Forum Moderators: phranque
Note: as per a new thread to be in accordance with tedster I do not use the term: Site but: Domain :)
Here is my predicament
I am passing assets from a business A) to one of the new LLC I just created; including my “main” Domain
We wish to keep the new domain mostly like a CC copy of A) domain
But with some additions and very few content existing changes
So the “Old” A) content will be passed to B)
Then I will remove A) domain presence
How can I address this
Two problems
1)cleanly ending A)
2)possible content duplication issue even if A) is no longer reachable
Thanks for any input
Immediately remove ALL content from domainA.
Test it, by trying to reach any page on domainA, which should end up at identiccal page at B.
Set up a reader-friendly and useful 404 page on the new domain to catch the stragglers.
DO NOT do any major restructuring at the same time; give the site time to bed down and be recognised by Google.
This will take time, depending on your frequency of spidering. If you try to rush it, you could end up with a new site / sandbox problem for many months.
While you wait, keep adding and growing the new site; and start writing to key linkers asking them to update. Don't worry about all.
Google listings will be off for a while, but if the 301 works, most people won't even notice.
Toolbar page rank will be off for months, but that does not matter.
Having planned all that, the best advice is DON'T DO IT, unless absolutely essential. You WILL lose ranking seriously for a while; you WILL take ages, with lots of link building, to reach the heights you had before.
If you surrender the old site too soon, or lose the 301, or access, you could be treated as a new site for about a year.
Changing domains is very rarely worth it for an established site, and pointless for a damaged one (the damage will go with it).
