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I started and run a Widget Fan Network, a network of Widget Sites. To cover the costs of our dedicated server and other costs, we have our own Widget merchandise shop that runs under www.widgetshop.com and have done so succesfully for 2,5 years. Now 6 weeks, before a big widget event, lawyers send me a letter forcing me to give that domain to them as they have the trademarks on Widget. Problem is we have 32.000 members who enjoy our Widget community site very, very much. These are the truest Widget fans on the planet. It is truly an amazing buzzing community using 300GB of data transfer per month. I do not want to start asking membership fees but without a solid shop in december we are not going to make enough money to keep it free for a long time.
Now, why am I posting this in Google News?
Even though I will consult my lawyer there is no way I can beat Widget Inc. and get to keep the domain. So I registered a new domain and my question is if it is realistic to achieve new high google rankings within 6 weeks? We are very high ranked now and we are going to loose that all once the domain is gone. 2,5 years of good SEO work and promotions down the drain with one letter... And after all that we have done for Widget Inc. and promoting their movie, merchandise, fan club, etc it is nothing short from a backstab into one of their largest fanbases.
Now of course the other sites in the network are supporting the rankings of our shop like anything providing most of the high quality in links. These links are of course in my control and I can direct them to the new domain. We also have about 280 websites in our link exchange program which I can contact and ask to change their link to our new shop address.
If you have the time please think with me: what else can I do to get my new domain on google as soon as possible. It is still the same site and the content is really good. Is it realistic to say that I could be back by mid december? How fast does Google deep-crawl now-a-days?
I understand I am reaching out here, and I don't like it but I have 32000 members who are very dear to me and I do not want to start charging them monthly fees or even ask for donations.
Addendum: is there a way to contact Google, explain them the situation and simply ask them to change my domain name in their database? All pages and the entire site are the same only the domain name misses 3 letters...
If my site ever becomes valuable, I would not be surprised if the BBC (UK) tried it on with lawyers but I certainly wouldn't roll over.
Kaled.
PS
You could email webmaster@google.com (or some such email address). However, try to time it right. If you're lucky, google will ban the existing domain name and you'll have the last laugh.
My hoster says that if they are presented with a court order they will have to shut down immediately. How soon could they have a court order?
Things that help my case:
- I have used that domain for over 2,5 years and they know I use it.
- All my sites have always co-operated with them and we have always promoted their movies and merchandise.
Problem more that there are two options and two risks:
- Either give up on the old domain and change all my links and link exchanges to the new address. This gives me 6 weeks to make new high google rankings
- Gamble on making it untill december/january and keep on promoting the existing domain.
Its a big gamble as you can imagine....
Will be back online in 20 hours but must fly of now. Any help or advice is appreciated by my entire fan club!
Is it realistic to think that Google will have my new domain listed within 6 weeks?
Any other tips...?
Regarding court orders, I would have thought that such litigation over domain names would have to go through WIPO, which would take a few weeks at the least.
I am awaiting my lawyer's reply as we speak. Does anybody have any experiences with such a domain name trademark infringement case? Some examples would be of great value. As stated the gamble between my two options is very scary.
Does anybody have any experiences with such a domain name trademark infringement case?
[directory.google.com...]
My suggestion...do what you are planning to do...point all links under your control to the new domain, etc..
Then, mirror your widgetshop.com to the new domain and finally 'park' widgetshop.com to the new domain while you are negotiating with the lawyers. This is the fastest way for google to transition between widgetshop.com and the new domain.
Damage to your operation would be minimal it could even be a transparent process.
Time is important here, if you could delay them long enough for Google to crawl the new URLs.
Hope this help.
Cheers
So now again I have two options:
- Either wait for the reply from Widget Inc. and keep on promoting and linking to widgetshop.com. If the delay is anywhere from 6-8 weeks then this will give enough time to profit from the current high rankings. Risk is that if Widget Inc. push their case hard I could be left with nothing.
- Redirect all links to the new domain promoting it immediately. Risk here is that the new domain will not be high in the rankings within 6 weeks.
I am seriously considering the second option and I have already set up the second domain. My question:
- Will I not get penalised at Google for having two domains with the exact same content but under different but simular domain names? I am making sure they run under different IP addresses though. What are the chances of me actually reaching Google and explaining them the situation? What are the chances of the old and the new site getting penalised or even banned? That would of course be a drama!
