Still problems with 301 redirect to new domain?

Google removed both old and new address

[Acrol]

I think Google still has got some problems with 301 redirects. I'm the webmaster of a noprofit association's site, online since 1997 and with hundreds of backlinks worldwide (also on DMOZ). It has always ranked very well.

One month ago I moved it from the third level domain oursite.widgets.com to its own new domain www.oursite.org with a correct 301 redirect.

RedirectMatch 301 ^(.*)$ http://www.oursite.org$1

All the other search engines now list correctly the new url, while Google simply removed both, the old one and the new "oursite.org".
Searching for the association name gives neither of the two urls. Searching "site:oursite.org" returns zero results. Searching "oursite.widgets.com" returns 98 results (but not the homepage).

I remember that years ago Google had problems with redirecting to new urls, as I've seen this strange bahaviour remains.

How could I solve this problem?

[edited by: tedster at 1:18 pm (utc) on July 6, 2006]
[edit reason] turn off graphic smile faces [/edit]

[Acrol]

So nobody has experienced this lately?
The site still doesn't appear in Google, why in the other SE is first for the main term and third for other searches.
I must add that the site is the same, with same content, files and structures, so it must be clear to SE that it's the same and not a new one.

Why Google is so bugged with new domains and/or redirects? :-(

[hulvert]

That's interesting because 10 days I also changed domains, and at the moment if I search for the company name, Google gives both URLs as results. I'm concerned that I may get a duplicate content penalty for this.

However, on investigating further (using site:) I discovered that each of my 50 or so pages are listed only once under either the new or the old domain. I assume this will gradually change until they're all under the new domain once Google has crawled them all.

The only concern is the homepage which is appearing under both domains - maybe this is because I have updated the homepage since I changed domains, so it perhaps isn't a duplicate by Google's measure. The title is the same but most of the content is different.

[sudden]

I had to move our home page into a folder a few weeks ago (so example.com/index.html ist 301īd to example.com/folder/index.html). For a few days, both the old and the new index.html showed up in Google - which made for a nice double entry for my main search terms.. :)

Now, only one page is showing and everything works fine, all our results are stable. However, Google still shows the old path (example.com/index.html). I donīt really care, but thatīs certainly not the way a 301 should be handled by Google.

[ou812]

I have a theory Acrol. Did the same thing about 4 weeks. Exact same story as you - everything as Google says it wants it done but tehy are the only search engine to dump both sites entirely. Lost real good rankings from the old site.

What is the age of your new domain? My new domain was brand new - so my theory would involve the sandbox that causes such debate :-)

[Acrol]

Yes, the domain is new (just few months of age with default installation page), never used before. But Google should understand that is just the old site moved to a different location, not a new site, as stated by 301 redirect. All the other SE understood this.

[ou812]

While I agree with you in principle, it is not Google that is trying to recognize this, it is their computers that must try to figure it out.

Google obviously has some filters that the others do not - because like you, my new domain has regained its old rankings in all of the other engines... even Yahoo, who admits they do not do 301's very well. In Google, both old and new are completely gone.

[nailah phoomee]

Oh...G.
My www. pages don't have pagerank while the none www. pages do have very nice pagerank.
I'm using the redirect now and HOPING that my www. pages will have PR on the next update .

Currently, my traffic drops, my adsense drops and my clients complain. This is such a nightmare.

Somebody please tell me if I shouldn't continue with the redirect.

Thanks for all.

[adam2006]

How long the PR transfer to your new domain?

[Quadrille]

My www. pages don't have pagerank while the none www. pages do have very nice pagerank. I'm using the redirect now and HOPING that my www. pages will have PR on the next update ... Somebody please tell me if I shouldn't continue with the redirect.

If the 301 is correctly configured, you will not see the non-www pages, ever. Even if they appear in the serps (they will for a while), clicking on those results will *immediately* take you to the www version.

301s are not instant. For established sites, incoming links to the 'old' pages will set up 'ghosts' until a complete cycle of spidering has occurred.

For new sites, all manner of interesting things can happen - rarely due to the 301.

Set up the 301; check it, then wait patiently, is my advice.

Also, when 301ing from one domain* to another, don't forget to remove all the old content!

*For 'domain' read domain OR subdomain - Google sees them as interchangeable

[mashdy]

Hi Guys,

I did a 301 redirect from yourwidget.com(5 year old domain with GREAT google rankings for its terms) to mywidget.com (2 year old domain with GOOD google rankings for its terms). Both sites are related to the same industry and shared common keywords although content was different on both. After the 301 was implemented, The ranking of the 5 year old site with its strong keywords was transfered to the 2 year old site within a week. in Google, the strong keywords for the 5 year old site maintained their rankings when transfered to the 2 year old site. I think it is important to let a new domain age well with related keywords and fresh content before doing a complete 301 from an old url to a new one for sites with related topics, industry, and keywords. Two weeks ago i did the 301 and so far everything is as it was before.