Site migration/ CMS/domain site structure change-no access to search console
-
Hi everyone,
We are migrating an old site under a bigger umbrella (our main domain). As mentioned in the title, We'll perform CMS migration, domain change, and site structure change. Now, the major problem is that we can't get into google search console for the old site. The site still has old GA code, so google search console verification using this method is not possible, also there is no way developers will be able to add GTM or edit DNS setting (not to bother you with the reason why). Now, my dilemma is :
1. Do we need access to old search console to notify Google about the domain name change or this could be done from our main site (old site will become a part of) search console
2. We are setting up 301 redirects from old to the new domain (not perfect 1:1 redirect ). Once migration is done does anything else needs to be done with the old domain (it will become obsolete)?
3.The main site, Site-map... Should I create a new sitemap with newly added pages or update the current one.
4. if you have anything else please add:)
Thank you!
-
If your architecture is changing, (e.g: from non-www to www, then from HTTP to HTTPS) - just be careful that your developer's logic doesn't start 'stacking' redirect rules
You want to avoid this:
A) user requests http://oldsite.com/category/information
B) 301 Redirect to - http://newsite.com/category/information
C) 301 Redirect to - https://newsite.com/category/information
D) 301 Redirect to - https://www.newsite.com/category/information
Keep your redirects **strictly origin to final destination, and you'll probably be ok! **In the case of my example the redirect should go straight from A to D, not from A to B (hope that makes sense)
Install this Chrome extension so that you can see redirect paths in your Chrome extension buttons menu. It's very, very handy for testing redirects
-
Thank you for a detailed response.
It's a second scenario. Domain/hosting will stay stays for old domain and all redirects will point to relevant destination pages in our main website. We already performed a massive hybrid migration (main site ) that delivered a CMS change, site structure/URL change and content cut without losing any traffic (we actually gained north of 30% increase in post-migration period). Migration was done over 3 month period and it was done right. This time, the project was conceived and nearly finished in the bubble and got into my attention way too late.
-
You wanna' be really careful here. From the sounds of it you had a collection of 'web pages' under an old umbrella site (which contains loads of other stuff too) and you are 'extracting' those web pages and turning them into a new website. For most intents and purposes, a domain 'is' a website
If the old site is staying live with other stuff still on it, and only part of it is migrating - obviously you DON'T want to tell Google that the whole umbrella site is 'becoming' a much narrower site on a new domain. That's inaccurate information, and will kill off the main site's performance
Another issue. Currently your 'site section' which will become its own site, is receiving SEO authority through the main domain's backlinks, then transferred through the internal link structure. If the old site is staying live, most of it won't be redirected to the new 'extract' site. The internal linking from the main site will also be gone, which means a performance reset for those section of URLs is quite darn likely
There is some potential, that I got this exactly the wrong way around. Maybe you are saying that a previously external site is coming 'under' the big umbrella. That would be much easier to deal with!
