Help with domain redirect advice please!

[BrandonDoyle]

I run the website http://buildyourjacket.com. We have other domains as well, most importantly www.buildyourjacket.com and cvcsports.com. If you Google "letterman jackets" (our primary search term) cvcsports.com shows up as the first result (yay!). But that is not what we want. Until a few weeks ago, Google would show http://buildyourjacket.com as the domain for the first search result from "letterman jackets". But then a few weeks that changed. I don't know how that could have happened. There are two reasons why we want the domain http://buildyourjacket.com to be the one that shows up: 1) It's a better sounding/looking domain and 2) When it was showing up, Google also showed right below the domain another link of our that said "Build Your Own Jacket" which definitely helped us get more clicks. Can someone please help me and tell me what I should do? Thank you so much.

[RyanKent]

Google's crawl rate varies based on many factors. For example, the New York Times website (nyt.com) probably has it's home page and category pages crawled a few times each day. A website such as yours which has static content, offers few links and has low DA may require a few weeks to be fully crawled.

You can check Google's cache date for your pages on any search result page. Near most results you will see the word "cached". Click the cached link and you will see a header which offers a date/time stamp of when the cache was updated.

[BrandonDoyle]

Ok I understand. And how long does it take Google to crawl? And how will I know for sure that it did?

I just became a PRO member a couple days ago and the help I have received is amazing!

[RyanKent]

With respect to the canonical tag, the two sites are exact duplicates of each other, right? I see pages titled "Custom Super Bowl Varsity Jackets" and so forth. Find a page where the cvc site ranks higher and use the canonical tag to point from that cvc page to the identical page on the buildyourjacket.com site.

This method will allow you to see exactly how Google will treat the change for your site without compromising your #1 spot for the other term. Prior to making this change check exactly where both pages (the cvc and buildyourjacket pages) rank for a couple search terms. Make the change, then check again after Google crawls your sites. Once again keep in mind the rankings may bounce around a bit.

For helpful content I mean a few hundred words which are relevant to your topic and helpful to users. Your site is VERY thin on content. Even your blog articles are only 1 paragraph.

Take a look at the Lands End Site. The content is very thin, but at least there is some descriptive content that is helpful for users. Also, they include UGC (comments) which adds to the pages content and is helpful. http://www.landsend.com/pp/LuxeRainParka~219219_59.html?bcc=y&action=order_more&sku_0=::IO6&CM_MERCH=IDX_Outerwear--Sale--Women&origin=index

I am sure there are better examples if you look around but this would be a couple steps in the right direction.

[BrandonDoyle]

What do you mean try it with other pages first? Like add that code you said to the About page of cvcsports.com?

And as for helpful content in the jacket builder area - do you think things like: "When you're scrolling through the custom jacket designs, be sure to select the categories to filter the results" and "When adding knit patterns to your varsity jacket, experiment with different styles to see which one you like the most" <-- would phrases like those be good?

[RyanKent]

Since you have the #1 ranking for a sales item you could try the process for a couple other pages first, see how it works, then when you have confidence make the change with your home page.

With respect to the flash, crawlers generally cannot see flash content. I had a conversation with someone today and there are specific methods which can be used on a flash site to help. It would require research and/or hiring a SEO with expertise in that specific area.

If the flash was removed and converted to HTML then the content contained within the flash would immediately be readable to search engines. If the content was of good quality, it would help.

I look at your "build your jacket" page and find it useful. The problem is it has no content at all other then a single line of text. Perhaps add helpful content.

[BrandonDoyle]

Ok. So since I really want buildyourjacket.com to be the primary domain I should add that code and trust in the process?

And as for improving the website, we are planning on converting all the flash to HTML5, would that help? Other than that, what else could I do on the pages where the person builds a jacket without looking spammy?

Thanks again for the help!

[RyanKent]

The short answer is yes, but I need to explain further.

When search engines crawl the web, they locate a lot of duplicate content. For any given page SEs want to provide a link to the original content, otherwise you can create a site, duplicate it 10x then the first page of Google would be 10 links to the same duplicated site.

