Don't Let Your New Domain Hurt Your SEO

Jan 15, 2008 - 9:31 am 4 — by

Some webmasters don't understand the value of SEO. How many times have you gone to a website and seen a notification saying "This website address has changed. Please update your bookmarks." Why not implement a 301 redirect instead?

The issue is that you should implement a 301 redirect. Otherwise, if both sites rank (as in this case), your redirected site might outrank the site with all the content. In this particular user's case, an .edu site is outranking a .com. Chances are, the .com was also below the fold and the .edu wasn't. You certainly don't want to do it that way.

When you create a new site, 301 redirect the old site. Don't assume that users care to change their bookmarks. It's not good for search engines, and a lot of users don't rely on the "please change your bookmarks" request because they trust that the redirected page will be there all the time. Just eliminate the guesswork and go with the 301.

Forum discussion continues at High Rankings Forum.

 

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