Why not just use an alias if the only change is a different domain Name?
-
We are rebranding our store with a new name. We have purchased a NewDomainName. Can I just make the "Old Domain Name" an alias for the "NewDomainName"?
The site will not change in any other way than having a new logo. This is an e-commerce site with over 100 categories of artisan made products. So once we move the site, the old domain will be empty.
Thank you
Stephen
-
Hey Stephen,
It depends how your host treats the folders (or URLs) under the main domain when an alias is put in place.
If your host has a system that's smart enough to switch out your old domain for your new domain domain (i.e. all variations of olddomain.com/category/product-5 redirect cleanly to newdomain.com/category/product-5) then you should be in good shape.
My experience with generic hosting companies been that this often isn't the case.
Since you're running an ecomm site and problems translate directly to lost revenue, I'd suggest registering two dummy domains, setting up a test site, and then testing how your host's alias system actually works. Even if that takes 5-10 hours of work, it's probably worth it.
I like the following tools for testing redirects and site crawls:
https://htaccess.madewithlove.be/ for testing htaccess rules individually.
https://www.telerik.com/fiddler for understanding how redirects are working.
http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html for crawling an entire site to check for errors.
Hope this helps!
-
I checked with my hosting support and they confirmed the alias is a 301. So I don't need to do anything. redirect-wise.
After the new site is in place. is it worth it to re-work our old .htaccess file so it points to the new site?
Stephen
-
It depends what you mean by 'alias'. If you means configuring the old domain to properly 301 redirect all URLs from the old site to the new site (so the old site becomes inaccessible, due to serving as a redirect platform) then yes. If you mean doing something else, like pointing the old domain to your new site - other than by 301 redirects, it's probably not a good idea for SEO!
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
-
Standardising of Company Name Across The Web Question
Good Morning All There are two variations of our company name on the website. Sometimes the name is listed as "name and name" and sometimes listed as "name & name" The domain is obviously www.nameandname.co.uk I believe I am correct in saying that we would be wise to go through and standardise, using one form or the other? Secondly, my main question is would we be wise to use "name and name" as the default, as the word "and" and not the symbol "&" is in the domain itself? Many Thanks
Branding | | ruislip180 -
Passing "link juice" from old domain to new domain
I am purchasing several websites from the company I work for and starting my own company. 1.The websites have not been updated in several years
Branding | | RoxBrock
2. The websites have poor SEO rankings
3. Though bad inbound links have been removed, there may still be some added by a black-hat SEO company I would like to start a new website and move all the content to that site. My questions are: 1. Will it hurt my new website rankings if I redirect the old site content to my new site and delete the old sites--due to possible bad inbound links, losing rank due to redirects (I have lost rank from redirecting in the past)? 2. If related, isn't it better to put all the content on one website? Thank you.0 -
Linking new domain to existing domain or....
We have a client's domain that has been live for 8 years. truthbook.com. With the new changes to Google, no matter what we do, we cannot get the words Urantia Book to connect with the website and lift it's search engine returns to the first page where it was for the past 4 years.. It is clear, that no matter what Google may say, the most important factor is having the actual words urantiabook in the domain is imperative. We know it was that way before Google changes (they were always on the first page) but now the client cannot get back on the front page. The mission and theme of the site is Jesus in The Urantia Book. So it is not a stretch to acquire urantiabookandjesus.com and forward it to truthbook.com The question is, "will they get any bang for the change? If they considered changing the actual main domain to urantiabookandjesus.com or .org and forward truthbook.com to it, will they be hurt by that strategy? " Thanks, Jim
Branding | | jimmyzig0 -
I have a company with multiple locations through out the US and I am trying to figure out the best way to use Google+ and Facebook.
Should I create separate pages for each location or should I create one account and add all my locations to that account?
Branding | | steve2150 -
Should I remove spaces from my brand name?
I'm looking for some second opinions on this one. In talking with another SEO, he is of the opinion that if my company name is two words like Crazy Man, I should write some news release that have my brand combined as Crazyman because it is a variant of the brand name. He claims that Google does not look at my brand as Crazy Man, but as one word and in Google's mind Crazyman as one word is my brand. What do you all think?
Branding | | kadesmith1 -
Do Dashes in Domain names hurt SEO ranking?
I have found conflicting reports online whether or not dashes in domain names hurt/help ranking. Example yourbrandonline.com vs your-brand-online.com? I found Rand's write up on how to select a domain and he suggests staying away from hyphens but mainly because its hard to remember or people my enter it in wrong. Here's his comment. "Reject Hyphens and Numbers
Branding | | JoshKimber
Both hyphens and numbers make it hard to give your domain name verbally and falls down on being easy to remember or type. I'd suggest not using spelled-out or roman numerals in domains, as both can be confusing and mistaken for the other." Aside from people possibly struggling to get there directly because of the domain name, are they OK to use? Or, are domains with hyphens considered spammy? Thanks in advance.1 -
How does a business name affect SEO?
We have a client that's changing the name of their medical practice from the doctor's name to their region + "eye care." However, they recently told us they're changing it from "eye care" to "eye center." Many of their direct competitors use "eye care" in their name. I ran a quick keyword analysis and it shows "eye care" gets a million US searches a month, whereas "eye center" gets 450k searches a month. While that alone would make me suggest they keep "eye care," I ran a keyword difficulty analysis and found that "eye center" has a KW difficulty of 41 and "eye care" has a KW difficulty of 78. Should we recommend they stay with "eye care" because it gets more searches? Or is it better to go with "eye center" because it'll be easier to rank for?
Branding | | optimalwebinc0 -
Google Displays Domain / URL Above Description?
I am seeing a new SERP format from Google. (new for me at least) In the past the title tag would display as the first line of a listing, followed by description and domain / URL. Today I see the domain / URL as the second line. This is placing an emphasis on "Who". If you have a big brand or a great URL this might be helpful to your CTR. Are you seeing this? What do you think of it?
Branding | | EGOL0