When migrating website platforms but keeping the domain name how best do we add the new site to google webmaster tools? Best redirect practices?
-
We are moving from BigCommerce to Shopify but maintaining our domain name and need to make sure that all links redirect to their corresponding links. We understand the nature of 301s and are fine with that, but when it comes to adding the site to google webmaster tools, not losing link juice and the change of address tool we are kind of lost. Any advice would be most welcome. Thank you so much in advance!
-
Thank you so much this was very helpful.
-
Thanks Ken that makes me feel much better thank you so much.
E
-
Just to be clear on the change of address tool part of the question - use of that tool doesn't apply in this scenario. It is only to be used when moving the domain a new, different domain name. Since you're domain name is staying the same, there is no "new address" to point to. The 301s will take care of the page address changes - the change of address tool has nothing to do with these page-level changes.
Hope that helps?
Paul
P.S. Make damn sure you've got a couple of redundant mechanisms in place to constantly check for 404s due to missed/incorrect redirects after the move so you can catch & fix asap (Webmaster Tools, server error logs, Screaming Frog/Xenu etc). And run a full check on every redirect you write. It's soooo easy for a misplace space, period etc to break what looks like a perfectly good redirect. Uploading your redirect list to the paid version of Screaming Frog and running through there is the easiest way I know to do this. Good luck!
-
Hi,
We just went through a similar platform change and found that for the most part the 301s did the heavy lifting. We are still finding pages that we missed, but we got a large majority and I'm happy to say that our traffic/rankings are doing well (getting better everyday).
We did't re-verify we just left the verification code on the site and Google seemed to catch on.
Good luck on the move!
Ken
-
If I am understanding the question right?... 301 Redirects should save the Juice, as far as your Webmaster tools I think the only thing you can do is re-verify it using one of their acceptable methods and let Google update the info on its own. With a re-verify Google won't lose information from the past they will just add the new info going forward.
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
-
Migration to a new domain
Hi everyone, So i have one project where I'm planning to move current content on new domain, two reasons: 1. It seems current domain has some google penalty (backlink related, not manual) 2. Client wants rebranding and already has domain with new brand name. So as content is high quality and there is no content related penalty from google, what would be the best way to migrate existing content without passing any penalty AND without Google treating it as duplicate content. If i do 301 i suspect any penalty there is might follow, if i just copy existing content it won't be original content, what is the best solution here? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | joelsemy0 -
301 old site to new site?
I have client with an old site - www.bestfamilylawattorney.com - which had a lot of spammy links (and bad rankings). Instead of fixing those issues, we started a new URL - www.berenjifamilylaw.com - with new content and redesign. Should I do a 301 redirect from old to new domain? If the old site was being penalized, would a 301 transfer that penalty? I just want to make sure I don't end up hurting the new site after doing all the work to start fresh. Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mrodriguez14400 -
What exactly is an impression in Google Webmaster Tools search queries with the image filter turned on?
Is it when someone does an image search? Or does it count a regular search that has images in it? On an image search does the picture actually have to be viewed on the screen or can it be below in the infinite scroll?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | EcommerceSite0 -
301 redirecting staff Domain to Company Domain
My colleague owns a domain (A) for about 10 years that he does not use. The domain's content is the same as my company's website (B) content.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | khi5
Question: Can I 301 redirect domain A to domain B's homepage or is it better he just closes down his website since this would not be SEO best practices? thank you0 -
Unique domains vs. single domain for UGC sites?
Working on a client project - a UGC community that has a DTC model as well as a white label model. Is it categorically better to have them all under the same domain? Trying to figure which is better: XXX,XXX pages on one site vs. A smaller XXX,XXX pages on one site and XX,XXX pages on 10-20 other sites all pointing to the primary site. The thinking on the second was that those domains would likely achieve high DA as well as the primary, and would passing their value to the primary. Thoughts? Any other considerations we should be thinking about?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | intentionally0 -
Best practice?
Hi there, I have recently written an article which I have posted on an online newspaper website. I want to use this article and put it on my blog also, the reason the article will be placed on my blog is to drive users from my email marketing activities. Would it simply be best practice to disallow Google from crawling this page? or put a rel canonical on the article placed on my blog pointing to the article placed on the online newspaper website? Thanks for any suggestions
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Paul780 -
BIG CHANGE - 301 Main site to new domain
Hi Guys, Were wondering what to do about our main domain name, we were ranking quite high for our main keyword and before Christmas our site dropped to 10th and we have been there for a while - last week our site dropped again onto the second page. The worrying thing is now our main domain name is now ranking 1 place above another domain name that we don't really use but its an exact match domain name for our target keyword. This exact match domain has hardly any links pointing to it and it currently has a 22 domain authority. We are wondering if we 301 our main site to this exact match domain would it rank higher than the top of the 2nd page where we are now for our main domain. Cheers.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ScottBaxterWW1 -
Magic keywords in Google Webmaster Tools
Hi All, Recently moved a friend to a new WP back-end website as they were on Flash which is pretty, but not necessarily the best for SEO. http://francesphotography.com My question is that once Google finally indexed the site, I noticed in Google Webmaster tools that it found the most significant keyword to be: automatically On the following top pages: | tag/snow-boarding-photography/ |
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BoulderJoe
| tag/style-photography/ |
| tag/underwater-photography/ |
| tag/vacation-photography/ |
| tag/wedding-photography-beaver-creek/ |
| tag/wedding-photography-copper-mountain/ |
| tag/wedding-photography-denver/ |
| tag/wedding-photography/ |
| underwater-photography-scuba-diving-cozumel-mexico/ |
| wedding-photography/ | The goofy thing is I can find anywhere that "automatically" is used - perhaps it is coming from a plug-in or magically keyword beans that Google found? Any guidance is appreciated.0