New domain & SEO

Timing of a new domain with SEO campaign

[mburgess]

Hello All...

Apologies going out if this topic has been answered in a previous forum.

I just got news that we're going to be switching to a new domain sometime in the next month or two. We're in the middle of planning our SEO campaign and submission plan. Would it be wise to wait until we have the new domain up and running, then implement the SEO changes, then submit? This seems like the most logical route to take.

Also, seeing as we're moving to this new domain, the old one will still be out there. Any suggestions on how to make this transition easier? Should we use a redirect from the old site to the new site?

Thanks!

MB

[GWJ]

Hi,

I would wait until the new domain is up and ready before starting the submital process.

I would impliment the SEO updates before the submission.

On the redirect, no, not initialy. A DNS update normaly takes around 48 hours to hit all zones. Once this happens maybe put a redirect up at that point.

Brian

[mburgess]

Hey guys, thanks for the help. As far as that redirect goes, how would it be non-spam? Is it a timing issue? I've seen so many web sites out there with multiple domains names with the exact same content. Could we leave the original domain out there with the same content, but submit the new domain name? We've never submitted the original domain to any search engine or directory, other than ODP. So, would it be ok to leave the original site up without the SEO changes, but implement the SEO changes on the new web site and submit that one?

Am I confusing or what? :-)

[GWJ]

Could we leave the original domain out there with the same content, but submit the new domain name? We've never submitted the original domain to any search engine or directory, other than ODP.

I would be very hesitant. Do a check first. Since you submited to ODP there is a good chance that your are listed in more than you think.

Just go to a few SEs and put in your domain name to see what it returns.

SEs will penalize or kick you if they see duplicate content between domains.

Brian

[mburgess]

The results that we have just by being listed in ODP are great. I would hate to lose those by switching to another domain. But, the new domain that we just got is the product name, which we are going to use as the main domain. So, I'm trying to go about this in the most legitimate way as possible!

So, here's what I'm thinking so far...don't optimize the original domain site. Wait until the new domain is up and optimize that site because this is the one that I'm going to want to submit to the SE's & Dir. Now for the original domain...because we have good rankings for this domain, we should wait to set up a re-direct to the new domain.
My next question is...how will the SE & Dir view the submission of this new domain (similar content, although optimized) while they already have the original domain in their index? Will they consider this spam?