How to handle this situation (domain 301 redirect)

by playaz
6 replies
  • SEO
  • |
I have 2 websites; website.net and website.xx (country specific domain and translated version) and I would like to 301 redirect domains like this:

WEBSITE.NET -> WEBSITE.COM
WEBSITE.XX -> XX.WEBSITE.COM (translated version)
I already own the site.com domain and the thing is that this domain is and has been set as "Website Alias" of .net domain, showing same content as on net, just under different domain. It's been set like this for almost 3 years now which is not good I know. In the near future we will also plan to do a redesign of our website and change some url structures and content as well.

So given all this I need to find the perfect strategy to make this transition as smooth as possible without loosing previous SEO work and rankings. How would you do this:
  • Do we need to do anything on the current .com version before moving forward with the process, given how it's set-up atm?
  • Should we do redirects first and redesign with some url rewriting later on or can we do it all-in-one ?
  • How and when would you apply 301's? On each page or wild redirect? Do we copy content first to new domains?
  • IP and DNS will remain the same but the WHOIS is different between site.xx and xx.site.com and can't be matched. I have read that his might be a big problem with 301 domain moving ?
  • Any other known concerns when moving a main domain to a subdomain?

Thank you for your answers!
#301 #domain #handle #redirect #situation
  • Profile picture of the author raviv
    Do we need to do anything on the current .com version before moving forward with the process, given how it's set-up atm?

    Yes, you would be better off implementing the redesign and changes in URL structure on the .com site and then redirect the .net site to the .com site

    Should we do redirects first and redesign with some url rewriting later on or can we do it all-in-one ?

    Do the redesign first and then do the redirects

    How and when would you apply 301's? On each page or wild redirect? Do we copy content first to new domains?

    Assuming you are hosting on a Linux server, you have to modify the .htaccess file. It is best to redirect each individual page on the .net site to the closest corresponding page on the .com site. It is best to have the content all finalized and optimised on the .com site after which you can do the redirects.


    IP and DNS will remain the same but the WHOIS is different between site.xx and xx.site.com and can't be matched. I have read that his might be a big problem with 301 domain moving ?

    Is it because someone else owns the site.xx domain? You have mentioned the site.xx is in another language. Assuming the .com site is in a different language, why would you want to move a different language site to a sub-domain of the .com site unless both the .com site and site.xx are in the same language?

    Any other known concerns when moving a main domain to a subdomain?

    A sub-domain is very much part and parcel of the original .com domain (as in a parent child relationship) and the sub-domain can benefit from the domain authority of a powerful domain. IMHO, it is best to redirect the site.xx to the .com domain itself unless you have strong reasons for retaining it, especially in the context of the site.xx language being different from the .com site language. Not sure
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    • Profile picture of the author playaz
      Yes, you would be better off implementing the redesign and changes in URL structure on the .com site and then redirect the .net site to the .com site
      Are you sure? So far everything I've read on the internet says not to do both but only redirects first.

      Assuming you are hosting on a Linux server, you have to modify the .htaccess file. It is best to redirect each individual page on the .net site to the closest corresponding page on the .com site. It is best to have the content all finalized and optimised on the .com site after which you can do the redirects.
      Site is hosted on ruby and I understand there is no .htaccess for it. Would wild redirect be bad ?

      Is it because someone else owns the site.xx domain? You have mentioned the site.xx is in another language. Assuming the .com site is in a different language, why would you want to move a different language site to a sub-domain of the .com site unless both the .com site and site.xx are in the same language?
      We need to move it due to the laws in .xx country and .xx can't be registered outside of this country. What would be the best way here?
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      • Profile picture of the author raviv
        Originally Posted by playaz View Post

        Are you sure? So far everything I've read on the internet says not to do both but only redirects first.

