Migration to a new domain
-
Hi everyone,
So i have one project where I'm planning to move current content on new domain, two reasons:
1. It seems current domain has some google penalty (backlink related, not manual)
2. Client wants rebranding and already has domain with new brand name.
So as content is high quality and there is no content related penalty from google, what would be the best way to migrate existing content without passing any penalty AND without Google treating it as duplicate content. If i do 301 i suspect any penalty there is might follow, if i just copy existing content it won't be original content, what is the best solution here?
Thanks
-
Lil help here..
-
Hi, yes it's definitely penalty, website doesn't even rank first on domain name. About traffic it's already down to 1/3 of what it was so i don't think it would be a problem.
Sorry but i still don't get your answer fully: move how exactly? with redirects, just deindex on old domain and then move & index on new one or what? This is my main question here..
-
Let's understand your case
- It seems the current domain has some google penalty - Are you sure about it? Are you sure that is not a case of a backlink devaluation or site devaluation? or even an algorithm update? this point is very important because the steps to follow are completely different. So the first thing that you need to do is make an in deep research of your backlink profile and I'm not talking about a simple audit quick and bullshit audit. I'm talking to research your backlinks and the backlinks pointing to your backlinks ( Using every tool that you have available in my case I use Moz, Aherfs Majestic and Search Console)
- The client wants to rebrand and already has a domain with a new brand name. You need to make it clear to the client all the risks involved, the first one and most important is time involved to recover the traffic. You will see a lot of articles out there about it of how to do it in the right way. But most of them are complete bulls...t. At the end of the day is just a simple database (a huge database of course). So you need to keep in mind when you migrate a website from the Google perspective is a new thread on its database so at the beginning you will notice a low level of indexations (that is a completely normal process no matter what you saw or read on any post or article) and of course a low-level traffic
The best way to deal with the new domain is this one at least base on my experience,
- Make it gradually that means to divide the content into small pieces and start to move it.
- Build some new backlinks (even before the migration) to this new domain and also backlinks to your backlinks
- Also, add new content or update the old one
- Invest I on social signal to the new domain / new content
Hope these comments help you with your project
Regards
-
P.S. I thought deindexing current domain and then publishing content to new domain, but if parts of content was shared on different social media or just copied by someone, wouldn't it become the original after deindexing current domain?
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Can a move to a new domain (with 301's) shake off a google algorithm penalty
we have done everything under the sun using the holy grail of google guidelines to get our site back onto page 1 for our domain. we have recovered (penguin and panda) algorithm filters for keywords that were page 1 going to page 7 and now page 2. its been 2 years and we cant hit page 1 again. this is our final phase we cna think of.. do you thin kit will work if we move to a new domain. and how much traffic/rankings can we expect to lose in the short-term?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Direct_Ram0 -
Single domain or a subfolder?
One of my clients is wondering whether they should move they stand alone business website to a subfolder of their brand website. For example, from http://www.johnlewisforbusiness.com to http://www.johnlewis.com/business. Do you guys think it's a good idea from SEO point of view? Can you recommend any articles on this? What is the expected loss of current value by changing domain and migrating URLs?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Adido-1053990 -
A new website issue
Hello everybody,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mtmaster
I have started a new website 22 days ago at the beginning of this month and i have long articles. I think this should make the site appear in search results for long tail keywords even if they are not very relevant but as you can see in the attached image from my webmaster tools the impression count has suddenly increased to 100 then significantly decreased again. Even when i cancel "filter" option. Is this normal for a 3 weeks old website? or there is something i have to check? thanks. cLMa04l.jpg0 -
Is my domain scorched earth from Penguin?
http://pisoftware.com was never a huge leader of traffic, but it ranked top 5 for my money keyphrases, and was bringing consistent quality visitors. As traction went up, that traffic just became more valuable. I was happy. Then Penguin came along, and made me sad. 60% loss in traffic, I stayed calm. I disavowed. I sent emails asking for links to come down. I atoned for my sins (of the distant, distant past - I know better now) - and waited. Never a hard penalty, never an email from Google - just rankings that got hammered. From #3 for my best keyphrase for #25 today. I write content, and I try and write it better all the time. I try to make it valuable. I leverage social media to the extent that I can. I do outreach. I'm trying to be patient, but it's hard when the software is awesome, and so few people see it. I'm considering starting over - or maybe even just creating another domain to use if this one never comes back. I wonder on the thoughts of experts. At MozCon I talked to a lot of people in the same boat, and it seems we are all taking similar steps. So the questions: 1. Should I start over? Or stay the course? 2. What has worked for others - what seems to have been the most valuable in getting back on the rise? 3. Thoughts on the site as it is now? I've worked lately on speed, mobile rendering, etc - and it seems responsive and solid to me. Thanks in advance, you crazy bunch of Mozzers you. Kelly
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Kellster0 -
Is it safe to 301 redirect old domain to new domain after a manual unnatural links penalty?
I have recently taken on a client that has been manually penalised for spammy link building by two previous SEOs. Having just read this excellent discussion, http://www.seomoz.org/blog/lifting-a-manual-penalty-given-by-google-personal-experience I am weighing up the odds of whether it's better to cut losses and recommend moving domains. I had thought under these circumstances it was important not to 301 the old domain to the new domain but the author (Lewis Sellers) comments on 3/4/13 that he is aware of forwards having been implemented without transferring the penalty to the new domain. http://www.seomoz.org/blog/lifting-a-manual-penalty-given-by-google-personal-experience#jtc216689 Is it safe to 301? What's the latest thinking?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Ewan.Kennedy0 -
Interesting site migration question.
Hi all. I'm looking for some thoughts on a migrations option we have. At the moment we have two E-Com sites ranking well for some of the same terms. An older site, and a nice new site. The older site is ranking very well for category and product terms, the new one is slowly coming up. Ideally we would like to have one site, the nice new one, and get rid of the old one. If I 301 the old site url's to the new sites will that bring the new site url's into the same position as the old ones? I'm just not sure how this effects sites that are already ranking well. Any ideas are welcomed but I'm really looking for a definitive answer. It's a big decision after all.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PASSLtd0 -
New folder structure
We are in the process of relaunching one of our website's that will use a totally need folder structure. Previously we used mydomain.com/content/country/region/city/district/hotel_name/ Now we are changing to make the URL shorter, more precise - since we are using a new CMS, to be mydomain.com/gb_Hotel-Name/ My question is currently we've in the region of 10,000 pages indexed in Google. So we are going to have to create 301 permanent redirects from the old URLs to the new URLs. From your previous experience, is this the correct way of approaching the task.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | NeilTompkins0 -
Changing domain extension to detoxify a domain
Hi there, A linkbuilding company that has been building links for us has not gained any sustained results. They have advised that our domain may be toxic, and that we should consider permanent redirecting from .co.uk to another domain extension in order to remedy this. Is this a recommendation worth considering?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Maximise0