/penisgobigger?

                or new-domain.com/ownersthoughts/penisneedsenlarging from old-domain/penistoosmallnotgood

                or blog or search pages that ranked. and they use a new search engine for their site?
                If there are patterns in the old/new URLs you can setup RewriteCond/RewriteRule sets to 301 redirect batches of URLs.

                For example if you are moving a WordPress site and change the category slug under the permalinks options from the default /category/ to say /store/ you can setup a rewrite condition to 301 them all to the new URLs in one rule.

                Your example sounds like manually changing URLs completely, in these cases I'm afraid it's the hard way of simple 301 redirect rules.

                Earlier this year I moved the content of seo-gold.com (my old SEO services domain) to my Stallion Theme site and the URL structure didn't match and I renamed some article names, deleted some pages etc... The SEO Gold site wasn't particularly big, but still took 50 rewrite rules like these:

                These are real rules in the old sites .htaccess file.

                Code:
                RewriteRule ^does-google-prefer-fresh-content.html http://stallion-theme.co.uk/fresh-content-seo/? [R=301,L]
RewriteRule ^does-google-prefer-fresh-content.html(.*)$ http://stallion-theme.co.uk/fresh-content-seo/ [R=301,L]
                The first line 301 redirects the exact match olddomain.tld/does-google-prefer-fresh-content.html to newdomain.tld/fresh-content-seo/

                The second line expands on this as a catchall for any URL starting olddomain.tld/does-google-prefer-fresh-content.html so these would be covered

                olddomain.tld/does-google-prefer-fresh-content.html?random-here
                olddomain.tld/does-google-prefer-fresh-content.html/comment-page-1/
                olddomain.tld/does-google-prefer-fresh-content.htmlanythinghere
                etc..

                Will redirect to the new URL without ?random-here, /comment-page-1/, anythinghere etc.... at the end.

                David
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        • Profile picture of the author yukon
          Banned
          @ Dave

          You think your getting around all the manual work but your not, well..., OP isn't.

          You failed on 50% of the job.

          You ignored:
          • Every single on-page absolute internal link/URL.
          • Every single image.
          • Every single canonical tag.

          Besides a site with 100s/1,000s of old on-page links would look retarded with old URLs in the HTML source code. Google will be like : WTH is this mess?

          Good luck to the client with such a sloppy job.

          [edit]
          Good luck with ranked pages on a site wide blast of 301s, better nail it on the first try for a domain that gets reindexed hourly/daily (no room for errors). That kind of recklessness is like a bull in a china shop, lol.
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          • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
            Originally Posted by yukon View Post

            @ Dave

            You think your getting around all the manual work but your not, well..., OP isn't.

            You failed on 50% of the job.

            You ignored:
            • Every single on-page absolute internal link/URL.
            • Every single image.
            • Every single canonical tag.

            Besides a site with 100s/1,000s of old on-page links would look retarded with old URLs in the HTML source code.

            Good luck to the client with such a sloppy job.
            ROFLOL, keep trying Yukon, you'll get me eventually :-)

            Without knowing the platform for the site we have no idea about any of this.

            WordPress for example won't have absolute internal links unless added manually, simple SQL search and replace fixes them all in about 5 seconds. A worst case scenario would be running several SQL queries to replace old-domain.com with new-domain.com on a few WordPress MySQL tables (used the technique dozens of times when moving sites and content around).

            If a static HTML websites again a simple HTML editor (or a text editor like Notepad++) with a search and replace feature can fix it in one search and replace. You just find old-domain.com and replace with new-domain.com, it's one search and replace, easy.

            How are these difficult tasks? It's a 5 minute job for anyone competent in SEO, anyone competent in SEO should know basic HTML, CSS, JS, PHP, SQL.

            What would you do Yukon, manually edit the HTML files or WordPress posts one by one? That's how I'd have done it over 10 years ago :-)

            If you'd like a WordPress SQL search and replace query for this sort of stuff, just ask.

            Since the 301 rules set I posted redirect everything, even internal links pointing to the old domain will redirect to the new domain, so it's not an issue per se if the internal absolute URLs aren't changed.

            So it's not failed on 50% of the job, these can be sorted in seconds when you have the SEO skills to understand the issue and fix them with simple techniques those who have been working as SEO's for more than 5 minutes should have under their belt.

            Are you feeling more embarrassed by your lack of skills yet Yukon :-)

            So I'm better at SEO, better at HTML, better at PHP, better at SQL, probably better looking as well :-)

            David
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            • Profile picture of the author paulgl
              Most of this thread is the blind leading the blind.

              OP says he has a client, new domain, NOT new url, although
              obviously all urls will change, then asks what to do.

              I pity the clients that so many of you have.

              Anyone just puts up a shingle and comes to the WF.

              Now let's actually take a gander at the original question:

              I suggested that they buy whatever name they want, but forward/redirect it to the one we have now. I hope they do. If not, what are my options? If they up and bail this current domain name, all my efforts are out the window right?
              Silly questions for anyone with real clients. Perhaps I should have just cut to the chase in
              the first place.

