Forum Moderators: phranque
The reason for doing this was so that I would not lose my pages in the google serps.
My problem is that it's not working. All the pages that I redirect are getting dropped in rank. Now, every page is indexed, but doesn't show up in the serps. I've lost dozens of first page results.
Is this to be expected? are new 301 redirects sandboxed? My understanding is that a 301 redirect is the best method for accomplishing what I'm trying to do... Is it?
Is this a known problem? Eventually I will redirect the whole domain, but I still have 1000's of products to migrate and don't want them offline while I add them..
Can anyone recommend a better way of doing this?
Remember, the change in domain is what is causing this, not the 301s. 301s within the same domain are fine. 301s from one domain to another can be fickle, especially with Google. Also, how many links are out there pointing to the .net? You should focus on getting your link parnters to start updating their URI references as soon as possible.
Why change from .net to .com? Technically there is a difference but realisticly they are the same. If I was in your shoes I would buy .com and redirect it to my well ranking .net.
The reason to have them both online simultaneously is to ease the product migration.
As far as links, we have about 5000 to the .net, but they are mostly from scrapers that will find the .com soon enough. I don't have an active linking campaign-just some directory links and assorted organics.
Would the best course of action then be for me to slap the new site onto the same domain, and let all the product pages that aren't on the new site yet show as 404s? Or redirect them all to my index page?
301s to new domains are finnicky... Good to know.
As far as links, we have about 5000 to the .net, but they are mostly from scrapers that will find the .com soon enough. I don't have an active linking campaign-just some directory links and assorted organics.
Personally, I would have kept the .net live and set up a 301 for the .com to the .net. With 5,000 IBLs sitting out there, you've got some clout. It doesn't matter that they are scraper sites. Some of those scraper sites are being counted in the overall equation.
Just think how long it took you to get the .net seated in the SERPs. Expect about the same amount of time for the .com. You will pretty much be starting from scratch again. I know you hate to hear that, but, I've been there done that. Will never do it again that way. You learn from your mistakes.
Not thrilled about the prospect of starting over. Perhaps I'll stop adding redirects and wait until all the products are added to my .com site, then slap it onto the .net url with a 10 foot robots.txt. Thanks for your counsel, you add value to the forum.
Thanks for your counsel, you add value to the forum.
No, thanks for your participation, you add value to the forum! ;)
Are you on Windows or Unix? I'm sure we can get some additional feedback on making your chore a little easier if we knew what technology you were using. asp or php? Or is it something else?
The old site is static html, new site is driven by oscommerce=php.
Would it be more beneficial to change the actual html navigation on the static site to point to the new one, instead of redirecting it?
Negatives, positives of this idea?
Will an html link to a different domain pass rank better than a 301 redirect?
