New Website, New URL, New Content - What do we do with the old site? Are 301's the only option?

[MarketsOnline]

We've just built a new site for a client. They were adamant on changing the url. The new site is entirely new content, however the subject mater is the same. Some pages are even titled very similarly.

Is is advisable to keep the old site running, and link it to the new site? Permanently, or temporarily?

Do we simply place redirects from the old site the new? Old site was 30 pages, new site is 80 pages. So redirects won't be available to all the new pages.

It seems a shame to trash the old site, it is getting some good traffic, and the content - although outdated is unique and of a high quality.

Old url is 4+ yrs old, the new url is new.

Some enlightened opinions would be greatly welcomed.

Thanks

[Valarlf]

Personally I would try to use all the old content & try to keep the urls (if not duplicate)  and put a 301 redirect on the old website, hopefully will be indexed well and not lose that traffic.

[Ryan_Phillips]

Hello Luke,

If I had to make the call, I'd 301 redirect the relevant old pages to the corresponding new pages.  I'd also tell Google that you've updated your web address using GWT.  Obviously there's not much you can do with the new pages that don't have relevant old pages, so just leave those to be indexed as normal.

Thanks!

Ryan