Enter the 301 Redirect WAR now! Get THANKED for giving a valuable answer!!
- SEO |
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at the very top to the new site, telling people this site is no
longer updated and is now at sierrainstruments.com, complete with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
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
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- You Can't Improve What You Don't Measure
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