To use new domain name or not?
-
I've had a web site since before most people knew what a web site was, aeroconsult.com. It has a page authority of 30, domain authority of 21, and 21 root domains that link to path. The problem is, I am not getting many organic hits, and I am wasting a lot of non-productive money on ad words.
Because this site is over 20 years old, with a few rudimentary modifications, I decided to create a totally new web site that is modern and that has a regular menu, pictures, etc. It also has a domain name that more accurately reflects what I do. I am an engineering consultant working in the area of RF and microwave design and development. I design rf and microwave circuits and systems for clients. Those clients range from individual inventors to start-up companies, to large (and, yes, sometimes) corporations, including some aerospace companies. But, I do not design rockets, space ships, airplanes, or other things that an aerospace company does. I get a lot of organic hits on "aerospace consultant", "aerospace consulting", "aerospace design", etc. But, those are useless to me, since that is not what I do.
So, I designed a new website. It is still under development, but it is out there at rfandmicrowavedesign.com. Clearly, the URL is appropriate to what I do. And, all pages have my company name, Aerospace Consulting LLC. But, even with Google adwords, which I just activated for this site yesterday, I am not getting good results, especially when you look at the cost of the CPC.
I plan to keep my e-mail address, that is tied to aeroconsult.com since it has been out there for over 2 decades and that is what my old clients know. But, I am wondering if I should move the new web site contents to my old domain, aeroconsult.com because of the domain authority, page authority, and links? Or, am I better just leaving the old aeroconsult.com web site out there and concentrate on the new web site with the new domain name?
Both web sites have 1 or 2 organic search results in the top 10, although the only organic search result that really relates to my business is "wireless design consulting" which is #8 for rfandmicrowavedesign.com, although I think it is something like #10 for aeroconsult.com. All other organic search results are less than 50, which is, of course, useless. (Although, #8 for rfandmicrowavedesign.com is pretty impressive since it has only been live for a couple of weeks, vs over 20 years for aeroconsult.com.
Anyway, I am looking for advice. Should I scrap the old aeroconsult.com web site and replace its contents with the contents of rfandmicrowavedesign.com, or should I leave them both active for at least a while? I plan to continue to use the aeroconsult.com domain for e-mail since it has been out there for so long. I guess the real question is whether I would gain lot by putting the clearly better content and structure of rfandmicrowavedesign.com on my old, established, aeroconsult.com, or whether I should concentrate in building up organic and paid search for rfandmicrowavedsign.com.
-
While it might be questionable, throwing away a well-aged domain, it sure sounds like it's causing you some other issues, including bounce rate issues for people who find you simply because of partial domain name match against their queries.
I'd be inclined to take the hit on domain age and move to the new site. 301 redirect the old site's pages to corresponding pages on the new site. You can set up your old email address to forward to your new one, so people using the old will still get to you fine. I wouldn't use the old email address on the new site, as you'll get people ignoring your emails because it's not from a site they recognize.
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
-
What is the best way to update Adwords final URLs if I'm moving to a new CMS?
Hi there - One of my clients is redeveloping its website. That means, the domain is remaining the same, but the whole site is being rebuilt in wordpress so all the adwords final URLs need to change OR be redirected. There are 550 live adgroups and 3400 ads. We haven't set up tracking. I can't find anywhere what the best thing to do is in this case. The key issues seem to be: 1. 301 redirects - given we have to do these anyway as part of migration, this seems to be the easiest path as Google is ok about redirects as long as they don't go to a different domain. From what I'm hearing, you don't get adversely impacted in terms of quality score etc. This has the huge advantage that you don't have to edit the ad therefore no loss of statistical history or risk of downtime whilst you wait for approval. HOWEVER, there is some concern that if you then redirected again IN THE FUTURE, the redirect might not work (in some browsers) or cause a loop. I'm also concerned that it's messy to leave it like that (ie: with the wrong URLs throughout). 2. Buik updating ads - I don't think this is an option as if you bulk download and then reupload, Google will see this as a new ad, and delete all the statistical history - I'm also concerned that that WOULD impact quality score as you'd be starting from scratch! 3. Changing each ad individually - as far as I understand you'd have to create copies of all the ads (so that you keep the history of the old ones) and effectively create new ones with the correct URL - one by one. You end up with a messy account (a lot of paused ads) but you keep the history? This is obviously the most time consuming and I can't see a way of avoiding ads having to go in for approval again, given the urls are all different, so you'd have to do this a an ad level, not an adgroup/campaign level etc. People redevelop their websites (without changing domains) all the time. It seems strange that no one is mentioning this problem! Any ideas?! Many thanks
Paid Search Marketing | | catalystmdc0 -
Is there a tool that can use measure and improve the quality score of my PPC landing pages?
