Merge two different domains into one
-
Hi all SEO folks
We want to merge two different domains into one. The products are similar to each other but domain1 is the online product and domain2 is the offline version of the product (new launced product). Both the domains have the domain Authority 47 but domain1 is optimized to the online product and most keywords (branded keywords) are in top 3 , where as the domain2 has been used for another concept which has now been closed down (beginning of may), and replaced with the offline product. To boost the sale of the offline product, we want to move the content from domain1(online product) to domain2(offline product), and off course we want to keep the ranking in top 3.
So this is what I know I have to do: Redirect 301 from old content url to new content url, contact external domains and ask them to link to the new domain. Furthermore I read that it is important to place everything from the old site exactly the same way on the new site (and keep the content the same), and that way keep the internal url structure/linkjuice.
This is were my question comes in. If we move all the content to the exactly same location on the new site, there will be way to many links on the frontpage and the new offline product won't have the dominating position.
Do any of you have experience with moving the content from one domain1.com to domain2.com/online and still be able to keep the ranking in SERP, or would you recommend always to move the content from root to root?Ps: Sorry about my English. English is not my main language. Hope you understand my question anyway :).
-
Hi Lynn
Thank you so much for your answer :). The reason for the moving domain1 to domain2 is because of a new business plan (what we earn money on and what signals we want so send). Knowing the risks, I can better guide my employer to what options we have and what the outcome might be.
So your answer helped a lot - thank you :).
Maja
-
Hi Maja,
Any domain switch has some uncertainty involved in it in regards rankings and possible negative effects. Adding a new url structure will add more complexity to that mix and potentially make it more difficult to troubleshoot problems. That being said, if most of your branded search is coming into domain1 and you want to keep that going, it might make more sense to keep the old domain as it is and add an offline sub folder to it instead of the other way around? That might not fit your business plan or model, but I would be careful about changing domain and url structure at the same time on a site that is bringing in most of your traffic!
Check out this useful post: http://moz.com/blog/achieving-an-seo-friendly-domain-migration-the-infographic which has some links at the bottom for useful further reading.
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
-
Sudden ranking Hike For domain
Hello there, I have domain Which got penalized By google Before 2 nd half years & all First Page Ranking Gone Down by 7-8 pages, But Now It got Sudden up after 3 years, So my Question is Will I need Worry or that Can Be Positive Sign For My efforts Given to Website? Will It stay Up?? As i have Updated My website As Told by Moz experts. Thanx, in advance
Technical SEO | | innovative10030 -
Duplicate content pages on different domains, best practice?
Hi, We are running directory sites on different domains of different countries (we have the country name in the domain name of each site) and we have the same static page on each one, well, we have more of them but I would like to exemplify one static page for the sake of simplicity. So we have http://firstcountry.com/faq.html, http://secondcountry.com/faq.html and so on for 6-7 sites, faq.html from one country and the other have 94% similarity when checked against duplicate content. We would like an alternative approach to canonical cause the content couldn´t belong to only one of this sites, it belongs to all. Second option would be unindex all but one country. It´s syndicated content but we cannot link back to the source cause there is none. Thanks for taking the time in reading this.
Technical SEO | | seosogood0 -
Several personal websites moving to one domain - 301 or 302?
I feel like I've thought about this so much that now I'm thinking in circles and can't figure this out, so I hope someone can help! We have a group of physicians who currently practice privately, but are going to become one entity with one website. However, they are going to look like sub-entities, if this makes sense - instead of every practice being "One Practice Medical Group" they'll be "Lakeside Primary Care - A One Practice Medical Group Company," and then the other guy will be "Red Mountain Primary Care - A One Practice Medical Group Company" and so on for about a half dozen practices. They all have personal sites already, and many are concerned that they will lose any history for their personal sites and will not rank as well in Google as they do right now. One doctor really wants to keep his own site, and then just have a link on his profile page of the new entity's website. Isn't this counterproductive? Also, if we do redirect all the personal websites to the new entity's domain, it will pass any page rank they already have, correct? Should these be 301 redirects, or 302 redirects? None of the current sites really have a lot of "link juice" but we're working with several strong personalities who want the benefits of the big entity but the autonomy of a private practice.
