301 permanent redirection

[nmottet]

I have 3 websites that i need to merge into 1. The best option seems to be the 301 redirect, however, i've never used this code before.

I'm afraid that if i do the redirect 301, i will loose these websites rankings. Let's say that one of the website is #8 for a particular keyword. If i put a 301 redirect on this website, what will happen with the #8 ranking? Will the new site take the #8 spot?

I will point all the incoming links to the new site, but what exactly does the 301 bring?

Google talks about it briefly but the explanation is not very detailed and doesn't answer my questions.
[google.com...]

I would appreciate help on this matter.

[nmottet]

Also... Would you have an example of a 301 code for html pages? I can't find one on the net.

A lot of websites talk about the 301 redirection code, but nobody actually says what it is or how to do it step by step.

Help!

[jdMorgan]

nmottet,

Welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com]!

A 301 redirect "merges" the PR and/or link popularity of the pages of the sites.
A 301 redirect is implemented at the server level or by a script, not in html.
How you implement a 301 depends on what server your site is hosted on, and what priveleges you have.
A WebmasterWorld site search (link at top of page) on "301 redirect" will return many threads on this subject.

HTH,
JIm

[nmottet]

Thank you so much for the information. Actually it seems that a non-technical person will have a very hard time doing this.

Is there anybody here who would be interested in doing a 301 redirection for me? I would pay through Paypal, however, we are working on a tight budget, so please be understanding with your pricing.

Information about the server:
<snip>

You can contact me at <snip>.

[edited by: pageoneresults at 2:07 pm (utc) on June 25, 2003]
[edit reason] No URLs/Emails Please - Refer to TOS [/edit]

[nmottet]

It looks like the Terms of Use on this forum forbids me to give my email to find somebody who would do a 301 redirect for me! So i guess i need to find out how to do this by myself.

I found out that the .htaccess file for the redirection is actually just a simple text file with a .htaccess extension.

I open a txt file, and wrote the following code, that i saved with the .htaccess extension:
redirectpermanent / [newurl.com...]

I placed this file in the root folder of the website (in the same location as the index file). I named it file.htaccess.

However, when i visit my old website, i'm not being redirected.

Herm, herm... i don't like techie stuff :( please help!

Is there a way to find out if the 301 permanent redirection work?

[msr986]

Is the lack of a space a typo? Try:

Redirect permanent / [newurl.com...]

Also did you place this in the root directory of your OLD website?

[claus]

I named it file.htaccess.

The ".htaccess" - part (including the dot) is not a file extension. It is the whole file name. The dot is the first character of the name and it does not have any dots or file-extensions after it.

The file name should not be:

file.htaccess

The right name is:

.htaccess

- including the dot.

[nmottet]

That's exactly it! Thanks to both of you i was able to do the redirection. It seems to be working now.

Thank you again! you guys are great.