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Keep old site running and launching new one

by Abzilla
6 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi there,
I need some help in convincing my business partner.
We've got a very outdated website that is not mobile responsive on our .com domain. It's expensive to run and the main source of traffic is Google Places which is miniscule anyway.

I've built a new website using Shopify which reduces the running costs by 5x or more and is a great looking website. I know what I need to do to get the traffic to it.

But my business partner wants to keep the old site on the .com domain and have this new site listed on our .co.uk domain.

Personally I don't see any benefit in this as I would still need to go through the old website and remove/update a lot of stuff which increases time and also adds the running costs of the old website to the new one. I even think having the old site might damage the potential of the new site.

Can you guys give me some ammo that I can show my partner or if I'm in the wrong please let me know. I'm open minded but want to do this right.

Thank you!!

Edit: forgot to add this is an ecommere website.
#launching #running #site
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  • Profile picture of the author savidge4
    I am going to assume you are in the UK... in THEORY the .co.uk domain should actually give you a a potential boost "locally".

    The issue you may have is duplicate content.. when building out the new site did you change the text or carry it over?

    As long as there are no duplicate content issues.. I would just go with what your partner is asking.. I just dont see it hurting your efforts.

    Originally Posted by Abzilla View Post

    Hi there,
    I need some help in convincing my business partner.
    We've got a very outdated website that is not mobile responsive on our .com domain. It's expensive to run and the main source of traffic is Google Places which is miniscule anyway.

    I've built a new website using Shopify which reduces the running costs by 5x or more and is a great looking website. I know what I need to do to get the traffic to it.

    But my business partner wants to keep the old site on the .com domain and have this new site listed on our .co.uk domain.

    Personally I don't see any benefit in this as I would still need to go through the old website and remove/update a lot of stuff which increases time and also adds the running costs of the old website to the new one. I even think having the old site might damage the potential of the new site.

    Can you guys give me some ammo that I can show my partner or if I'm in the wrong please let me know. I'm open minded but want to do this right.

    Thank you!!

    Edit: forgot to add this is an ecommere website.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    You're right. Running both sites would be stupid. It just sounds like an added expense.

    What the poster said above about duplicate content really is not a concern. That is not duplicate content. Duplicate content is the same content appearing repeatedly on the same domain.

    If your partner doesn't see the benefit of basically doing the same thing you are doing now at one-fifth of the price, it might be time to look for a new partner.
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      What the poster said above about duplicate content really is not a concern. That is not duplicate content. Duplicate content is the same content appearing repeatedly on the same domain.
      Did you not have your coffee this morning? Duplicate content by definition is similar content being shown on multiple locations (URLs) on the web. IE exact match product descriptions on 2 domains.

      Not that any of this will really matter considering the main source of traffic is from google places, and not from actual page listings in the Serps.

      There is a big difference in regards to concern of duplicate content. Duplicate content on the same site simply means you will have pages that will not rank. it is possible to invoke Panda in this instance but only if your site is like really thin. However across multiple domains you have duplicate content in the magnitude of a commerce site, Panda is more likely to knock you down.

      In regards to the partners choice to keep things the way they are and asking the other partner to "Prove it" Kinda sound really.. I will guess they are currently making sales... so you have a better idea prove it else were first as to not disrupt what we have going here.
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

        Did you not have your coffee this morning? Duplicate content by definition is similar content being shown on multiple locations (URLs) on the web. IE exact match product descriptions on 2 domains.

        Not that any of this will really matter considering the main source of traffic is from google places, and not from actual page listings in the Serps.

        There is a big difference in regards to concern of duplicate content. Duplicate content on the same site simply means you will have pages that will not rank. it is possible to invoke Panda in this instance but only if your site is like really thin. However across multiple domains you have duplicate content in the magnitude of a commerce site, Panda is more likely to knock you down.

        In regards to the partners choice to keep things the way they are and asking the other partner to "Prove it" Kinda sound really.. I will guess they are currently making sales... so you have a better idea prove it else were first as to not disrupt what we have going here.

        The same content showing up on multiple websites is not duplicate content in terms of how search engines deal with it. It is syndicated content.

        Duplicate content is the same content showing up on the same site repeatedly, and originally when the term came out it was even more narrow than that. It was talking about content repeating itself on the same page.

        At one time, you could rank pretty well in the majority of search engines by repeating the phrase you wanted to rank for over and over again on the same page. Webmasters took advantage of this.

        You may not have been online long enough to remember this, but at one time a lot of the top ranking pages you would find online had tons and tons of white space at the bottom of the page. Well, it was not white space. If someone wanted to rank for "cheap auto insurance", they repeated that phrase at the bottom of the page 5,000 times, but changed the font to match the background.

