Large Site SEO - Dev Issue Forcing URL Change - 301, 302, Block, What To Do?

[Bacon]

Hola,

Thanks in advance for reading and trying to help me out. A client of mine recently created a large scale company directory  (500k+ pages) in Drupal v6 while the "marketing" type pages of their site was still in manual hard-coded HTML. They redesigned their "marketing" pages, but used Drual v7. They're now experiencing server conflicts with both instances of Drupal not allowing them to communicate/be on the same server. Eventually the directory will be upgraded to Drupal v7, but could take weeks to months the client does not want to wait for the re-launch. The client wants to push the new marketing site live, but also does not want to ruin the overall SEO value of the directory and have a few options, but I'm looking to help guide them down the path of least resistance:

• Option 1: Move the company directory onto a subdomain and the "marketing site" on the www. subdomain. Client gets to push their redesign live, but large scale 301s to the directory cause major issues in terms of shaking up the structure of the site causing ripple effects into getting pulled out of the index for days to weeks. Rankings and traffic drop, subdomain authority gets lost and the company directory health looks bad for weeks to months. However, 301 maintains partial SEO value and some long tail traffic still exists. Once the directory gets moved to Drupal v7, the directory will then cancel the 301 to the subdomain and revert back to original www. subdomain URLs
• Option 2: Block the company directory from search engines with robots.txt and meta instructions, essentially cutting off the floodgates from the established marketing pages. No major scaling 301 ripple effect, directory takes a few weeks to filter out of the index, traffic is completely lost, however once drupal v7 gets upgraded and the directory is then re-opened, directory will then slowly gain back SEO value to get close to old rankings, traffic, etc.
• Option 3: 302 redirect? Lose all accumulate SEO value temporarily... hmm
• Option 4: Something else?

As you can see, this is not an ideal situation. However, a decision has to be made and I'm looking to chose the lesser of evils. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks again

-Chris

[Ontarioseo]

I would heartily agree with this. The workaround is going to be a nightmare and may cause him a lot more pain.

[EGOL]

I don't envy your situation.

I think that I might try another phone call to the client advising that a two week (or whatever) delay is in the best interest of his business.....

.... I would be willing to risk his temper than do something that I don't recommend.  Lots of clients would cuss you now but thank you down the road.

... just saying what I would do.. not trying to argue.

[Bacon]

Thanks for the ideas.

I'm really looking for an option if upgrading Drupal on either the marketing site or directory is NOT an option. What is the best temporary solution that will cause the fewest major short and long term problems.

[Ontarioseo]

As I see it they have three options:

1. Upgrade the directory to D7 fast! If there aren't a lot of custom modules this shouldn't be a huge deal, no matter the number of nodes. As long as everything is disabled the upgrade isn't a seriously big deal.

2. If upgrading is really a big issue due to a lot of custom coding, then perhaps downgrade the marketing site to D6 if there aren't tons of pages?

3. I would suggest a combination of both - upgrade the directory to D7 and merge both sites into one D7 install - no sense running two installs when one would do just fine.

[Bacon]

As an SEO, I agree with you.

Unfortunately, as a consultant I need to provide an answer as changes are going to be made regardless. My job is to pick the "lesser of two evils" decision as to how best preserve the SEO value. Any help there?

[EGOL]

Thanks... that is nice traffic...

So, if this was my site I would tell the dev guys that we need the version conflicts solved ASAP.

I would not move the directory or the marketing pages.

I would put pressure on the dev guys and not allow impatience to compromise the long-term success of the site.

[Bacon]

The directory is getting well over 200k visits per month and is majorly competitive for a number of mid to long tail terms.

[EGOL]

Is the directory getting any traffic from any search engine?

Has the directory gotten any valuable links that were not created by you?

If the answer to those questions is "no" or "very little" then I'd say that it has very little SEO value and could be a weight on the rest of the site.