How to handle moving to a new domain without penalties

Redirect, point or maintain mirror?

[vmaster]

We've had our site at www.company.freewebspace.net for quite a while, with decent rankings on google, and listings in DMOZ and other directories as well. Last year, we went for our own domain www.company.com in order to present a better image. But since directory listings, search engine rankings, PR and visitor awareness is for the old address, we cannot afford to dump it outright. Now, we have the following options.
1. Maintain site mirrors at both addresses and promote the new address simultaneously, with the ultimate objective to dump the old one at some stage.
2. Use a redirect from the old address to the new one
3. Mirror the same home page look and content on the old site, but with all links pointing to the new site. This is what we are presently doing, as it provides the user with a seamless experience, and seems to be the most logical way out.
Now, is what we are doing right and acceptable ...?

[excell]

I would put a simple "this page has move click here to proceed" message with a simple text link for the user and the spiders to follow

Cull all the content and meta etc from the site and put in a robots tag - "noindex,follow".

Then work to notify the directories and linkbacks of the change of URL and promote the new URL only.

It is a lot of work but it is well worth it, I've been through this a few times! When you feel the new site is stable trash the old one.

{adding - do not use an auto re-director}

[PoorOldMe]

Google actually say to put a permanent moved in the .htaccess file.

moved permanent /whatever to [whatevernew.com...]

[excell]

PoorOldMe I was just looking for that reference and couldn't find it, have they changed it or could you post the link please?

301 is what I use but setting up htaccess on a freespace server may be quite difficult, is why I suggested the simple method.

[jatar_k]

Googleguy did post something recently about putting a permanently moved and the links would get attributed to the new address as well.

I believe it was in a thread in Google News but that is a disaster because of update hysteria. I can't find it either. I think it was in the last two weeks. I remember it well just not the title.

[excell]

It used to also be in the Google webmaster facts, but it has been taken out from what I can see.

[jatar_k]

Based on the fact that it was posted recently I believe it is the right way to do it. That would be the accepted method from a server admin point of view as well. I doubt G would make up their own rules on this one.

hehe, you never know though

<added>vmaster, I don't think I would mirror any of the content, I would go with excell's method of a link with a proper redirect as well.

[vmaster]

Since mirroring and auto-redirects are not advisable, and .htaccess manipulation is not possible with free webspace, the only sensible option seems to be to point to the new domain.

But rather than having a blank page saying "we have moved, click here etc.), isn't it better to have a page that looks exactly as your new home page, with all the links on it pointing to the corresponding pages on the new address i.e. once a user clicks on any link, he is seamlessly at the new address for all practical purposes.

[excell]

I used to leave content on the old site and have had so many nightmares with it, we strip it down as much as possible.

Maybe nice matching colours and an image (no alt tags) or logo with text link "Enter" (like a splash page)

If you put up a dup of the new homepage, some of the folks you are requesting a change URL with might *possibly* not understand, and it also will look like a mirror domain even if you try to protect it with "noindex".
(You might have gathered I am extra cautious :))

[homegirl]

The Google reference I think you're looking for:

"Instead of requesting a change from Google, we recommend that you ask the sites currently linked to your old site to update their links (to point to your new site). Also, don't forget to change any entries you may have in the Yahoo! directory and the Open Directory. Finally, if your old URLs redirect to your new site using HTTP 301 (permanent) redirects, our crawler will know to use the new URL. Changes made in this way will take 6-8 weeks to be reflected in Google."

There's a hyperlink in the above message to:
[ietf.org...]

for more info on HTTP 301.

I believe the above quote was from GoogleGuy though I can't be sure because I was taking notes at the time and did not write down credits. (This might also be in the Google FAQ.)

[jdMorgan]

If the free web space is on an Apache server, they very often do support redirection, but not with mod_rewrite. Instead they allow you to use mod_alias. So, you just put

Redirect permanent / 
http://www.yournewdomain.com

in your .htaccess file.

So first, find out if you can use a .htaccess file, and then try that.

If not, a stripped-down stand-in home page with modified links sounds like it might be a good idea. Just don't make it a close duplicate of the real home page, or you may have to deal with duplicate-content issues. There is still some risk here, though, because no-one knows exactly how similar two pages can be without invoking a ban - this month or next month.

The "We have moved" idea is the safest way, although no-one says the page can't be attractive and still support your branded identity!

Get your directory listings updated as soon as possible!

Jim

[excell]

Thanks homegirl, that is exactly what it used to say. The new info is more focused on links and PR and can be found here:

[google.com...]

We did have a couple that were moving domains with a 301 and the old domains lingered until we built enough strength back up into the new domain's links, so I guess that is the vital thing with a move to let the old die and get out and promote the new address ASAP.

[skirope]

Hey guys.

I was the one that spoke to GoogleGuy on this specific topic. He refered to it as "domain name migration". I did the same thing recently but i simply forwarded my old domain to the new one. As soon as Google crawls again and sees that it redirects to the new one it will consider all your old links as the new one. So you will get the same PR on the new site as you did in the old one as soon as all your links are picked up.

I hope this helps.

Skirope

[annej]

I just left my old host cold turkey and moved to the new one. It all jiggled back an forth for a few hours and then it was done. As soon as I was up on the new one I quit the old host and that was that.

I think it helped Google find the right place and not keep bouncing back and forth.

This dance everything seems to be updated on Google.

Maybe I was just lucky.

Anne