Which domain we should continue with?
-
Hello All,
We are working with a client who had manual penalty from Google. We worked on that and now penalty has been removed.
Client had already started working on the new domain and now the big dilemma is- Which domain should we continue with? Old or New?
We are suggesting them to continue with the old one as that domain had good PR, good backlinks, better visibility on their social profiles etc.
What do you suggest? any inputs are highly appreciated.
Thanks
-
Hey guys!
I agree with James and Bruce. We have a client that ran into a similar issue about a year ago where he was issued a manual penalty on his site, from work performed prior to us of course ; ). While we were working to correct the issue, we developed a new site (on a new URL) that began ranking fairly well with little effort. Once the penalty was removed from the older site, we simply kept the two sites separate and focused our efforts primarily on the older site. This proved to be an effective strategy in our situation since the new site didn't have much authority or credibility. It was ranking well so the client decided to leave it on its own and not redirect or connect it to the older site in any way.
So in my experience, I would have to agree that using the older domain would be best. Of course assuming that the site (content, URL structure, UX, link profile and social signals) is at a higher level than the newer site.
Regarding the redirect from the new site to the old, this is totally a judgement call you will have to make based on the amount and quality of off-site (links & social mentions) between the two sites. IMO the on-page and UX stuff can and should always be tweaked and improved upon. So I don't think that should really be a deciding factor.
Hope this helps in one way or another!
-
Wow that's tough if the new site has different new content,
Yes i would,
But i would ensure the old site is up to the high standard also, I would ensure any significant improvements on the new site IE better quality content, better responsive design, better internal structure and navigation are mirrored across on the old site, I would review and merge the better aspects and content onto the older site as it has the better platform with the link/social profile etc,
I wouldn't want to you redirect which could be a better new site if the old site is not up to scratch, I would hope to get a second opinion from another Moz user on this,
James
-
Hi James,
Thanks for your quick response.
Would you suggest a redirect from new to old domain? new domain is also ranking now and have good content too.
-
I vote Old:
If you start with a new domain, then you will have to build all the rankings basicaly from scratch, give or take a few possible redirects etc. Providing the penalty has gone then you should be fine on this. Google doesn't from what we know keep a token penalty on the site because of a past problem, once the main penalty has been lifted its lifted
A new site can take quite a while to settle in and therefore you could expect many months of patience waiting for the site to get to the level of the old one.
Bruce.
-
I would think the Old depending on its current state,
If you can make any necessary changes to the old site without any technical limitations and maintain the back links and social profile then better than starting a fresh,
I wouldn't of thought the penalty would effect you long term if it has been fully rectified and was not for an overly serious offence,
James
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
-
Entire website is duplicated on 2 domains - what to do?
My client's website has 1000+ pages and a Domain Authority of 23. I have just discovered that the entire site is duplicated on a second domain (main URL = companyname.com - duplicate site URL = company-name.com). The home page of the duplicate domain has a 301 redirect going to the main domain. However, none of the 1000+ other pages have any redirect set up, so Google is indexing the entire duplicate site. I'm assuming this is a bad thing for SEO. Duplicate site has a domain Authority of 4, so I'd like to transfer whatever link juice it has, towards the main site. What's the best thing to do? Ultimately I think it would be best to delete the duplicate site. So would it be a case of adding a redirect to the htaccess file along the lines of: redirect company-name.com/?slug? to https://companyname.com/?slug? (I realise this isn't the correct syntax - but is the concept correct?) Has anyone ever dealt with this successfully?
Technical SEO | | BottleGreenWebsites0 -
What is cross domain?
what is cross domain? can any one explain in simple language ?
Technical SEO | | constructionhelpline0 -
Shopping Carts & Sub Domains
I was hoping someone could guide me in making the correct decision regarding integrating my existing domain with a hosted shopping cart. I have an existing website to promote my bricks and mortar retail operation and am expanding into web retailing. I will be using one of the major hosted shopping carts. What is the best way to join the two components from an SEO perspective? Have the cart as a sub domain of my main site, or move my existing domain name to be hosted by the cart provider and have both components operate under the same general domain? I have read arguments that putting your cart within a sub domain is not a good idea because any clout of the pre-existing domain will not be shared with the sub domain; that they will be treated as two separate sites. I have also read that using a sub domain is a good idea being that the content focus of the main domain (marketing and blogs) is different form the focus of the sub domain (product sales), and that the two components would benefit form earning their own rankings undiluted by the other. And, I have also read that search engines are getting good at being able to deduce that an eCommerce sub domain is legitimate extension of a content intensive main domain, and that they treat the two components as a combined whole. What is the truth? Which is the better way to go? Any guidance would be appreciated.
Technical SEO | | MEI1520 -
Moving content between two separate domains...
Hello I am looking for advice regarding moving content from one site to another. We have two websites: Site 1: E-commerce site, with content weaved in throughout the visitor journey.
Technical SEO | | DJR1981
Site 2: Blog-style site, used to archive magazine (which we own) articles online. Both sites exist on completely separate domains. Over time, Site 2 has received a lot less attention due to a change in our business objectives. As a result of this, this site is not as up-to-date as it could be and we're now starting to think about winding the brand down. However, some of the content (mostly feature-pieces, reviews etc) on Site 2 is really good and it would be a shame to just see such high quality stuff disappear into the ether. Ideally, we would like migrate some of the content on Site 2 to Site 1. The reasons for this are mostly to improve things from a visitor perspective, but also to gain any positive SEO points from adding such pieces to our main domain. I've had a look through and a lot of the articles from Site 2 are indexed. Is it going to be a case of selecting the pieces I want and then adding a 301s to those pages so they're no longer found/visable before re-publishing them on Site 1? Sorry if this is a bit of silly question, just wanted some advice to ensure I go about it the right way. Thanks!0 -
Multiple domains pointing to same site
Over the years, we have acquired a great number of variations of our domains, or industry-specific domains to protect our brand. Currently, the majority of those domains are parked at the registrars. Would we do any harm to our rankings if we pointed the dormant domains to our website (www.ellsworth.com)? If not, are there any recommendations as the best way to do this, or just point them to the same IP?
Technical SEO | | Ellsworth0 -
Two blogs on the same domain
I have had two blogs on the same domain for a while now, and it just occurred to me that no one else seems to do this and maybe it's even weird. http://www.stadriemblems.com/blog/
Technical SEO | | UnderRugSwept
http://www.stadriemblems.com/scouting/blog/ One is our main blog, and one is for a very concentrated niche of customers. What are your opinions on this? Everything from SEO to best practices, to overall unusual-ness?0 -
Are sub domain names a good idea
Hi i have read some info that says that sub domain names help with increase traffic but i am not sure if this is true. I would like to know if i should use a subdomain name to increase the size of my website and increase traffic. I have also read that it is a good idea to put a blog on a subdomain name. Can anyone share their experience and let me know if they have found that sub domains are a good idea
Technical SEO | | ClaireH-1848860 -
A client will be translating their entire site into French in addition to English. For SEO purposes, should I host it on the same domain or create its own dedicated domain?
The current site is a long-standing site with good authority and a good number of links. Thanks....
Technical SEO | | JamesBSEO0