Submit before Changing Domains or Wait?

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Submit before Changing Domains or Wait?

Whether to submit site to SEs before or after changing domains

Syren_Song

8:05 pm on Oct 24, 2002 (gmt 0)

I am currently hosted on a free webserver. I know that sometime in the next few months I will be registering a new domain name and changing to a paid server. (Too many problems with free hosting services.)

Is it better to start registering with search engines now to build up links, then set up a redirect after I have changed hosts? Or am I better off waiting until after I have made the change? I've heard there can be problems with search engines considering redirects to be spamming and don't want to get thrown off any SEs.

If it's better to wait, what's the best way to go about making a switch if you've got a site (or several sites) that's already listed with several search engines and the site has good ranking?

heini

10:45 pm on Oct 25, 2002 (gmt 0)

If you get a new domain and a new IP for SEs it will be a new site.
True, you could set up a redirect, but the potential problems downstream make it a less than desirable solution.
I would get the new domain before I started to promote.

Why wait? If you are decided, you should go for it. You could build the new site with the old one still running, and then do the switch, redirecting from the old one, but promoting the new one.

Syren_Song

11:51 pm on Oct 25, 2002 (gmt 0)

The only real reason for waiting at this point is to try to decide on a host. There are soooo many to choose from! I thought it would be best to continue the old site for awhile after setting up the new one, but my concern is the redirects.

How much potential trouble is in store for me if I do any kind of a redirect? I know there are 301, and meta tags. I'm guessing the meta tags would definitely cause problems with potentially getting deleted from some SEs, but does the same thing happen with 301 redirects?

I've done some minimal posting to SEs on the current site, so I guess my main concern at this point is with the BIG search that Google is about to do (or is it happening even as I type this?). I know I can't set up a new site before that happens.....