- Is it realistic to think that 6-8 weeks is enough to get the new domain high in the ranking?
Any other input is very well appreciated!
Paragraph 4.k talks about delaying actions until court proceedings have been resolved. It also talks about having ten days to lodge proof of an appeal in court.
Delaying until after Christmas should be simple unless the courts are very quick indeed.
Kaled.
PS
A very quick reading of the principles under which such an action can be brought suggested that a major factor in taking a domain name away is proving that it was registered in bad faith. It sounds to me that would be difficult in your case.
I've had a lot of luck with moving things using 301-redirects. You could create such a redirect on every page of the old domain to every page on the new domain. This way, Google will think that your old domain is gone and transfer everything you've worked for to the new.. at least, this has been my experience.
And the icing on the cake will be that, since Google now thinks that old domain = new domain, all of the promotion that these guys do when they get the domain, at least for a period of time, will actually be promoting your site PageRank-wise :-).
Please explain more it seems like a good solution.
Kaled, I talked to a lawyer and though we could delay the preceding in Holland they could always just do things in the US that I cannot stop. We also do not have the funding to get legal representation.
<Please explain more it seems like a good solution.>
Most people that I've seen use .htaccess files. I usually just do it in PHP using the header() function to send the appropriate headers.
I don't know ASP, so I can't tell you how it's done. But here are the headers that you'll want to send:
HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Location: [absolute path to new page]
Connection: close
If you know how to send headers in ASP directly to the browser, then with the above you should be all set.
To play around with it, I would first create a test page, and then 301-redirect that page to another. Next, type the URL of the test page into your browser and see if it takes to the target page.
Can someone check if I did it correctly. When I use this site's Header Checker: [searchengineworld.com...]
I get:
Status: HTTP/1.1 301 Error
Location: [lordotringsshop.com...]
Server: Microsoft-IIS/5.0
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 154
Should it not say:
HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Please confirm that this is the best way to let Google know that I am switching to a new domain. I am freaking out here!
I think you're all right - it is the status code that is important. I use asp.net and you can specify the error message with that:
Response.StatusCode = 301;
Response.StatusDescription = "moved";
Response.AppendHeader("Location","http://www.widgetshop.com/");
Response.End();
You should start changing the links and request others to do the same.
Response.StatusCode = 301;
Response.StatusDescription = "moved";
Response.AppendHeader("Location","http://www.widgetshop.com/");
Response.End();
Should I do so? I don't think there is a StatusDescription added to the 301 status at this moment?
And yes, when they get the domain they will just change that but untill that happens I am hoping that Google will change the domain names in their database. I am doing what ever I can to make sure that Google stores as many of the new pages as possible.
<Can't the new owner just remove the 301?>
The idea would be to hope that Google crawls the 301's before the new owner gets ahold of the domain. Once Google is aware that old domain = new domain, it will be difficult for the new owner to convince Google otherwise.
The idea would be to hope that Google crawls the 301's before the new owner gets ahold of the domain. Once Google is aware that old domain = new domain, it will be difficult for the new owner to convince Google otherwise.That's what I'm wondering. Will Google pick this up and hold/keep it? Or will it take several crawls to stick, as in the case of the 404 message?
As the description is configurable I don't think it can be important and in fact I've used different descriptions for Google with no adverse affects.
If you can configure IIS for all pages then fine. I'd check it's working properly though by using something like Rex Swains HTTP viewer with both 'Auto-Follow Location' checked and then unchecked.
In my experience Google drops the old domain and lists the new one in 2-3 weeks max. This will obviously depend on how frequently the googlebot visits though. I can't guarantee that all ranking factors transfer in this time frame but my positions in the SERPS have been the same for the new domains.
Rex Swains HTTP viewer with both 'Auto-Follow Location' checked and then unchecked. What is this? I think the re-direct is working well, all visitors are redirected to the new domain and my log files confirm this.
When I check the links I get to the old domain there are 135 listed of which about 110 are in my own keeping and have been changed already.
WebLog Expert says GoogleBot makes about 40-50 hits per day. I have no idea what it is doing however?
With this info do you think I should see my listings in Google changed anytime soon?
