Help understanding 301 domain redirect
-
Can anyone help me understand a specific process of a 301 redirecting a domain.
Here is what I would like to know....
When you 301 redirect a site, most if not all the links follow to your new site. But how does this process happen?
1.When Google sees the new domain does it simply apply the backlink profile of the old site to the new one?
2. Does it have to re-crawl all the links one by one and apply them to the new domain?
3. or something else?
-
Hi Gary,
To answer each of your questions:
1. Unfortunately, it isn't that simple. There are a few factors that Google will take into account when it sees 301 redirects to a new domain. In the past, this technique has been used to manipulate Google, for example people would buy expiring domains that have links pointing to them, then 301 that domain to their own - even if the domain was in no way related to what the expired domain was about. So Google will look at the relevancy of the links and try to figure out if the redirects would make a good user experience for anyone who clicks on the links and gets redirected.
2. Yes. Google needs to crawl the links in order to find the redirect and see where it points to. Depending on how strong your website is in terms of link equity, it may take a few hours to a few weeks for Google to crawl all of the pages on your site and find the redirects. Because of this, redirecting one site to another can often lead to at least a temporary loss in traffic for the domain whilst Google figures out what is going on.
I hope that helps!
Paddy
-
I know you can submit your site in webmaster tools to be re-crawl if you need it to be re-crawled.
I can only think it must re-crawl it to find the new location its pointed to.
Sorry I couldn't give you a definitive answer, good luck though.
-
Hi Chris,thanks for the response.
However you say "I would assume your link would have to be re-crawled" and that is the only bit I needed a definitive answer for LOL.
I have looked everywhere for an answer but so far not found one....
-
Matt Cutts touches on it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Filv4pP-1nw
A 301 is telling Google that the new home of that link is there.
I've seen whole sites 301 then the site has ranked a bit of the keyword that was not relevant to the site (e.g batteries to a site than doesn't sell anything).
I would assume your link would have to be re-crwaled so Google knows the new home once it has been though it shouldn't need to re do it.
in short:Google finds the 301 then knows that is the new home of the link and passes anything that used to go to that link onto the new location.
I hope that helps a bit for you. If not I'm sure some one around here can go far more in depth if you want it more technical
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Moving content to a newer domain - 301 re-direct not possible
I had a website that was getting decent traffic. Around 2k visits a day. Owing to some issues, the domain was suspended my the domain provider and they won't be releasing it anytime soon. Now, I'm in talks with my domain provider and it might take some good time to get back the domain live (weeks if not months). So, I have decided to migrate all my content to a new domain. Also, Google has stopped displaying my earlier domain (the suspended domain) in the search results now and I have removed the property from webmaster tools/search console. And since my earlier domain is suspended, redirection is not possible. So, I had a couple query in regards to this: I'm in the process of moving the content from the older suspended domain to the newer domain. What should I do that Google does not penalise my new site on the grounds of duplicate content, etc. What other things I should do while I'm in the process of this migration.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Evaway0 -
HTTPS 301 Redirect Question
Hi, I've just migrated our previous site (siteA) to our new url (siteB) and I've setup 301 redirects from the old url (siteA) to the new (siteB). However, the old url operated on https and users who try to go to the old url with https (https://siteA.com) receive a message that the server cannot be reached, while the users who go to http://siteA.com are redirected to siteB. Is there a way to 301 redirect https traffic? Also, from an SEO perspective if the site and all the references on Google search are https://siteA.com does a 301 redirect of http pass the domain authority, etc. or is https required? Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | opstart0 -
Is it ok to 301 redirect this previously algorithmicly penalised site?
Hi All, Is it OK to 301 redirect site A to site B? Site A: http://goo.gl/P9Zp2y Site B: http://goo.gl/ySDCzb The story - in 2013 site a seemed to be penalised with some kind of anchor text algorithm penalty - SEO couldnt fix, so created site B and turned site A into a holding page with a no follow link to new site. SEO company worked on disavow file etc, implemented in late 2013 301 redirect site A to B in late 2013 - SEO advised to stop 301 about 8 weeks later... This was my fault i didnt realise the implications of a redirect... Stopped the redirect, but too late, as site B dropped in rankings in early 2014 - new disavow files uploaded to both sites, but damage seems done now. No longer have a SEO company, and i would ideally like to 301 redirect site A to B, as it looks messy having a holding page - but wanted to check if SEO would still strongly advise against that? please advise James
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | isntworkdull0 -
Help! My Domain Authority keeps dropping! What do I do?
Hey! I just noticed my Domain Authority keeps dropping? What's happening? What do I do to get it better. I'm scared and dont know the next move to make to get this site better. Help please! Thanks! http://www.moondoggieinc.com Kristy O
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | KristyO1 -
Buying existing domain: 301 or keep site?
I have the opportunity to buy a domain in the same vertical as my own (real estate) which has a decent link profile and good SERPs. What are the pros and cons of keeping the existing domain and tweaking the content versus 301ing the domain to my existing domain or a page on my domain?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Geordieromer0 -
Canonical or 301 redirect, that is the question?
So my site has duplicate content issues because of the index.html and the www and non www version of the site. What's the best way to deal with this without htaccess? Is it a 301 redirect or is it the canonical, or is it both?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bronxpad0 -
Are there any negatives to channeling my links through a 301 redirect?
I'm channeling 1000's of links through another url with a 301 redirect. I've thought this through and can't see any downside to doing this, but I want to get your opinion. Can you see any downside to doing this? With regards to passing anchor text, PR, PA, etc? Since this is done with sites all the time when they change urls, I can't see Google being able to penalize me for this....can you? What do you think?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Brian-M0 -
Can penalties be passed via 301 redirect?
I have a well established domain that's been hit with some penalties. It hasn't been nuked off the map, just downgraded, especially on short-tail, one word type queries. I'm planning on redirecting this domain to another well established domain. The domains already have a history of lots of interlinking and are very similar from a subject matter standpoint. I feel that the penalized domain has been hit with an "over-optimization" of link anchor text penalty (I'm hoping it's algorithmic, but it could be manual). My question is if anyone has ever heard of a penalty like this being transferred to another domain through a 301 redirect. My hope is that the penalty just puts a cap on how much juice the redirect can pass, rather than transferring the penalty to the other domain itself. Any thoughts on this?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SEOMG1