Would you redirect a website after years?

[londrum]

I used to have a website about a particular topic. Then i got a proper job, didn't like that very much, so i started a brand-new website from scratch. Same topic, but different domain. It even has the same directories/topic areas in it.

I didn't bother redirecting the old domain at the time but with all this google hoo-haa going on, and traffic getting harder to come by these days, I'm wondering if its worth redirecting it now. The articles genuinely do match (i used the same material on the new site), but it's been a few years.

Obviously I'm worried about a sudden uptick of backlinks (thousands of them)

[aristotle]

Is there any reason to think that google might have applied an algorithmic penalty to the old site?

Also, which site is currently getting the most traffic from google?

[lucy24]

What, exactly, would you be redirecting? Are there page-for-page equivalents?

If you have two websites on the same topic, aimed at the same audience, it does seem as if it would make sense to consolidate them. But as Aristotle says, you'd have to decide which of the two to keep. All things being equal, I’d use the new site--but in real life, all things are rarely exactly equal.

Another option is to close down one of the two. That is, keep the DNS active, but return a 410 to all requests. Put some thought into a useful 410 page intended for humans: “We’ve moved. Here are some places to look for up-to-date information.”

[not2easy]

Are both sites live? If the idea is to send traffic from the first site to the second, then it makes sense to redirect. Those are not considered backlinks so I would be more concerned about Google considering them duplicate - all the more reason to 301 them properly to the same/similar content on the newer site.

I would remove any sitemap from the old site if you do that.

[londrum]

The first site no longer exists. I turned it off about four years ago. I then rebuilt the second site a year later, using the same material but under a different domain name.

I still own the original domain name. So id be redirecting thousands of old backlinks from the long-dead first site to the second one.

The pages are genuinely like-for-like -- exactly the same topics, but rewritten and expanded

[lucy24]

So id be redirecting thousands of old backlinks from the long-dead first site to the second one.

What backlinks? Do you have reason to believe that humans are still attempting to follow links that haven't worked in four years? Or that search engines will continue requesting URLs that haven’t got a valid response in four years?

Put it that way, it sounds more like trying to raise the dead.

[tangor]

Not sure I'd want any backlinks from a site that did not update when yours went dark!

[londrum]

you're right, it's probably a dumb idea

i know they are old, but I just figured they are still out there, and on topic, so what's the harm

[AndyBeohar]

Redirecting the old domain to the new one could potentially consolidate backlinks and redirect traffic, improving the new site's visibility and authority. However, consider the risks of sudden backlink influx and ensure proper 301 redirects are in place to avoid penalties from search engines. Evaluate the potential benefits and drawbacks carefully before proceeding.

[adman]

I wouldn't do it, since your old domain is practically "dead" in Search.

ensure proper 301 redirects are in place to avoid penalties from search engines

I didn't see any difference between 301 and 302, nor does Google.
I used 302 always, and it never impacted rankings or visibility in Search.

[lucy24]

I used 302 always, and it never impacted rankings or visibility in Search.

A 302 means that if a human requests the same URL again later in the day, they will again receive the 302 response and the browser will have to send in a fresh request for the current URL. A 301 will be remembered by the human browser, and future requests will be sent directly to the new URL.

Sooner or later, the search engine may decide that using a 302 for what are clearly permanent redirects is a sign of Poor Technical Quality. Obviously no one factor will have noticeable results, but why take chances with something that is so easy to do right.

[tangor]

There is a difference between 301 and 302... One is permanent, the other is temporary.... Why make more work for oneself?