I've built a very large web site over the past two years that also has a complicated database. Point is, there's a lot of time and effort invested. And now there's a problem with the domain. The domain's too long and cumbersome. Also, The site's been running for a year or so and is in Google, Yahoo and MSN.
The domain name was contrived at time of conception of the site so that it contained an important-- albeit long-- search term. Bad idea, because as we all now know, those types of domains have become irrelevant to search results. The long domain isn't user friendly, either.
So we've chosen a new shorter and user friendly domain. We plan to use that new domain in all advertising and in our link exchange efforts. We also plan to redirect the old domain to the new one.
But do I even dare to start a link exchange program using the new domain-- after the old one's already been in the engines for months? What can I do to ensure that those two years of work aren't blown away by running afoul of Y, G and MSN?
Is there a 100% certain cure for this, one that will work for all the engines?
(For my future reference, would it have mattered if it had been?)
Thanks.
