Moving site to new domain without redirects

[openmind]

Hi, I want to move the contents of my site to a new domain but I want to do the entire process step by step over a couple of months so that for a substantial period of time I will have to sites running parallel. Each site will have unique content as I will create new content for the new site while moving pages from the old site to the new site at the same time.

My question is this: Will Google understand that I'm moving the contents of my site to a new domain even if I don't add any redirects? That is, I will simply remove pages from the old site and add them to the new site. How long will it take until the new pages receive the same amount of traffic as the existing pages?

Many thanks for your answers in advance.

[goodroi]

Google is a computer. It can not read your mind. It will see a duplicate content and its computer algorithm is programmed to dislike duplicate content. You are also going to have usability issues changing the domain with no redirects. The worst part in my perspective is using redirects means no backlink power will transfer to the new site. No backlinks usually means no rankings.

[openmind]

Why does it see duplicate content when I move content from one domain to another? I remove a page from one site and add it to another. Where is the duplicate content?

[not2easy]

Why does it see duplicate content when I move content from one domain to another?

Think of a bookshelf you are familiar with. You have read all the books there and you pick them up from time to time to read favorite pages or chapters. Now imagine that you pick up one of those books but you don't recognize the cover. "Oh, this is a new book," you might think. But when you open the cover, there are the familiar pages. Would you instantly forget that you have read those pages before and think that it was a new book? More likely you would recognize the pages, but not the book and think that something seems not quite right.

In my experience Google never seems to forget a page.

[EditorialGuy]

Why not simply redirect the existing pages as you move them to the new domain? If you move a dozen pages next Tuesday, add a dozen redirects next Tuesday. You don't have to redirect everything in one fell swoop.

[lucy24]

while moving pages from the old site to the new site

Then what happens to the humans who are familiar with the content on some particular page-- who may have linked to it, or bookmarked it, or posted about it on social media? Is there some underlying reason you don't want to redirect, even though it's the standard thing to do whenever you have moved material from one URL to another (same or different sites doesn't matter)?

[openmind]

The current site is very old and for the past 7 years has been running one server that might break down at some point. It will be almost impossible to move the site to a new server then so there won't be any redirects then anyway. In other words, sooner or later the old site will simply cease to exist.

[phranque]

It will be almost impossible to move the site to a new server then so there won't be any redirects then anyway. In other words, sooner or later the old site will simply cease to exist.

add redirects to the old server for the urls as they are moved to the new server.
once all the content has been moved to the new domain, change your DNS configuration for the old domain so that it also resolves to the new server.
then create a new VirtualHost on the new server and specify a ServerName matching the old domain's hostname.
then move all the redirects to the new server so that any requests for the old hostname(s) still get redirected to the new canonical hostname.

[Wilburforce]

It will be almost impossible to move the site to a new server then so there won't be any redirects then anyway. In other words, sooner or later the old site will simply cease to exist.

The site (all its URLs) can reside on any server, which, as Phranque points out, is a DNS issue. The site doesn't cease to exist when the server goes down.

Redirection is telling visitors to example1.com to go to example2.com and is not related in any way to the server(s) on which those addresses reside.

If the old server (host) is about to die, move the site to a new server. Most hosting companies will handle the DNS for you. There is no need to change domains/URLs (although you can do that if you wish, and you can - and should in that case - redirect on the new server). When changing hosts the new DNS record will need time to propagate, so you can expect the site to disappear for a couple of days at most, but that is all.

I'm not clear about why you want a new domain, but the state/status of its current host should not be the reason for it.

[phranque]

I'm not clear about why you want a new domain, but the state/status of its current host should not be the reason for it.

my answer was predicated on the domain name change being a legitimate requirement but i concur with Wilburforce's statement here.

[tangor]

If the old domain AND I'M NOT SAYING IT WAS!, was penalized for shady practice, seriously bad coding, bad neighborhood, other black hat and this move to new domain is in hopes of starting over, then I would not redirect from old to new, nor would I move pages (as they exist) from old to new.

The negative can also happen by poor advice, out-dated seo tricks, or other past practice which, these days, will knock a site out of the serps. AGAIN, I AM NOT SUGGESTING this is the case.

If you are starting over to get a clean slate and another shot at ranking in the serps, then make a clean break, rewrite the content that has value (and vet it, make sure it is unique, or at least original). Same goes with images, unless they are so generic they can't be tracked all that well.

The major se's have long memories, they never forget, they follow whois, and there's few places to hide, and their repository of past sites/pages is immense, and GROWING, as well as their ability to comb through that mountain of data and make comparisons.

I've had several clients over the years who did combinations of all the above to some degree, a few by intent, the rest by accident, and the clean break, new whois, new dns, new everything, including the content, followed by best practices managed to save their companies or business endeavors for on line presence and enterprise.

I DO NOT IMPLY the OP engaged in any of these activities! Just mentioning that should any of the above apply, and was not a one off accident quickly remedied (and usually forgiven by the se's) don't make a move to recover unless there's a clean break, else you'll be caught out and whacked a second time, perhaps even harder.