Redirecting a Page from Domain A to Domain B

[EGOL]

We have a page on Domain A, an established and well-ranking website, that would be more appropriate on Domain B, a site that we launched about two years ago.

This page ranks well, pulls nice search traffic and has traffic from external links.

We would like to move the page and its traffic from Domain A to Domain B using a 301 redirect.

Have you ever done this or have you heard of how it has worked for someone else?

Thanks!

[EGOL]

Thank you John!   I'll remember to edit the links.  

[EGOL]

Awesome!   Thank you Cyrus.

1. I didn't know that it would drop over time.  Thanks!

2. Yep.  I figured this, but will accept it.  

3. Yep.  Will do this!

[Cyrus-Shepard]

Hi Egol,

Let me add my 2 cents. In my experience this sort of thing works, but there are quite a few things that can go wrong. Some general thoughts:

1. The 301 redirect will only pass about 80% of the pre-existing link juice, and drop over time.

2. If the new domain has a lower domain authority or vastly different backlink profile, this can hurt the new page's ability to rank.

3. Works best to keep the title tag and other html elements as close to the original as possible, including page layout.

I've found it also helps to build new links to the redirected page as soon as possible. Really, I don't like to redirect pages if I can help it, and usually do so only out of necessity.

[john4math]

Do any pages on Domain A link to this page?  Is it going to be off-putting or strange for users to get whisked off to Domain B when they follow these links?  If so, is this a place where a cross-domain canonical might make more sense?

If you go the redirect route, do make sure to update all your internal links from Domain A to go directly to the page on Domain B as to not bleed any link juice by going through the redirect, and to help mitigate the surprise of changing domains (some people look at link destinations before clicking links).

[EGOL]

Thank you, Streamline.  Should be really easy here because we have .html pages.

[EGOL]

Thank you, Chenzo.!

[StreamlineMetrics]

I would just add the 301 redirect directly on the page. If you are using PHP, this should work -

header("HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently"); header("Location: http://www.domainb.com/page.php"); ?>

[Chenzo]

Not a fun process - but I have done migrations like this in the past.

From what platform to the next is it?

Example: PHP to wordpress or wordpress to wordpress kind of move?

• I had did a php to .html (wordpress platform) - using canonical link methods as well - and the migration/indexing went flawless.

Would like to see if I can help ;o)

Your pal

Chenzo