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Is there a way of telling the robot when it visits the old page where to find the new page? so that it definately gets listed.
Do a site search here on WebmasterWorld for 301 redirect.
This is a safe method to move a file permanently, but keep it's old URL working until it is re-indexed at the new location.
How you implement this depends on what server your site is hosted on (i.e. Apache, IIS, Win2K, etc.) and what privelege level you have.
HTH,
Jim
Thanks
I do not have my own server, i am hosted by a major service provider. i do not have access to server-level commands, CGI scripts, etc.
I called my ISP to inquire about 301 redirects and was told this is an html process that i can incorporate into my own web pages that i need redirected.
Is this actually true? If so, can someone direct me to a place that would demonstrate the actual html code used to do this?
Thanks a lot.
No, they described an html page redirect, implemented using the <meta refresh> tag. This can work, but a server-side 301 Permanent redirect is much more efficient. Also, it avoids having to keep a real html page at the old URL to do the redirection.
Allow me to translate what your ISP told you... "You need a new hosting provider." :)
<soapbox>Addressed to everyone: Do you make money from your site? If so, think really hard about spending a few extra dollars, pounds sterling, etc. per month to get a "real" hosting provider who will let you administrate your site with .htacccess and mod_rewrite, or the equivalent for other server types. I pay an outrageous $15 per month, and have full provileges in .htaccess. Yeah, I could get a $6.99 account, but the 24/7 monitoring, uninterruptable power supplies, redundant backup network connections, and the ability to protect myself against e-mail address harvesters, and the like is well worth it!</soapbox>
HTH,
Jim
HTH,
Jim
Thank you for that link. I am now on the track to solving this problem, thanks to all of you who took time to answer my question.
I spoke with my ISP who has informed me that they can move me to a different server which will allow me to use .htaccess files, etc, which i cannot do on the current server.
They are going to do what they call a "seamless transfer" which apparently involves a "nameserver" change. When the domain has been recreated on the new server they will let me know so that i can upload my site to it. They mentioned the possibility of "downtime" before the new location is recognized.
They suggested a maximum of 2 days downtime. My current site will remain where it is until i take it down. i propose to delete the old site once i have confirmation that the new location is in place and then upload the site to the new location.
#1. How can this hurt me?
#2. Does this affect my standing with Google in any way?
#3. During the transfer--the in-between time--what happens to people who try to visit my site at its current location. (It's my understanding that after the transfer, everything will work exactly the way it does now, including external links, right?)
The terms "seamless" and "downtime" are mutually exclusive, so I don't know what they mean by that.
I would suggest that you wait at least a week, or until the discussion here on WebmasterWorld indicates that the Google deep-crawl has finished, before starting this move.
If they copy your site over, then update the DNS (the translation of domain name to IP address, done by a nameserver), and afterwards tell you that you can take the old site down, then it should indeed be a seamless move. The only problem, faced by many here, is that Google caches the IP addresses associated with domain names (Google maintains their own local nameservers), and so it can take them awhile to catch on and start spidering your new IP address. This is why I suggest NOT doing the move now, while the deep-crawl is in progess.
If your host does indeed give you a seamless move, then visitors will see nothing to indicate any change.
There was another thread yesterday about moving a site, too. You might want to look for it.
HTH,
Jim
Since our site traffic is predominately week day traffic I did the nameserver change on a weekend - I switched on a Friday at 4 PM. That way the visitors are impacted less.
jdMorgan is probably correct to suggest that you wait until the crawl has finished. I did it while Googlebot was crawling and she switched over at the same time the nameservers were changed and it did not cause any problems. But in hindsight I probably should not have done that.
After the nameserver change has taken effect, but before I upload the pages to the new location, what happens to visitors who attempt to hit pages at my old location? Am i correct in assuming that they will get an error, even though the previous site is still in its old place? (I know this is a very basic question that indicates my ignorance about how this all works.)
Am i correct in assuming that they will get an error, even though the previous site is still in its old place?
Yes - they will get an error if you do it that way. To avoid this you want to have identical content up at both the old and the new servers at the time you change the nameservers. During the transition some visitors will be going to the old server while some visitors will be going to the new server. Watch you logs and you'll know when the transition is complete. There is some conjecture here at WebmasterWorld about how long to leave the data at the old server - it seems a month or so is normal from what I've read.
Hope this helps!
However, a month after the change Ask Jeeves/Teoma spider came along and spidered the entire old site, which tells me it must not have updated it's nameservers in that time.
Question similar to the Discussion.
I have just upgraded my server with my current hosts, and have now been assigned a new IP will this have a direct affect on the SE's/UA's?
With this upgrade i don't have the option of leaving content on the old IP is there another workaround for this or should i not be affected?
Many thanks to all :)
-gs
Demand the option - at least until the new DNS propagates. Really, it's the professional way to move a site, and they know it. It may be inconvenient for them, but it's lost visitors/customers/sales/reputation for you if your site is disrupted.
Otherwise, it might make more sense for you to leave your old account up for a month, and move to a different hosting company - You can quote me on that! ;)
Talk to a real, competent person, and let them know you expect this to be done correctly: Content uploaded to new server, DNS switchover initiated, (72 hours minimum), DNS switchover complete, remove content from old server.
Some good news out of the recent update is that it appears that Google has improved their DNS caching, and is now responding to new IP addresses much faster than in the past. There is a recent thread on it here [webmasterworld.com].
HTH,
Jim
Will have another go at asking them, but they never have been the most helpful of hosts...
And as for the option of leaving them, well, when I tried this before the renewal I had a very hard time finding another host with similar services i.e. apache & tomcat at a reasonable cost.
[added]The fresh GoogleBot seems to be hitting me again, is this a better sign?[/added]
KR,
-gs
Jim
I thought I might have had a visit from the DeepBot by now...
Well here is hoping, but again thanks for the info :)
-gs
Some good news out of the recent update is that it appears that Google has improved their DNS caching, and is now responding to new IP addresses much faster than in the past.
I switched a site over to a new host in the middle of a crawl 2 weeks ago. Googlebot found the new host within 24 hours of changing nameservers and has never come back to the old host. So I'd have to agree that their DNS caching is much improved.
Did that also include the DeepBot? Would be nice to know :)
Thx.
-gs