Hey guys, I'm trying to improve the quality score for a few of my PPC landing pages. Does any one know a Tool that can help me in the process. Something kind of like the "on page grader" but for quality score. Thanks
Paid Search Marketing | | Felip30 -
Using the same landing page for seo and ppc
When does it make sense to create one landing page for both seo and ppc?
Paid Search Marketing | | melen0 -
Does having a new website design and code affects the SEO
Dear experts, We are in the process of completely revamping our website code and design to a new version of prestashop. Having mentioned that, please note that we are not changing the URL links. So, the same products links will be the same and intact. Only the content is changing. So, how this is affecting my website SEO or SERP? Regards,
Paid Search Marketing | | kanary0 -
Competitors using bots for AdWords ?
I was having a discussion with a SEO manager on a LinkedIn group about page speed (she pretends that page speed is not taken into account by Google for SERPs at all and claims that all of what Matt Cutts says is BS) ; and she explained that she is using bots to click on her client's competitors AdWords and "kill their daily budget" So my question is, if you run/manage AdWords campaigns, have you ever met noticed such a behaviour, past the few usual click fraud rate ? What is your average fraud rate ?
Paid Search Marketing | | iung0 -
Wordwatch Software: PPC Adwords campaign managers heard of, tried, or actively using this?
I've been trialing WordWatch for about a month. I'll admit I've been skeptical from the start. I don't quite understand the results they're delivering or how it works. So I did a search for "Wordwatch review" hoping someone out there could shed some light or help me decide whether this software was worth keeping. But all I can find are two suspicious and badly written posts, immediately raising red flags. (Penuguin should have eliminated crap sites using the Flesch-Kincaid reading level, but I digress.) **Wordwatch premise: **They take over keyword bidding to maximize budgets and clicks. They monitor the Adwords campaign to find an "optimal" bid price. Two questions about this premise: How is it different than using the Google settings for optimize for clicks or conversions? Since Google Adwords is based on a Vickery auction, wouldn't lowering my bid only lower my position? Bearing everyone has the same QS, then lowering my bids to the range between 2 positions does not increase my actual cost. I have Wordwatch enabled for a few of my campaigns. Their interface leaves a lot to be desired. They don't report the activity or the changes they make to the campaigns from the dashboard. I had to go into my Adwords Change History to track what they were doing. And lo and behold they're also adding long tail keywords to my ad groups. Bottom line I didn't notice any huge impact, and I don't see how it's better than Google's own version of campaign settings. I don't know that they're really legit. But their marketing was so convincing, and they raised $1.4M that I need other opinions. Any one with some pro/cons, or yay/nays?
Paid Search Marketing | | flowsimple0 -
New v Returning in Google Analytics with Adwords
I am trying to figure out an issue with Google Analytics. What i am stumped on is I see traffic from AdWords coming in (accounts linked) and I see new v returning user. Does the return visit still show even if a user came back in via direct or organic? Or is it that these return visits are clicking on the ad again to come back as visits and clicks match in the reports?
Paid Search Marketing | | RadicalMedia0 -
Starting Fresh with a New PPC Account
I've inherited an Adwords account with a few years' worth of history. The account has changed hands a lot though and there's a lot of clutter and confusing account architecture (confusing and redundant campaigns, thousands of inactive long-long-tail keywords for every match type, etc.). I have a new architecture/strategy in mind but I'm unsure if I should start a new account from scratch, pause 90% of things and start some new campaigns, or delete a bunch of stuff permanently and start some new campaigns. My fear with the pausing option is that I'll have to wade through a bunch of clutter in my daily management and reporting - I like to keep things clean. My fear with deleting is losing data - I'd like to be able to always look back at how things were. And my fear with the new account from scratch method is losing whatever account/campaign quality score or historical value the account has built over time and the logistics of having to stop the old account to create a new account. Can you even have 2 accounts with the same domain or would I have to delete the old account before launching the new? For all my past PPC accounts, I started them more or less from scratch so this is new to me. Any advice/insights would be most appreciated. Thanks! Jeff
Paid Search Marketing | | jeff.gibson0