301 or 302 for one of our domains
-
We have one of our sites that we got rid of and incorporated into our "main" site. We left a 302 redirect from the old sites URL to a landing page on the new site. It act as a branded stub page before registration.
We are currently using a 302 to redirect from www.oldsite.com -> www.newbigsite.com/old-site
Should I change this to a 301? I loose my google SERP ranking for www.oldsite.com if I do the 301 and it will be replaced by www.newbigsite.com/old-site correct?
Thanks
-
No problem George, glad I could help : )
-
Thanks, that is exactly what I thought. It had been a 302 for a while and I just came across it. Nobody knew exactly why they had it as a 302.
-
Hi George.
A 302 redirect is a temporary redirect that's usually used for redirections on the same domain, a 301 redirect is a permanent redirect that tells search engines the content has permanently moved to a new location.
In this case, it sounds like your change is permanent and on a different domain, so you should really use a 301 redirect.
An added benefit of this is that it will pass most of the power gained (from links, etc) over to the new domain, which will help your overall domain authority.
And yes, if you switch to a 301 the SERP will show your new site, rather than the old one (once the 301 has been picked up).
If you'd like to read more there's a good post on Matt Cutts' blog discussing 301 vs. 302 here:
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-advice-discussing-302-redirects/
Hope that helps!
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
-
Passing "link juice" from old domain to new domain
I am purchasing several websites from the company I work for and starting my own company. 1.The websites have not been updated in several years
Branding | | RoxBrock
2. The websites have poor SEO rankings
3. Though bad inbound links have been removed, there may still be some added by a black-hat SEO company I would like to start a new website and move all the content to that site. My questions are: 1. Will it hurt my new website rankings if I redirect the old site content to my new site and delete the old sites--due to possible bad inbound links, losing rank due to redirects (I have lost rank from redirecting in the past)? 2. If related, isn't it better to put all the content on one website? Thank you.0 -
Two Domains, which one should be used on Social Media platforms?
I have a client who changed from a Branded Domain (301 redirected this domain) to a Partial Match Domain, using the city in the domain for rich keyword. I take care of their Social Media platforms (i.e., Facebook, Google+, Twitter, etc.). These social networks used the Branded Domain (with the company name in the domain) for years, now the new web designer is asking that we change Username and Domain to the new Partial Match Domain, which is very "generic" not mentioning the company name. I am reluctant to change for branding mention purposes. Does anyone have any advice?
Branding | | Artistic0 -
Linking new domain to existing domain or....
We have a client's domain that has been live for 8 years. truthbook.com. With the new changes to Google, no matter what we do, we cannot get the words Urantia Book to connect with the website and lift it's search engine returns to the first page where it was for the past 4 years.. It is clear, that no matter what Google may say, the most important factor is having the actual words urantiabook in the domain is imperative. We know it was that way before Google changes (they were always on the first page) but now the client cannot get back on the front page. The mission and theme of the site is Jesus in The Urantia Book. So it is not a stretch to acquire urantiabookandjesus.com and forward it to truthbook.com The question is, "will they get any bang for the change? If they considered changing the actual main domain to urantiabookandjesus.com or .org and forward truthbook.com to it, will they be hurt by that strategy? " Thanks, Jim
Branding | | jimmyzig0 -
Separate experience on the same domain?
So my company is interested in creating a scholarship for medical students as a way to create more brand awareness and earn some quality links from universities and colleges. The problem is, we are a little stuck on where to place the scholarship within the structure of our site. First of all, our idea is to make the scholarship application process interactive and social. Candidates will create a short video where they answer one of the scholarship questions. Those videos will be displayed in a Reddit-style feed (sort of like Inbound.org) allowing people to vote for the ones they like. Videos with more links will rise to the top. The popularity of the videos will factor into the decision of whom to award the scholarship, but it will not be the sole determining factor. To do this properly, the scholarship should be its own experience independent from our main site. There will be several pages (profile, application, about the scholarship, the Reddit-style feed, etc.) so it wouldn’t really fit within our existing site. BUT if we put the scholarship on a subdomain we miss out on the link juice. Could we keep the scholarship pages under the main domain (mainsite.com/scholarship), but have it be its own experience with its own navigation? Will that look bad in the eyes of the search engines? We’d essentially have two sites on the same domain. Any help would be much appreciated.
Branding | | ba_seomoz0 -
Hotel website domain
I work on a project for a hotel website and look up domain names right now. But I am now not sure wether I should go for a branding of the hotel name in the domain name (e.g. "bellavistahotel.com") or pick the location ("berlinhotel.com") or a mix (e.g. "bellavistaberlin.com). What would be your recommendation? The content (text, photos, videos) I have is a lot about the location and the hotel itself. I want to connect the Hotel page afterwards with Knowem to hundreds of social networks. My tendency is to go for a branding. Is that a good idea? Thanks for the help.
Branding | | reisefm0 -
How do can I compete with 60-80 Domain Authority?
As the title says, how can I compete with competitors that have a domain authority of 60-80? (Only around 2-3 major competitors) However I would like to compete with them. Is anyone else in this situation? What did you do? I've read a lot about building backlinks etc etc but surely theres more to it. I've got to rank 1500+ subcategories for my niche and it's nearly impossible to do so. Thanks to all who reply!
Branding | | Superinks0 -
Branding exact match keyword domain
We have a keyword domain name that we'd like to show up in Google stores or brand suggestion. We used this exact keyword domain name for years to sell our products but now want to take it one step further and have the domain name show up in Google suggested brands or stores. We just filed for a TradeMark in the URL (they have about 57,000 domain names with active trademarks in their database). How do we get Google to recognize this domain name as either a brand or a store? Has anybody seen an example of a store or brand with a .com or .net in Google brands or Google stores? It may be that don't even allow URLs to show. Thanks
Branding | | mozworks0 -
One big site or lots of little sites? Which is better for SEO and my business in general?
I realize there are some aspects of what I'm asking that only I can answer. With that said, I'm looking for some discussion about the pros / cons of each, and what are the most important factors that will push me one way or another. Let's say I have a company that has three products. One big brand, three little brands. Each of the little brands is focused on a particular sub-niche, all of which are in the general health & wellness niche. Either, I could create a large site for the big brand, with subsections for each product, and work hard on turning that domain into a goto site, with lots of articles, etc. The domain name for this one would be a made up word so I can fully control the search results. Or, another strategy would be to create smaller, "sniper" sites for each product, maybe even sites for each major search term that is interested in that product. These sites would have fewer articles. Descriptive, exact match domain names. Which is the best strategy? #1, #2, or a mixture of both? #1 seems legitimate, #2 seems a bit spammy. What are the pros and cons to each? Can anyone speak from experience about both these practices?
Branding | | monetize-2660060