Effective Moving Content to a New Domain Tutorials
A buddy of mine asked what else he should you look after when moving content to a new domain or blog beyond using an indispensable 301 redirect.
As long as you use a 301 you are already pretty safe when it comes to SEO fundamentals.
Yet there are some other things you can do to ensure compliance with Google. I won’t repeat them here. I’ll link to those who do.
Why Use a Redirect?
For those who are new to SEO: when you don’t use a so called 301 permanent redirect to tell Google you moved you hurt your site’s traffic significantly.
It’s like changing your real life address and telling nobody where you’re at from now on.
Nobody will find you. It’s a bit technical as you have to add code to your so called .htaccess file. Server side programming languages like PHP also allow you to redirect.
Yet for most of use nowadays a WordPress plugin can help you add a 301 redirect. When you don’t use WordPress ask an SEO to do it for you.
Google-friendly Moving
There are several excellent effective how to’s, tutorials or manuals out there to tell Google and users your whereabouts.
They all differ a little so I decided to compile a list of 7 effective “moving content to a new domain” Manuals.
Most of them are from highly trustworthy SEO professionals, one is from Google itself:
- Expectations and Best Practices for Moving to or Launching a New Domain
- Website migration guide: building an SEO checklist for moving your site
- How to Move a Domain without Losing Its SEO Value
- How to Move Your Web Site without Chaos
- Best practices when moving your site
- How to: Move a Website… Should You Fear 301 Redirects Hurting Your Rankings?
Don’t Move for No Reason
On a side note: There is an old saying for programmers: never touch a running system. This means:
When it works don’t change it. Likewise: When you rank high in Google, don’t move. New domains are bad for SEO.
Only move your website or content if you have no other option.
Also don’t mix moving your content to a new domain up with changing hosting. Changing your server has been explained by Matt Cutts of Google himself.
I started my blog using a blog template site and now i think i should move it so i have more control of how my site is optimised. Hopefully i wont now forget to 301 it too ;)
[…] 7 Effective Moving Content to a New Domain Manuals (tags: server hosting content moving) […]
Just moved it, glad i popped back here, it reminded me.
The mention of new domains being bad for SEO probably explains why so many start and then give up on building VRE “empires.” Takes awhile for things to catch on when you’re snapping up new domains all the time, instead of buying established ones.
I have many clients that want to move their site to new domains, the key is to manage there expectations and to advise them not to change their domain, otherwise it has to be 301 re-directs all the way.
Really a very useful article i had been looking for such an information from ages thanks for sharing.