301, 302 - how long is permanent?

[ReturningSEO]

Hi All,

We are currently migrating our site from one domain to other (we are moving to a new cms). We will be on this Cms for 12-18 months before moving back to the previous domain and final CMS platform.

My question: Should we use 301 Permanent or 302 Temporary redirects for this period?

SEO<-

[Brett_Tabke]

You are moving to a new domain and then moving back? 302...

[ReturningSEO]

Fair enough .... just didn't know whether 12 - 18 months counted more as permanent (and believe me I wish we could keep the domain name the same.

Thanks Brett

SEO<-

[jdMorgan]

Why can't you keep the domain name the same?

Assuming the most common answer to that question, have you considered a reverse proxy set-up on the original server so that requests for the current (and unchanged) domain are simply forwarded to a new server (using its IP address or different domain name if actually required) instead of requiring client redirection (which exposes the temporary domain-name change to browsers and search engines)?

Jim

[ReturningSEO]

Why can't you keep the domain name the same?

In short ... the systems during both changes have to be running in parallel and are on different infrastructure.

SEO<-

[jdMorgan]

So why not put the old server on a new domain?

This hinges on why and how the systems have to be running in parallel. If it's for development, then you can re-assign the domain names avoiding the redirect. If it's for A/B testing and the proposed redirect is to be "conditional," that's a bit different, but still does not require a client redirect.

I'm asking because there are an awful lot of unnecessary redirects implemented on sites, and search ranking often tanks for days, weeks, or even many, many months when a whole site is redirected.

So, if redirects can be avoided, then they should be avoided; The possibility of putting yourself out of business due to loss of ranking (and therefore revenue) during development of a new system shouldn't be ignored. Knowing next to nothing about your situation, I'm just waving a red flag over here to avert possible disaster...

Jim

[ReturningSEO]

So why not put the old server on a new domain?

It's contractual. Believe me I know it's not best practice.

[johnnie]

How about just flipping DNS records for a while?

[ReturningSEO]

It's the DNS that's contracted.

[tedster]

Of course we don't know your contractual situation, but what you describe is a real rock-and-a-hard-place decision. A 302 redirect would be the slightly better of two really awful choices.

A 302 "should" keep your old URLs in the index, so that's a small but somewhat positive point. However, that long a period will probably cause issues with newly accumulating backlinks pointing to the new domain name.

I just can't wrap my head around this situation - does the organization actually OWN both domain names?

[CainIV]

Ouch. Good luck with the process!

[ReturningSEO]

Of course we don't know your contractual situation, but what you describe is a real rock-and-a-hard-place decision.

Tell me about it.

Here is the situation.

The site is currently contracted to be hosted where it is with it's domain name (we own the domain but not the hosting on CMS).

We are launching a new CMS before the current contract expires. Hence the need for the second domain name.

The site is then being moved to an even newer (and final) CMS piece by piece (newer CMS back on original domain name)

Ouch. Good luck with the process!

Thanks.