Redirect subpage to other domain?

[palle22]

Hi

I hope my question isn't totally stupid - I'm new in the game:

I have two websites, an older A and a pretty new B.

On website A I have a page describing my work with a certain subject, and a link from here to website B ("To read more, visit my other website..."

Google ranks my subpage on website A in top of the search results when searching for my preferred keywords, and website B is at 7th-10th in the results.

The goal is to rank website B as high as possible on the given keywords.

Can I redirect my subpage on website A to the frontpage of my website B? How do I do it? (I'm on Wordpress on both domains, and maybe there's a plugin - or should I do something in htaccess file?) And how will it affect my rankings?

Best regards

[Wilburforce]

No, you shouldn't use a redirect in that way. A redirect is telling users and SEs that the content they seek is now at a new URL. What you are wishing to do is send visitors (/SEs) arriving at the old content to a page with different content. The best way to do that is using one or more links on the old page, as you are doing now.

If particular keywords or phrases are important, you might give some thougt to the andchor-text in the links: "To read more, visit my other website..." isn't subject-specific. You might try something like: Visit my other website to read more about <a href="https://www.websiteB.com/newpage.htm">important word or phrase</a>.

[seoskunk]

The easiest way to point one page of a wordpress site to another site sub page with a different url structure is to install a redirection plugin. Then you can define the exact url you wish to point to with a 301. I see no problem in combining the content on site B with the existing content and then redirecting, infact it seems much cleaner to me that way.

A redirect is telling users and SEs that the content they seek is now at a new URL. What you are wishing to do is send visitors (/SEs) arriving at the old content to a page with different content.

It's the same subject seems fine to me.

[lucy24]

Can I redirect my subpage on website A to the frontpage of my website B?

If page A redirects to page B--same website or different one makes no difference--then page A essentially ceases to exist, because nobody can visit it. Has it no content of its own? If you want people to visit site B, why not instead change the links that currently point to page A?

Under the head of You Are Not Alone: To this day, I occasionally get visitors to one obscure page whose referer is--so help me, I'm not making this up--an even more obscure page on my son's personal site, which probably hasn't been modified in 15 years. Apparently the search engine thinks that a page containing the phrase “my mom’s games”* is a better match for certain queries than, well, mom’s games themselves. Sometimes there’s just not a darn thing you can do.


* I did say it was obscure, but you thought I was exaggerating.

[palle22]

The page on website A is only information about website B.

As I read the answers, I can leave it as it is, or make a redirect (and noone will be able to access the page on website A).

How will it affect the rankings of website B, if I make the redirect? Not at all? Will the page on website A still be listed in Google, or will website B climb higher in the search results?

[Wilburforce]

How will it affect the rankings of website B, if I make the redirect?

Why does page A rank?

Any ranking strength based on backlinks to page A will transfer directly to page B if you redirect. Any ranking strength based on the content of page A may be lost if redirecting to a page with different content. Possibly, also, you may lose some existing backlinks when the owners of linking sites discover that the linked content has changed. You will only know the outcome for certain after you make the change. Almost certainly the immediate ranking effect will be that page B takes the place of page A, but that will change (posiibly for the better, but unpredictably) as Google and linking sites evaluate the new content.

However, your best way forward depends on the purpose of site B. Is it intended to replace site A, to supplement site A, to complement site A, or merely to coexist (with few common threads other than the two pages mentioned here)? No single method will suit every purpose, but if in doubt, link to new content, don't redirect. A 301 tells everyone "this page has permanently moved", not "what you thought was this page here is in fact a different page there".

I am sorry that in my first post, I neglected to welcome you: welcome to Webmaster World!

[palle22]

Thanks for welcome and answers!

The page on website A probably ranks, because the website has many backlinks. The page itself doesn't have many backlinks.

The websites are to co-exist, and the specific page on website A is irrelevant to the rest of website A. It is only used to make visitors of website A aware of website B.

So my best option might be to try the redirect?

Regards

[Wilburforce]

No, in that case keep page A for its original purpose (to make visitors to website A aware of website B), and link to page B. Visitors to website A don't wantt to find themselves somewhere unexpected, and if the strength of page A derives from its place in website A, that will almost certainly be lost if you move it.

To transfer as much as possible of the strength of page A to page B:

1. Put the link(s) to page B towards the top of page A (preferably in the paragraph immediately below H1, and in any event above the fold);
2. Use highly-relevant anchor-text;
3. Have as few other outgoing links (including internal site links) on page A as possible.

Then WAIT. Don't keep tinkering with it, and don't expect the result you want to be immediate, or even soon.

Above all, however, respect your visitors: it is fine for them to follow a link (they know where they are going), but not fine to trick them into going to website B by clicking on a link labelled website A.

[palle22]

Thank you!

I have moved the link to website B the top of the page on website A, and also kept a link to website B at the bottom of the page on website A.

Appreciate the help - thanks!

[seoskunk]

I guess there are different schools of thought. I see maintaining a page purely to provide a link to "the real content" way more spammy than a simple redirect to the actual content. I think you have been badly advised here and you should have gone ahead with the redirect.

[Wilburforce]

I see maintaining a page purely to provide a link to "the real content" way more spammy than a simple redirect to the actual content.

Yes, but that isn't what we are doing here. We're developing a new website, with its own content. Getting links from a well-ranked established website to their new content is a web developer's primary aim, although other factors (like whether Google can trace them back to the same owner) may reduce its value. In this case it seems to be working, and my general advice for that reason alone would be to leave well alone.

Apart from the question of whether this is a proper use of a 301 - this isn't a page or domain that has moved - I think it more likely that redirecting will damage than improve the ranking of the new page for the key terms. If you think this bad advice, please share your reasoning.

[seoskunk]

if you think this bad advice, please share your reasoning.

The domain is in all intensive purposes dead its only value is to pass on pagerank, it offers no information of value, does not contribute therefore I think the correct thing to do is 301 it to the active content. From an seo point of view there would be little difference. From a visitor point of view they will immediately see the fresh content without having to find a link to click, they would be instantly connected to the content they were looking for. A much better UX. From a SE point of view they can pass pagerank to the new page and it saves them reindexing dead content.

[Wilburforce]

The domain is in all intensive purposes dead its only value is to pass on pagerank

No. Read the OP's posts, in particular:

"The websites are to co-exist, and the specific page on website A is irrelevant to the rest of website A. It is only used to make visitors of website A aware of website B. "

I'm not sure how you interpret "the websites are to coexist" to mean domain A "is in all intensive purposes dead", but it isn't. It is and will remain active, has good backlinks, and is well-ranked. One page on it (also well-ranked) brings page B to visitors' attention. Redirecting would mean that visitors clicking on an internal link to page A on domain A would find themselves without warning on domain B.

I don't see how that would serve User Experience, and if it isn't actually cloaking or acting as a doorway page it couldn't get a lot closer. Better, in my view, that the structure is retained as it is.