Technical SEO | | RachelEm0 -
The difference between an noindex and nofollow?
What is really the difference between an noindex and nofollow and why/when do you want to use them? Built my first wordpress site and the blog "posts" that make up my home page confuse me....as far as passing link juice to my home url...not sure what I am asking here! How do I use nofollow/noindex or is the issue I should be looking at is 301/canonical. Or neither?
Technical SEO | | cschwartzel0 -
Moving most (not all) content to another domain
Hi there, My company website has 3 main sections, two of those sections (each containing approx. 50 pages) will be moving to a separate website. The new website will also be owned by the same company. The new domain does not yet exist. I read this guide http://www.seomoz.org/blog/seo-guide-how-to-properly-move-domains , its very good, however it refers to moving the whole domain to a new URL. Are there any specific differences to consider in my situation for a partial move? Many thanks in advance! Nigel
Technical SEO | | Richard5550 -
Redirecting Parked Domain
I just recently switched hosting. We have 3 domains and 1 being the main domain. Right now they are set up as parked domains. Can I redirect the parked domains under my main websites .htaccess file ? I am just worried that good we will get hit for duplicate content, even though technically the content is only on our main domain. right now if I type in my parked domains in Google, they appear in search. The site is all hand coded and not using a CMS.
Technical SEO | | hfranz0 -
Does Selling the Same Product on Different Domains Look Spammy?
Today, I have watched such a great video on YouTube from Google Webmaster Help with following subject. Does selling the same product on three different domains look spammy? Now, I have same issue with my three websites. You can find out details as follow. Traditional Table Lamp in Brushed Steel Finsih with Green Glass http://www.lampslightingandmore.com/50_63_21594/traditional-table-lamp-in-brushed-steel-finsih-with-green-glass.html http://www.vistastores.com/indoorlighting-roycelighting-rtl50091-12b.html 7.5' Patio Umbrella Push Tilt - Olefinhttp://www.vistapatioumbrellas.com/marketumbrellas-californiaumbrella-slpt758-f13-red.htmlhttp://www.vistastores.com/marketumbrellas-californiaumbrella-slpt758-f13-red.htmlThere are three different website with 4000+ same products, same Title tag, same Meta description, same price, same details, same SKU number, same images and same details.There are very few pages indexed by Google for VistaStores.com. [I have submitted series of question on SEOmoz Q & A forum to resolve my website's crawling issue.]I assume that, this is one of biggest reason to stop my crawling. So, How can I fix it?
Technical SEO | | CommercePundit0 -
Domain Redirect Issues
Hi, I have a domain that is 10 years old, this is the old domain that used to be the website for the company. The company approximately 7 years ago was bought by another and purchased a new domain that is 7 years old. The company did not do a 301 redirect as they were not aware of the SEO implications. They continued building web applications on the old domain while using the new domain for all marketing and for business partner links. They just put in a server level redirect on the folders themselves to point to the new root. I am on Tomcat, I do not have the option of a 301 redirect as the web applications are all hard coded links (non-relative) (hundreds of thousands of dollars to recode) After beginning SEO; Google is seeing them as the same domain, and has replaced all results in Google with the old domain instead of the new one..... My questions is.... Is it better to take the hit and just put a robots.txt to disallow all robots on the old domain Or... Will that hurt my new domain as well since Google is seeing them as the same? Or.... Has Google already made the switch without a redirect to see these as the same and i should just continue on? (even the cache for the new site shows the old domain address) Old Domain= www.floridahealthcares.com New = www.fhcp.com *****Update after writing this I began changing index.htm to all non relative links so all links on the old domain homepage would point to fhcp.com fixing the issue of the entire site being replicated under the old domain. I think this might "Patch" my issue, but i would still love to get the opinion of others Thanks Shane
Technical SEO | | Jinx146780