Changing a domain name

[Alan_G]

I am having trouble getting my head around something and would appreciate any advice. I have a .com site that I'd like to change to a .co.uk site. Currently both point to the same IP address and so both can be used. However, it was the .com that was submitted to the google search engine. The .co.uk does already appear sometimes in 'Pages in the UK' listings, but what do I need to do to change over and retain google juice, if possible? Do I need to re-submit the .co.uk domain to the search engine? If I do that though, will it be refused because the .com already points to the same IP address? Basically, I'm unsure what steps are necessary to change the domain name. Any help would be appreciated.

[bwnbwn]

301 the .com to the .co.uk site is the way to pass on the juice to the other domain. if the site is a mirror of eachother you are good to go if there are different folders and pages then u need to make sure each one goes to the correct page to keep the 404's down and insure each page is passed to the correct page.

[Alan_G]

Thanks for that. So I don't need to re-submit the url to google then? It will eventually start indexing on the co.uk instead of the .com due to the 301? I want the co.uk to point to the same folder on the same server as the .com did. Will that present a problem? Sorry if these questions seem a bit basic, but this is a field I'm still learning about.

[Alan_G]

ps: Does Google search listings start to show the .co.uk as well instead of the .com, or does one need to re-submit the .co.uk url to Google's search engine?

[bwnbwn]

I want the co.uk to point to the same folder on the same server as the .com did. Will that present a problem?

You want the .com domain to point 301 to the .co.uk domain.

If the websites are the same this is all you need to do. You want the .com to point to the folders on the .co.uk but as I said if the sites are the same just a domain 301 is all you will need to do all the indexed url's will go to the correct page and Google will replace them with the .co.uk domain ending.

If there are different folders then you need to create them on the .co.uk domain to reflect the folders on the .com domain.

I would then begin a link campaign for the .co.uk website.