10 replies to this topic

[copywriter]

Hi,

I've recently changed the name of my company. I've changed the URL, too. My designer is doing the SEO design right now. I plan to use pretty much the same copy on the new site.

Question.... I have decent rankings now and want to preserve them. I'd thought about moving the content to the new URL (once it's ready) and then using the old domain to just point people to the new one. Would it be better to do a redirect on the URL or to just have a notice for them to "click here" for the new site? (Or some other way?)

I know it will take awhile for the new site to get spidered, ranked, etc., but I don't want to lose traffic or rankings during the process.

Thanks!
Karon

[Scottie]

Karon-

I think you'll just want to set up a permanent 301 redirect to the new domain.

Jill just had an article on how to do this... How to Redirect Domains

[copywriter]

Hmmm... seems over my head However, my designer will probably understand it.

Thanks, Scottie!

[copywriter]

PS - Will this mean that my current site at ktamarketing.com will remain "as-is?" I want to take it down after the first of the year and just use the new marketingwords.com domain.

If I do the permenant redirect, will I need to keep the ktamarketing domain name and hosting?

[Scottie]

You'll keep the domain name, but not the hosting.

Once you do a permanent redirect, no one will see the content on ktamarketing.com anymore- they will be sent to marketingwords.com instead.

[copywriter]

Oh... OK, cool.

[Jill]

That way if someone types in ktamarketing.com they'll simply get to marketingwords.com, automatically and seamlessly.

[Haystack]

Hi Karon,
You should also consider contacting the sites who link to your current domain and ask them to make the switch. You don't want to give up that link popularity.

[copywriter]

Yeah, I'd thought about that, too. That will be a chore! Maybe that's something for my VA to do

Does it still need to be done if I do the permenant redirect?

[Jill]

With the permanent redirect, if you miss some, they'll still resolve correctly.

But with many hosts, in order to set up a permanent redirect you will still need to have the domain "hosted" not parked. This may or may not cost something. Most hosts allow parked domains for free, but you can't 301 redirect them, I don't think.

On my host, I can have unlimited domains, so it doesn't cost anything to do stuff like that. Just make sure you check with your host. If you need help setting up your .htaccess file, just let me know and I can help. It's really easy!

Jill

[copywriter]

Thanks! I'll ask my host about that and see what they say. And thanks for the offer, too.