Two versions of same site

Is this a nuts idea or not?

[galaga]

I want to change the look of my site. Essentaially, the structure will stay the same with just the graphics, text and layout on pages changing. Is it a good idea to have on the main page, a link to the old version of the site for people who preffered it, or will google ffreak out? What will happen if I end up say with two slightly different versions of a page getting ranked?

[galaga]

please help, I don't want to get banned from Google or something.

[Woz]

Hi galaga,

An interesting question, we sometimes discuss the perils of Mirror sites but not intentional duplicate pages.

My first thought would be to put the "no index" tag on the old version to ensure Google does not index it and therefor, hopefully, not compare it to the new page.

Other than that I too would be interested in other people thoughts.

Onya
Woz

[Ove]

I agree with you Woz

Put no index on the old one and wait to the new one is in the index.

I have the same situiatuon before and i was not quick enogh to put the old one away so i got to pages very similiar and google put the new one from the index.

/Ove