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    4. Best Practices for Moving a Sub-Domain to a Sub-Folder

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    Best Practices for Moving a Sub-Domain to a Sub-Folder

    Intermediate & Advanced SEO
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    • DarinPirkey
      DarinPirkey last edited by

      One of my clients is moving their subdomain to a subfolder on their main domain.  (ie.  blog.example.com to example.com/blog)

      I just wanted to get everyone's thoughts on some best practices for things we should be doing/looking for when making this move.? ie WMT, .htaccess, 301s etc?

      Thanks.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • BradyDCallahan
        BradyDCallahan @DarinPirkey last edited by

        Glad it helped!

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • DarinPirkey
          DarinPirkey @BradyDCallahan last edited by

          These are really good.  I'm going to dive into them tonight.

          On top of moving the subdomains (there are 3) we've also built a new site on a new platform and moving all those pages from there too.   They had page IDs vs Search Engine Friendly urls.  They've been online since 2002 so there has been a TON of work that has gone into it and I just want to make sure I can make the move as smooth as possible.

          Thanks again for your help and I'll keep you posted.

          BradyDCallahan 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
          • BradyDCallahan
            BradyDCallahan last edited by

            Moving a subdomain permanently can be a huge project! This question is probably better answered through a blog post that includes a walkthrough of what to check - and double check - before finalizing anything. Below are some of the blog posts I've found that best detail this process. If you come across any questions, feel free to reach out! I'd be happy to help. But I'm sure the blog posts will do the trick (including one here at Moz!)

            • How to Completely Ruin (or Save) Your Website with Redirects

            • A Quick Guide to Redirects for SEO

            • How to Help Avoid SEO Pitfalls with 301 Redirects

            Good luck!

            DarinPirkey 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
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