I want to use a domain that has previously been forwarded elsewhere. Any considerations?
-
There's a domain name (we will call it A) with no domain authority that is currently forwarded to a domain with 36 DA (we will call this domain B). B has been dormant for about two years. I am getting both domains, but domain A works better for what I will be using it for. So basically, I want to swap things around so B forwards to A, instead of A forwarding to B. Any dangers here or things to consider that I may be overlooking?
-
Yes, analyze the links pointing to that domain and verify there arent many SPAM links.
Also, a link reclamation campaign will most likely be needed for brand mentions, which can be very time consuming.
-
The main danger will be, which domain holds the majority of your quality backlinks? A link which hits a page directly, usually contributes more to the associated website's SEO authority, than a hyperlink which hits a page through a redirect (even the mighty 301)
Google have at times, stated that 301 redirects do or do not transfer 100% of a page's SEO authority to the destination URL. So which is it!? Do they or don't they!?
What we have found is that the content similarity seems to make a big difference. A 301 redirect can transfer 100% of the SEO equity, or it can transfer as little as 0%. If the content on the page which is sending the redirect was similar to the content on the resultant page (destination URL) then a lot of the authority seems to slide over. If the content is very different then not much does. This includes site-theme similarity (using the same or a similar) logo to some degree, but the impact of those alterations is lower than alterations of the core content
I personally reckon' that Google thematically categorise sites and, that does impact the equity flow of links and redirects. A site which is a dog hotel, could redirect all its pages to a car garage - but guess what? The axiom of relevance along which the SEO authority travels is too tenuous, so one site is thrown away and the gains on the new site are minimal
It's possible that Google sometimes takes things a step further and compares the similarity of the content (included images, text, everything) on their cache of the old page to the content on the new page. This would obviously be done mathematically using something like Boolean string-similarity comparison (or similar)
Some sites even lose a chunk of their SEO authority during redesign-oriented migrations, because the strength of their content similarity is too low. If anything it's best to keep things isolated, move an exact replica of the site to the new domain first - then change the design later. SEO is marketing. Marketing is money. Money comes first
If you are moving one site to another domain, then you are embarking upon a migration project. They can be really complex with many factors to consider. I wish you the best of luck!
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
-
Domain Masking SEO Impact
I hope I am explaining this correctly. If I need to provide any clarity please feel free to ask. We currently use a domain mask on an external platform that points back to our site. We are a non-profit and the external site allows users to create peer-to peer fundraisers that benefit our ministry. Currently we get many meta issues related to this site as well as broken links when fundraisers expire etc. We do not have a need to rank for the information from this site. Is there a way to index these pages so that they are not a part of the search engine site crawls as it relates to our site?
Technical SEO | | SamaritansPurse0 -
What do you use to come up with content ideas?
Buzzsumo charge and not sure it's worth it. didn't find Quora helpful. Any others?
Technical SEO | | SwanseaMedicine2 -
Using the £ sign in meta title
Is it a bad idea to include a £sign in my meta title? It currently has a price incentive in it. Does Google not like this from organic traffic titles/ meta descriptions? Thanks,
Technical SEO | | EdLongley0 -
I have a blog on a sub domain, would you move it to the rood domain in a directory?
I have a blog that preforms fairly well on a sub domain, but after reading a post that Rand made to the Q & A I am thinking about moving it to the main domain in a sub directory. What are your thoughts on this? Here are some stats on it. The blog currently gets about 5 x the traffic of the main domain. The domain is older, 2008 creation date. They pretty much register for the same keywords.
Technical SEO | | LesleyPaone0 -
Specific Domain Migration Question
My company will be taking over an ecommerce site that is built to get local city/state traffic where the competition is slim to none for the given keyword. This site gets 2500+ visits per day, and we're looking to maintain and eventually grow that traffic. We would like to move that site onto our ecommerce platform which will force URL change and of every 'keyword' city/state page on the site. We're undecided whether to keep it on an unfamiliar platform that already gets traffic or to move it and possibly face the 404's or weeks of redirecting a single keyword-city/state page to another. Any advice or insight would be great!
Technical SEO | | BMac540 -
Is a 302 useful here?
We have a site that had one super successful viral video a couple of years back and basically the site needs a ton of work to even be functional. We don't have the time or the resources to even touch it. Our video is still getting tons of views today and I'm fairly certain it's the only reason the site still gets traffic. Most of the views come from youtube which prompts them to check out the site. We plan on going back to the site at a later date, but for now wanted to redirect it to another site of ours. In this case is it best practice to 302? or is a 301 still the proper solution?
Technical SEO | | ClaytonKendall0 -
Selecting a new domain name
If a two word domain is already taken (e.g. onetwo.com), which of the following is a better alternative? 1. one-two.com 2. onetwo.org Best,
Technical SEO | | ChristopherGlaeser
Christopher0 -
Domain Authority and Page Rank concerns when using CNAME
In the event that a person uses a service like Blogger or a photo service like Photo Shelter, but use a CNAME to resolve example.blogspot.com or example.photoshelter.com to example.com, how does that affect Domain Authority and Page Rank in real world results, and how does it affect the user when/if they leave the service and establish their own site? For example: A client has a blog on Blogger called johndoephotography.blogspot.com but uses CNAME so what is shown is johndoephotography.com. The Domain Authority is quite high since he is really on Yahoo's domain. How does that affect SERP rankings? Is it ignored, since it is merely a sub-domain, or does the parent domain actually give a benefit? The second part: If John Doe decides to host his own WordPress blog, what happens to that domain authority? Has he lost it all?
Technical SEO | | WilliamBay0