        As I wrote earlier, it would be best to redirect each page on the .net site individually to the closest matching page on the .com site. As far as search engines are concerned, the URLs once indexed go into the search engine database. If you fix the URLs on the .com site, then redirect the .net site to the .com site URL, the link juice of pages on the .net site accrued over time is passed on to the new pages on the .com site through 301 redirects. Once you have done this, and then you go about changing the URLs on the .com site, the search engines will reindex and update the URLs they had in their database for the .com site. All the link juice that was transferred in the first place would be totally wasted. Hence my suggestion to fix the final structure of URLs on the .com site after which you redirect from .net to .com

        Site is hosted on ruby and I understand there is no .htaccess for it. Would wild redirect be bad ?

        Well, if there is no way to redirect individual pages, then the only option is mass redirect. Once the .net site is 301 redirected at the domain level, the .net site will totally disappear from search engine database and only the .com URLs will remain

        We need to move it due to the laws in .xx country and .xx can't be registered outside of this country. What would be the best way here?
        To play it safe, it is best to invest in a new .com domain to which you can redirect the .xx site. Since you are already redirecting .net to .com, it is best not to have another set of redirects to a sub-domain of the .com site. Hope this helps.
        Cheers
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        • Profile picture of the author raviv
          As I wrote earlier, it would be best to redirect each page on the .net site individually to the closest matching page on the .com site. As far as search engines are concerned, the URLs once indexed go into the search engine database. If you fix the URLs on the .com site, then redirect the .net site to the .com site URL, the link juice of pages on the .net site accrued over time is passed on to the new pages on the .com site through 301 redirects. Once you have done this, and then you go about changing the URLs on the .com site, the search engines will reindex and update the URLs they had in their database for the .com site. All the link juice that was transferred in the first place would be totally wasted. Hence my suggestion to fix the final structure of URLs on the .com site after which you redirect from .net to .com

          Site is hosted on ruby and I understand there is no .htaccess for it. Would wild redirect be bad ?

          Well, if there is no way to redirect individual pages, then the only option is mass redirect. Once the .net site is 301 redirected at the domain level, the .net site will totally disappear from search engine database and only the .com URLs will remain

          We need to move it due to the laws in .xx country and .xx can't be registered outside of this country. What would be the best way here?[/QUOTE]

          To play it safe, it is best to invest in a new .com domain to which you can redirect the .xx site. Since you are already redirecting .net to .com, it is best not to have another set of redirects to a sub-domain of the .com site. Hope this helps.
          Cheers
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          • Profile picture of the author playaz
            So to sum it up, this is what you are suggesting?

            1) Redesign new sites on .com and xx.site.com with content and url changes.
            2) Once new sites are live, immediately do 301's for both .net and .si versions
            3) Leave different whois as it is

            If that's the case, wouldn't it be better to do the 301 first with only new url changes ? And do the design and changing of content, <h> tags, etc. a bit later to avoid further parameters confusing the redirect process. Or do the url changes at originals sites first before migrating over.
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      • Profile picture of the author raviv
        Sorry it looks like my entire reply did not come through. Here it goes

        Originally Posted by playaz View Post

        Are you sure? So far everything I've read on the internet says not to do both but only redirects first.

        As I wrote earlier, it would be best to redirect each page on the .net site individually to the closest matching page on the .com site. As far as search engines are concerned, the URLs once indexed go into the search engine database. If you fix the URLs on the .com site, then redirect the .net site to the .com site URL, the link juice of pages on the .net site accrued over time is passed on to the new pages on the .com site through 301 redirects. Once you have done this, and then you go about changing the URLs on the .com site, the search engines will reindex and update the URLs they had in their database for the .com site. All the link juice that was transferred in the first place would be totally wasted. Hence my suggestion to fix the final structure of URLs on the .com site after which you redirect from .net to .com

        Site is hosted on ruby and I understand there is no .htaccess for it. Would wild redirect be bad ?

        Well, if there is no way to redirect individual pages, then the only option is mass redirect. Once the .net site is 301 redirected at the domain level, the .net site will totally disappear from search engine database and only the .com URLs will remain

        We need to move it due to the laws in .xx country and .xx can't be registered outside of this country. What would be the best way here?
        To play it safe, it is best to invest in a new .com domain to which you can redirect the .xx site. Since you are already redirecting .net to .com, it is best not to have another set of redirects to a sub-domain of the .com site. Hope this helps.
        Cheers
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7961004].message }}

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