The canonical tag says "the content on the page you are looking at is the same as page X, give page X the credit and index that page, not this one." So in your case, you have duplicate content, you have chosen which page to index and based on that decision the canonical tag used in the way you described will resolve the issue.

With respect to your ranking, the end result is you should retain your ranking. You will lose a small amount of link juice with the canonical because it is treated similar to a redirect. On the other hand you gain a bit by linking to the other site IF the sites are hosted with different web hosts.

Another thing which would help is to take the links currently pointing to the cvc site and update them to point to the buildyourjacket.com site. This will strengthen the page a bit.

I want to be clear. Your current #1 ranking is VERY weak. Your buildyourjacket.com home page has a DA of 19, PA of 22. The "Build Your Jacket" page is filled with flash but no crawlable content. If anyone creates a new page targeting your keyword and applies best SEO practices to the page, they will take your #1 ranking.

The last point is you can expect the change may cause a bounce. You could disappear from rankings for a couple days, re-appear and disappear again. I have seen the transition go perfectly smooth, and I have seen it take several weeks for the change to settle. There is not a way to promise you to take steps 1,2,3 and then everything will be fine.

[BrandonDoyle]

Ok....so basically if I put that code on the home page of the website then buildyourjacket.com will be the main domain and cvcsports will just disappear? And if so, we won't lose our number one ranking for "letterman jackets" in the shuffle will we? Thanks so much for the help!

[RyanKent]

My apologies. I realize what you mean now.

These sites are an exact duplicate of each other. The home page of your cvc site is indexed as #1, while the Jacket Builder page of the second site is indexed.

The problem is Google recognizes the content is duplicated. They pick one page from each site which is most relevant. This is a mess which needs to be cleaned up.

I would drop down to one site. The way I would make that change is to add the canonical tag to your cvc site.

<link href='http://buildyourjacket.com' rel='canonical' /> should be added to the of your page.

The effect is it will tell search engines your cvc page is a copy and the original should be indexed. Each page from the cvc site should be canonicalized to the relevant page on the buildyourjacket site. Once the pages are properly indexed, the cvc site should be taken down and 301'd to the appropriate pages on the buildyourjacket site.

[BrandonDoyle]

That's what I don't understand. It's the same website. And from October 2010 to June 2011 buildyourjacket.com was the #1 result. And then it just switched. And #19 is one page from buildyourjacket.com - but it is not the home page. The home page does talk about letterman jackets.

[RyanKent]

Currently cvcsports.com is ranked #1 and buildyourjackets.com is ranked #19 for "letterman jackets". You would like to reverse those sites.

There is simply not a means to swap sites. Your content on the buildyourjacket.com is simply not good enough to be ranked #1 currently, and the site needs SEO work.

Comparing the two sites:

#1 ranked site has a title with "Letterman Jackets" in it as the 2nd and 3rd words. #19 ranked site has no title.

The #1 ranked site has content on it talking about letterman jackets. The #19 site has no content.

Your best option is to hire a SEO to help you achieve the best ranking possible for your sites.

[BrandonDoyle]

Thanks for the tips. I will check that out.

To be clear: We already do rank #1 for "letterman jackets", but we are #5 for "varsity jackets", so there is still improvement there.

Also, my main thing right now is figuring out how to get our buildyourjacket.com URL back to be the main one instead of cvcsports.com. cvcsports.com is ours, but we like the buildyourjacket.com URL better.

[RyanKent]

Brandon, the buildyourjacket.com site needs SEO work. The best suggestion is to take the time to read the Beginner's Guide to SEO and apply the guide to your site.

A couple quick pointers:

• your page is missing a title. The title is a very important part of SEO. If your primary concern is to rank for "letterman jackets" I would recommend a title of "Letterman Jackets | BuildYourJacket.com".

• Your page is missing H1 and H2 tags. If you want to rank #1 for "letterman jackets" then your H1 tag should be "Letterman Jackets" or something similar.

• Your pages look nice but they are all flash. Search engines cannot crawl flash. You need some legitimate content on your site so the pages can be indexed.

Good luck.