(Australia) Changing .net.au to .com.au - web dev is refusing to do a 301 redirect and wants to run two sites?
-
After years using a .net.au site, my client has purchased the .com.au version of the same domain. I've now set up a new, responsive website using a wordpress template with new content, but used a similar page structure.
I've asked their web developer to now do a 301 permanent redirect on each old page from .net.au site to it's new .com.au page, but he has refused, saying it would be bad for long term SEO. Instead, he says they should run both sites (which I thought would cause duplicate content issues).
Both domains are hosted with the same company.
I thought as long as the 301 redirects were done on a page by page basis, there were no issues? I'm no SEO expert, (which he claims to be), so I just wanted to get another opinion on what best practice would be in this instance.
-
I am sure you won't get into any issues by keeping them both separate - but it doesn’t make any sense in doing that. You should definitely 301 redirect the old one .. page by page to the new site.
It doesn’t make sense to keep them both and you will lose since Google might start to rank one page from the com.au and for another query one from net.au. They should for sure consolidate everything into one single side.
Keeping them separately there migt also be some branding issues - as users might get confused. "oh, last time I was on the other Screento - let's look for those guys again"
So, you won't get into issues from Google with Duplicate content or anything else but you might shoot yourself in the foot by not 301 redirecting the old pages to the new ones since you will compete with each other and it just doesn’t make sense to keep them both.
So to make the long story short: Consolidate with 301 and you will be in good shape. Don't do it and you will be safe but you will lose on branding and rankings.
Hope it helps.
-
Wow - thanks for your quick response.
The new domain is www.screenco.com.au and the old one is www.screenco.net.au
Just for reference - these are the "SEO expert's" actual words: "leave it there and run both sites, putting a 301 redirect will harm the site in the long run. 301 redirects from other domains are now believed to be bad links – from the same domain they are considered ok, as they are redirecting pages that are now not working or temporary created by php or similar".
So do I take it he either a) is confused between a temporary and permanent redirection, or b)just doesn't want to spend half an hour doing the actual redirections?
-
Hi,
You said the new domain has new content ? Then it should be ok to have them separate - and no need for a 301 redirect. There are no issues with duplicate content if there is no duplicate content (as you said - the new domain has new content). Structure is not an issue if it's the same.
Can you post the two domain names so we can have a look ?
Cheers.
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 redirect impact on ranking
If Website A is ranking 19th position in Google for a specific keyword, and Website B is ranking 30th position for the same keyword, What would be impact after 301 redirect? Will Website A drop to 30th position because of 301 or existing position would improve because of link juice?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | riyaaaz0 -
301 Redirection
Hi there guys, I have a question about redirection. My boss has just bought a new domain name and he wants it to redirect to our current site when looking for specific products. www.example.com is our current website www.productname.com is the new domain So the new domain would be redirected to example.com. Would that be considered against Google Policies? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PremioOscar0 -
When is it time to kill 301 redirects
3 months we updated our site design design and as such lots of page urls changed. At the time we 301 redirected about 100 pages. (All pages are on the same domain - 301 redirects like .com/about-us/company to .com/company) Anyhow my question is should I leave these redirects active indefinitely or kill them assuming value has passed through by now? Your Thoughts are welcomed. Thanks, Glen.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AdvanceSystems0 -
What happens when I redirect an entire site to an established page on another site?
Hi There, I have a website which is dedicated to selling ONE product (in different forms) or my main brand site. It is branded similarly, targets similar keywords, and gets some traffic which convert to leads. Additionally, the auxiliary site has a Google Rank 2 in its own right. I am thinking of consolidating this "auxillary" site to the specific product page on my main site. The reason I am considering doing this is to give a "boost" to the main product page on our main site which has many core keywords sitting with SERP ranking of between 11-20 (so not in first 10) Because this auxiliary site it gets traffic and leads in its own right, I don't want this to be to the detriment of my leads overall. Question is - if I 301 redirect the entire domain from my auxillary site to the equivalent product on my main site am I likely to see a large "boost" to that product page? (i.e. will I likely see my ranking rise from 11 - 20 significantly)
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | love-seo-goodness0 -
Changing from .net TLD to .com TLD
I have a Fortune 50 serving client that has for a few years been operating their site on a .net domain since the .com was not available. They have just aquired the .com domain for their company name that was unavailable before. However, it was not a transfer of a live domain. In whois it is showing as brand new and "unseasoned" For now I have recommended that they just perm forward the .com to the .net and leave the .net as the TLD But I am sure they want to in the future make the switch. What would my best course of action be as the SEO consultant?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | tjkirgin0 -
Is it worth switching from .net to .com if you own both domain names
For over 20 years the company I work for has used www.company.net as their TLD, because we could not register www.company.com at that time. However, currently we also own www.company.com www.company.com has a 301 re-direct to www.company.net We are a global company, and market leader in our industry. Our company name is associated with the product we make, and our competitors use our company name as their targeted keywords to attract visitors to their sites because our company name is synonym with the product we and they make. As we are a global company we also have lots of TLDcc's. The email address of all our employees worldwide have a .net email address extension. Would you advice switching from www.company.net to www.company.com??? And if so, what would be the reasons for this switch. Would it only be for branding purposes? Looking forward to some insights before taking on such an invasive switch (because of the switch of all email addresses of employees worldwide). Best regards, Astrid Groeneveld
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Cordstrap0 -
How long until 301 passes juice to new site?
We put up a new site for an attorney and changed his url along with total redevelopment. We used a 301 for the old to the new and it does resolve to the new. It has been one month and the old site in OSE still shows DA of 37 with PA for homepage of 15. The new site has come up.....to a DA of 6 with homepage at 1 still. For any who might wish it, the referring site is theHollandLawFirm.com and the new site is Houston-Bankruptcy-Attorney.info. Would love to know of any experience with the timing on this.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RobertFisher0 -
Should I 301 Redirect Old Pages to Newer Ones?
I know there is value having lots of unique content on our websites, but I'm wondering how long it should be kept for, and if there is any value in 301 redirecting it? So, for example we have a number of pages on our website that are dedicated to single products (blue widget x, blue widget y, red widget x, red widget y). Nice unique content, with some (but not many) links. These products are no longer available though and have been replaced. So I'm faced with three choices: 1. Leave it as it is, and hope it adds to the overall site authority (by value of being another page), and also perhaps mop up a few longer tail keywords. Add a link to the replacement product on these pages; 2. 301 redirect these pages to the replacement products to give these a bit of a boost, and lose the content; 3. 301 redirect these pages to the replacement products and move all the old content to a new 'blue widgets archive' and 'red widgets archive' page? Would appreciate everyones thoughts!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BigMiniMan0