In this second scenario, yes I'd recommend telling Google that one whole domain is becoming part of another domain using the domain migration tool within search console. I have seen migration projects succeed without this, but I've also seen Google's algos throw wobblies so... Yeah, I'd say do it to be safe
The old domain needs to still exist, with a hosting package - in order to perform your redirects. Redirects are handled by the .htaccess or web.config file(s) and they need hosting to live on. Without it, all your redirects will die. If you don't keep the redirects live for 6-12 months, prepare to lose some SEO authority as it won't have all translated across by then
Your new pages, regardless of whether they are on an external or internal domain, should be listed in an XML sitemap. Wherever they are moving to, that domain's XML sitemap needs to have the newly spawned URLs in
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
-
Migration to a new domain
Hi everyone, So i have one project where I'm planning to move current content on new domain, two reasons: 1. It seems current domain has some google penalty (backlink related, not manual) 2. Client wants rebranding and already has domain with new brand name. So as content is high quality and there is no content related penalty from google, what would be the best way to migrate existing content without passing any penalty AND without Google treating it as duplicate content. If i do 301 i suspect any penalty there is might follow, if i just copy existing content it won't be original content, what is the best solution here? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | joelsemy0 -
New site migration (multiple sites into one + new domain)
Hi, I have read so many very helpful guides and experiences from you guys that will greatly help me but I have a few questions please. Our company has 3 sites, the main site and 2 sites for different product ranges: BrandProductName.com (main site - DA = 22 raking well for product name) Productname2.com (DA = 10 ranking very well for product name and little competition) BrandProductName3.com (DA = 10 poor ranking) We wish to bring all the sites into one with categories for the 3 different product. The main site is an e-commerece site whereas the other 2 are not (currently). On top of this as the main domain has one of the product names in it they wish to change the domain to be just Brandname.com. So the plan is to combine site 2 and 3 into site 1 and change that domain name. As you can imagine this is going to be quite a job. I am fairly happy with the steps required (having read all the guides and migrated many sites in the past) but with the added domain name change this is a little daunting. So my questions are: Should I merge the 3 sites into 1 and then changed the domain at a later point? Should I change the domain of the main site first and then merge site 2 and 3 in later? Should I just do it all together? Or based on the data i have provided do you disagree with the plan, what would you recommend? We are not in a massive rush to complete all of this so we have the time to plan and execute this when we are fully ready. Any help / advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | csimmo0 -
Search console, duplicate content and Moz
Hi, Working on a site that has duplicate content in the following manner: http://domain.com/content
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | paulneuteboom
http://www.domain.com/content Question: would telling search console to treat one of them as the primary site also stop Moz from seeing this as duplicate content? Thanks in advance, Best, Paul. http0 -
How did my dev site end up in the search results?
We use a subdomain for our dev site. I never thought anything of it because the only way you can reach the dev site is through a vpn. Google has somehow indexed it. Any ideas on how that happened? I am adding the noindex tag, should I used canonical? Or is there anything else you can think of?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | EcommerceSite0 -
Articles marked with "This site may be hacked," but I have no security issues in the search console. What do I do?
There are a number of blog articles on my site that have started receiving the "This site may be hacked" warning in the SERP. I went hunting for security issues in the Search Console, but it indicated that my site is clean. In fact, the average position of some of the articles has increased over the last few weeks while the warning has been in place. The problem sounds very similar to this thread: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/webmasters/malware--hacked-sites/wmG4vEcr_l0 but that thread hasn't been touched since February. I'm fearful that the Google Form is no longer monitored. What other steps should I take? One query where I see the warning is "Brand Saturation" and this is the page that has the warning: http://brolik.com/blog/should-you-strive-for-brand-saturation-in-your-marketing-plan/
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Liggins0 -
Change url structure and keeping the social media likes/shares
Hi guys, We're thinking of changing the url structure of the tutorials (we call it knowledgebase) section on our website. We want to make it shorter URL so it be closer to the TLD. So, for the convenience we'll call them old page (www.domain.com/profiles/profile_id/kb/article_title) and new page (www.domain.com/kb/article_title) What I'm looking to do is change the url structure but keep the likes/shares we got from facebook. I thought of two ways to do it and would love to hear what the community members thinks is better. 1. Use rel=canonical I thought we might do a rel=canonical to the new page and add a "noindex" tag to the old page. In that way, the users will still be able to reach the old page, but the juice will still link to the new page and the old pages will disappear from Google SERP and the new pages will start to appear. I understand it will be pretty long process. But that's the only way likes will stay 2. Play with the og:url property Do the 301 redirect to the new page, but changing the og:url property inside that page to the old page url. It's a bit more tricky but might work. What do you think? Which way is better, or maybe there is a better way I'm not familiar with yet? Thanks so much for your help! Shaqd
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ShaqD0 -
SEO for one web site two domains
I have web site www.sxxxcafe.com and there is a another domain for the same like xxx.com .How can i use second domain for the same web site keeping SEO up and without loosing ranking .
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | innofidelity0 -
What is the best practice when a client is setting up multiple sites/domains
I have a client that is creating separate websites to be used for different purposes. What is the best practice here with regards to not looking spammy. i.e. do the domains need to registered with different companies? hosted on different servers, etc? Thanks in advance for your response.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Dan-1718030