        That was where it originated. It has evolved since then, but duplicate content is not the same content appearing across multiple websites. If that was a serious search engine issue than most ecommerce sites, news websites, all song lyric websites, online dictionaries, and a ton of other sites out there would be screwed. By your definition, they are all full of duplicate content.
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        • Profile picture of the author savidge4
          Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

          The same content showing up on multiple websites is not duplicate content in terms of how search engines deal with it. It is syndicated content.
          As much as this is a truth... it is not a absolute. In the same manor that we can talk about Google or any other search engine for that matter, what they are interested in is providing the "Best" content. One of the methods they use is to use the Parent content to include in their search listings. More often than not with syndicated content you will find all the child listings not pulling rank. For the most part this does not trigger Panda as an example. However... there are indicators of true "Syndicated" content such as a link back to the original piece of content or the very least the domain in which it resides.

          In regards to duplicated commerce sites the shear number of pages that are duplicated between parent and sibling site can obviously be enormous.. in as such a clear pattern develops. What is Google or any other search engine to do? they will identify the parent and not list the siblings correct? or in the case of Google.. drop Panda an their tail ends.

          Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

          Duplicate content is the same content showing up on the same site repeatedly, and originally when the term came out it was even more narrow than that. It was talking about content repeating itself on the same page.
          Same content on separate URL's within the same Domain, yes. In todays CMS environment with dynamic page content this is a fact of life. hence the need in 2009 to create "Rel-canonical". just to throw things in a time line real quick.. Rel-con in 2009 and Panda in 2011. A way to correct the issue, and a way to penalize those that are unable or have not corrected the issue.


          Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

          At one time, you could rank pretty well in the majority of search engines by repeating the phrase you wanted to rank for over and over again on the same page. Webmasters took advantage of this.
          Back in the day this was called keyword stuffing.. actually to this day it is called the same thing.. not anywhere near the same as "duplicate content"

          Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

          You may not have been online long enough to remember this, but at one time a lot of the top ranking pages you would find online had tons and tons of white space at the bottom of the page. Well, it was not white space. If someone wanted to rank for "cheap auto insurance", they repeated that phrase at the bottom of the page 5,000 times, but changed the font to match the background.
          I was around.. and someone that was good with this type of thing ( Keyword Stuffing ) would have used Frame alt tags and cell alt tags and all kinds of stuff to not only display the keyword term visually, but disperse it through out the code.

          A bit of history.. it was the Google Florida update in 2003 that brought an end to what I like to loving call the Wild West Era of SEO in which Keyword Stuffing was a primary tactic to ranking.


          Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

          That was where it originated. It has evolved since then, but duplicate content is not the same content appearing across multiple websites. If that was a serious search engine issue than most ecommerce sites, news websites, all song lyric websites, online dictionaries, and a ton of other sites out there would be screwed. By your definition, they are all full of duplicate content.
          So lets look at couple of things shall we lets look up "search engine definition" in google. There are 4 dictionary sites in the top 10 ( east coast USA ) in none of the cases are is the content "duplicate". We all understand duplicate content will not rank as well as the original content.

          News websites.. lets look up ac dc malcolm young.. ( RIP to a great musical influence ) 9 of the 10 listings are news agencies.. no duplicate content to be found. I used this as an example for a pretty simple reason.. look up "Thunderstruck" and amazingly you will find all positions in the Serps on Google being consumed by AC / DC content. I happen to be a fan of the Steve Seagulls version of the song, that prior to a few days ago, I could easily find with the above search.

          I bring this up for a simple reason.. it is a clear example of the ability Google has to manually override Serps.. I didn't look, but I would without question bet that ever song title of AC/DC's looks the same right - and I will go on saying for right now it should look like that. But I will guess as time passes the serps will return to normal order.

          This brings us to Song Lyrics... a example you have left that is truly "Syndicated" content. In the spirit of things lets look up "Thunderstruck Lyrics" all the same for the most part.. some have more content on the page than others.. but.. BUT all the pages have something in common.. they have a link to "Lyricfind" with the provided text "Lyrics licensed and provided by" before the link. TRULY Syndicated content.

          A side note to this.. kinda amusing how it works this way.. but if you look at the above search example "Thunderstruck Lyrics" and find the metrolyrics site listing.. they do not have the lyrics listed instead there is a comment that they are unable to display the lyrics. Wonder how long that listing will remain in the serps?
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  • Profile picture of the author tritrain
    It may be worth selling your domain off. Maybe the entire website, with ecommerce built in. If this is on your mind, I suggest that you not simply shut it down. It's still worth something.

    You may be able to do a 301 or 302 redirect to the new pages or the site on Shopify. At the very least, I'd redirect them over to your new site once it's perfect.
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