              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 SEO-Dave
                Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

                Most of this thread is the blind leading the blind.

                OP says he has a client, new domain, NOT new url, although
                obviously all urls will change, then asks what to do.

                I pity the clients that so many of you have.

                Anyone just puts up a shingle and comes to the WF.

                Now let's actually take a gander at the original question:



                Silly questions for anyone with real clients. Perhaps I should have just cut to the chase in
                the first place.

                Paul
                Did you miss this bit from the OP:

                EDIT: So they're changing the name. If they don't redirect the new name to the old, will redirecting the OLD name to the NEW work as well?
                That's changing the domain name that's a new URL for the old site.

                The site is on old-domain.com the client wants the site on new-domain.com.

                This is not rocket science, this is probably a client looking to rebrand a site and part of the rebranding is changing domain names.

                Hmm, OP we are talking here about your client changing their domain name right?

                Not your client has two domains and they wanted domain-one.com ranking and you've built 6K backlinks.

                Now they want domain-two.com ranking and you want a way to pass the links you built to domain-one.com to domain-two.com, but domain-one.com will still exist as a separate site?

                If so that's not possible unless you have control over the 6K backlinks and go change the URLs linked to from the 6K links.

                David
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                • Profile picture of the author PBMax
                  Originally Posted by SEO-Dave View Post

                  Did you miss this bit from the OP:



                  That's changing the domain name that's a new URL for the old site.

                  The site is on old-domain.com the client wants the site on new-domain.com.

                  This is not rocket science, this is probably a client looking to rebrand a site and part of the rebranding is changing domain names.

                  Hmm, OP we are talking here about your client changing their domain name right?

                  Not your client has two domains and they wanted domain-one.com ranking and you've built 6K backlinks.

                  Now they want domain-two.com ranking and you want a way to pass the links you built to domain-one.com to domain-two.com, but domain-one.com will still exist as a separate site?

                  If so that's not possible unless you have control over the 6K backlinks and go change the URLs linked to from the 6K links.

                  David
                  Client is changing URL/domain name (aren't these the same thing?) from A to B. Problem is the 6k backlinks point to A (and pages of A.)

                  I didn't use a personal PBN for the links, so I don't have control of them.
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                  • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
                    Originally Posted by PBMax View Post

                    Client is changing URL/domain name (aren't these the same thing?) from A to B. Problem is the 6k backlinks point to A (and pages of A.)

                    I didn't use a personal PBN for the links, so I don't have control of them.
                    Yes they are the same thing, my earlier advice is the solution.

                    David
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          • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
            Originally Posted by yukon View Post

            Good luck with ranked pages on a site wide blast of 301s, better nail it on the first try for a domain that gets reindexed hourly/daily (no room for errors). That kind of recklessness is like a bull in a china shop, lol.
            Dude seriously I call em like I see them. You are acting like a nit. A site wide 301 has its place as long as the URL structure remains the same. I've had my disagreements with SEO Dave but it is what it is. Every now and again (once outside the subject of Siloing) you do get schooled on SEO and sorry Dave just schooled you.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
    BTW updating the links to a new URL will also have a negative SEO cost, because they will be treated as new backlinks, not aged ones, so pretty much everything about it is bad SEO wise. This could put a site back a years worth of development time SEO wise.

    David
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    OP, consider it job security.

    Good luck with all the manual in content on-page internal link redirects.

    Add Screaming Frog to the budget, you'll need it to catch the 404s.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    Yeah, like Yukon said, you need to do a 301 redirect of each of the old pages to the corresponding new page individually.

    Hopefully, it is not a very big site.
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  • Profile picture of the author promo87
    Banned
    Originally Posted by PBMax View Post

    So I have 6K niche-specific, relevant backlinks for my client and I just found out they want to change their domain name/URL.

    I suggested that they buy whatever name they want, but forward/redirect it to the one we have now. I hope they do. If not, what are my options? If they up and bail this current domain name, all my efforts are out the window right?

    EDIT: So they're changing the name. If they don't redirect the new name to the old, will redirecting the OLD name to the NEW work as well?
    Well, I would say there's just no problem to make changes over the link if you have put it at the proper place like signatures because changing a signature at one place will reflect in all other places. But if you said that you can't change them then I would say those backlinks are just a piece of crap and I can bet on the most of the 80% the link would be spam one and eventually it will results in penalty ! I would say better to stop changing those link and start working by giving things a fresh start instead of fixing the old one out !
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  • Profile picture of the author PBMax
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  • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
    Love you guys.

    Regardless of the solutions to maintaining link juice, traffic or rankings when a client is changing domains ,or expanding as i see it, isn't this the best opportunity to solidify their relationship with you and reward you for your insights and concerns for their best interests.

    Sounds like a great opportunity to utilise the best of what you've created and add to that to improve the client's results in the future.
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