need to change domain names, how to minimize page rank loss

[pixeltierra]

A company I freelance for has decide to change their domain name (long story). I think they've had the old domain for 5 years or so. They have a page rank of 4.

This isn't a great big deal, since it's information only, and they're not dependent on search traffic for their business. But still, what would be the most SEO friendly way to make this change? I specifically want to avoid it looking like another entity simply copied the entire site to a different domain (duplicate content).

I'm on Apache, so I figure using mod rewrite with a 301 (moved permanently) header is a good start?

Comments or other recommendations?

[bwnbwn]

yep that will do it cuz that is what your wanting to do. That is the whole purpose of a 301 you are correct...

Most users won't even know the difference and the new domain may get a pr at the next update.

make sure all the internal pages are 301 to the correct page example

www mysite.com/folder/12.htm needs to be 301'd to www mynewsite.com/folder/12.htm