New web site - 404 and 301
-
Hello,
I have spent a lot of times on the forum trying to make sure how to deal with my client situation. I will tell you my understanding of the strategy to apply and I would appreciate if you could tell me if the strategy will be okay.
CONTEXT
I am working on a project where our client wants to replace its current web site with a new one. The current web site has at least 100 000 pages. The new web site will replace all the existing pages of the current site.
What I have heard for the strategy the client wants to adopt is to 404 each pages and to 301 redirect each page. Every page would be redirect to a page that make sense in the new web site.
But after reading other answers and reading the following comment, I am starting to be concerned:
'(4) Be careful with a massive number of 301s. I would not 301 100s of pages at once. There's some evidence Google may view this as aggressive PR sculpting and devalue those 301s. In that case, I'd 301 selectively (based on page authority and back-links) and 404 the rest.'
I have also read about performance issue ...
QUESTION
So, if we suppose that we can manage to map each of the old site pages to a page in the new web site, is a problem to do it? Do you see a performance issue or devaluation potential issue?
If it is a problem, please comment the strategy I might considere to suggest:
-
Identify the pages for which I gain links
-
From that group, identify the pages, that gives me most of my juice
-
301 redirect them and for the other, create a real great 404 ...
Thanks !
Nancy
-
-
yes. many have the belief that you are transfereing the value of the page, that not the case, you are redirected requests for that page. A user may reqest yiour page and be redirected to anouther, a search engine may request the page to assign link juice to it, and it will be redirected.
a good analogy is, if you and tom have a store, and tom puts a sign on his door, closed go to Nancy's store, you will get most of his customers, but you will not get the value of his stock.
OK you may have some customers that have your link bookmarked and for that reason you could 301 it, but I doubt that is a good enouth reason to 301 so many pages.
-
Thanks Alan for thIe answer. But maybe I was not clear but I don't believe the strattegy to all point to the same page. They will make their best to point each new page to a page matching the same content.
So in your mind, there is no purpose doing a 301 redirect to pages that have no inbound link, is that correct?
Thanks again !
-
i think you have understaood quite well.
Many people seem to think you 301 redirect the page and any worth it has, this is not the case, a 301 redirecet redirects the request to the page, so in short if the page has no in comming link juice then it does not need to be 301 redirected.
You are correct, do not 301 redirecet in mass to one page, Bing for one has said they will disssmiss them. You shouyld 301 on a one to one or close to it basis.
As for performace issue, it is true that you create a second request when a 301 is encaountered, but this should not be much of a issue.
As for your 404 page, make sure it actualy returns a 404.
Expect a drop in rankings as 301 redirectes leak link juice, This is often offset by better bullt new website. There will be a major short term drop also that will last a few weeks.
Good luck
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
-
301 Old domain with HTTPS to new domain with HTTPS
I am a bit boggled about https to https we redirected olddomain.com to https://www.newdomain.com, but redirecting https://www.olddomain.com or non-www is not possible. because the certificate does not exist on a level where you are redirecting. only if I setup a new host and add a htaccess file will this work. What should I do? just redirect the rest and hope for the best?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | waqid0 -
Linking to one of my own sites, from my site
Hi experts, I own a site for castingjobs (Site1) and a site for selling paintings (Site2). In a long time, I've had a link at the bottom of Site1, linking to Site 2. (Basicaly: Partnerlink: Link site 2). Site1 is for me the the only important site, since it's where Im making my monthly revenue. I added the link like 5 years ago or so, to try to boost site 2. My question is:
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | KasperGJ
1. Is it somehow bad for SEO for site 1, since the two sites have nothing to do with each other, they are basically just owned by me.
2. Would it make sense to link from Site 2 to Site 1 indstead?0 -
New Domain VS New Page Backlink?
Assuming you've already got a link from:
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Sam.at.Moz
sitea.com/page1 (Moz domain rank 55, Moz page rank 30) You have two choices for another link: 1. Another link on the same domain but a new page:
sitea.com/page2 (Moz domain rank 55, Moz page rank 30) 2. A link on a new domain but with a lesser domain & page rank
siteb.com/page1 (Moz domain rank 30, Moz page rank 20) Assuming you have no other links to your site - both sites are relevant to your industry, both 5 years old, both have the same number of visitors/external links/ads and the content and anchor text remains the same. Which will have a bigger impact on SERP movements? Sam0 -
Does Google make continued attempts to crawl an old page one it has followed a 301 to the new page?
I am curious about this for a couple of reasons. We have all dealt with a site who switched platforms and didn't plan properly and now have 1,000's of crawl errors. Many of the developers I have talked to have stated very clearly that the HTacccess file should not be used for 1,000's of singe redirects. I figured If I only needed them in their temporarily it wouldn't be an issue. I am curious if once Google follows a 301 from an old page to a new page, will they stop crawling the old page?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RossFruin0 -
301 redirect
Hi there, I have some good links pointing to one of my web pages at the moment, however we are just about to launch a new design with new URL structure and I am clear that I need to do a 301 redirect on the URL to the new URL. However, do I keep the old URL live forever? or can I remove it after a while? Kind Regards
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Paul780 -
URGENT - How to Present New Site Architecture to Development team for implementation
Guys I am not technically savvy. I just want to know how to present the website architecture I want to be implemented on my website... how do I present my suggestions to the development team. For example.... Should I say. Page Level 1 - HOME Page (URL) Page Level 2 - About Us Page Page Level 2 - Feedback Page Page Level 2 - Our Services Page Level 2 - Contact Us Page Page Level 2 - Accounting jobs Page Level 3 - Audting jobs Page level 3 - Junior accouting jobs Page Level 2 - Engineering jobs Page level 3 - architecture jobs Page level 3 - Motor engineering jobs Page Level 2 - IT Jobs Page level 3 - Hardware Jobs Page level 4 - Job Post 1 Page level 4 - Job Post 2 Page level 4 - Job Post 3 Please guide me my fellow MOZZERS.... I really need an answer/guidance at the very earliest. Iwill be truly obliged Regards, Talha
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MTalhaImtiaz0 -
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 -
Should we move to a new domain??
Working with a company that is considering moving to a new domain and wanted some advice.They have 2 domains (they own both) and one is a shorter version of the other. The current domain is over 10 years old and has a domain authority score of 80. It is 9 characters long. The new domain (which they also own) has a DA score of 43 and is only 3 characters long. The debate is as much about branding as anything but there is a concern on how it will affect search. I was hoping for so advice and any pitfalls others may have experienced. Thanks!!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | 2comarketing0