[Matt Gibson]

Hi guys, just a quick one for the web guys, which there seem to be more of up here than down in the general claning section.

I want to change my domain name for my site, which at the moment ranks well for what i need it to rank for.

I will be making minimal content changes (just changing content to match the new domain)

How long should i expect to wait before the new domain creeps back up? Originally when i set the site up it was ranking well after 4-5 weeks, but there have been numerous Google updates since then.

Whats your thoughts on the timescale now?

Cheers in advance

[garry22]

Sorry to be a bit vague but the answer will depend entirely on what the competition is like for the new site.

[Matt Gibson]

Well, the competition will be the same for the new site as for the old, being that it will be exactly the sane site just with a different domain name.

Or do you mean competition for the domain name? The domain name i use at the moment is keyword based, the new name isnt.

[garry22]

Matt, I am assuming that you are targeting a different geographical area with a copy of the first site?

If (for argument's sake) the first site covered a village location and the second one targeted a major city, then the competition would almost certainly be fiercer in the city. The chances are that it would not perform so well on it's own in the city. It's an extreme example but I hope you see the point.

If you were targeting say, two small towns, then the chances are that both sites should perform in a similar fashion

[Matt Gibson]

Ahhh i see what your saying Gary,

Im not changing the domain to target a deifferent area, basically i have altered the name of the company, changed the logos, and want to change the domain to suit the other changes i have made (also shortening it from its lengthy domain now)

Therefore it will be the same website, same copy, targeting the same area.. pretty much just going to replace the existing domain name with a new one. Im not creating a new website to run along side the existing one.

[wynne jones]

The trouble is Google will just think its a new website, with 2nd hand content and no links or age or anything and you may regret changing the domain name.

I would create a new site and keep the other one exactly as it is.

[Matt Gibson]

Wynne,

by your thought then if i just duplicated my website with the new domain name, wouldn't Google just pic this new website up as a new site, with 2nd hand copy and no links, just like if i changed the original sites domain name?

I don't want to change the site in any way, and i don't really want to design a new site and make it look different just so i can change the domain name, i like my copy, it ranks well, i like the layout etc..

The other option is to use the shortened, new domain on all my stationary, emails etc and just forward it to my existing site. BUT.. if i do that, i cant use analytics to track visitors, as the visitors using to new domain (forwarded) will just show up as forwarded links (correct me if I'm wrong on this)

[Craigp]

Matt, I think they call this 'site migration'

google it, lots of info.

[garry22]

Could you not just do a 301 redirect for the whole site?

That way the links etc would effectively, still be there.

[Steve Chapman]

The domain name doesnt have to be the business name, for example B & Q is diy.com

So why not keep the domain name and just change the content to your new business name ?

I wouldnt ditch the domain name if you have had it a while as age does have value to it.

Steve

[Matt Gibson]

Could you not just do a 301 redirect for the whole site?

That way the links etc would effectively, still be there.

Garry, if i do a 301 redirect, can i track the redirected visitors in analytics? will they show up as specific visitors even though they havent used the domain associated directly with the analytics account?

[Matt Gibson]

The domain name doesnt have to be the business name, for example B & Q is diy.com

So why not keep the domain name and just change the content to your new business name ?

I wouldnt ditch the domain name if you have had it a while as age does have value to it.

Steve

Steve,

I was thinking along these lines, but want to put a more commercial spin on the company, and would like to shorten down the email addresses and domain name for my stationary/business cards etc..

[Matt Gibson]

Other option is to split the original site.

Create a new site with the new domain, duplicate all the ''commercial'' related content onto the new site, wait for it to start ranking well then remove duplicated content from original site and keep original site as a domestic targeted site with links to each one from the other.

Unfortunately then i would have to have two lots of emails corresponding to the two domain name 

Why is it so difficult. 

[garry22]

Ever heard of "if it ain't broke don't fix it"?

[Matt Gibson]

Just trying to make it better. Better my business and target different sectors individually.

[ian harper]

why not leave first site in place with all its content then build second site new content, link from first site that has the good position to second. that way you can take up two seo positions and push down competition in the results.

keep putting new content on old site and use it to link to new site.

google see's the first site as the one with authority and if thats linking to your new site it must be important.

you can improve on this by having it sited on another server. worth the cost in my view.

what to use as content on new site? look at your sites stats for ideas.

[garry22]

Garry, if i do a 301 redirect, can i track the redirected visitors in analytics? will they show up as specific visitors even though they haven't used the domain associated directly with the analytics account?

Matt, I'm not 100% sure on this. Surely for the analytics to work the code has to be on the "old" page as well. If the redirect is working properly, then that old page is bypassed with the visitor going straight to the "new" page.

Anyone?

[Matt Gibson]

Gary,

Yeah its a confusing one for me too. I was under the impression though, that if i kept the site as one, under the old domain name and just redirected the new domain name to it and used the new domain name on all correspondence/staionary etc..  that the code will be on the old page, as it is now with the original domain name. When the visitor visits the site from the new domain name and lands on the old page (they will get redirected to the original domain named page/s) then the analytics will track their movements.

If i do it this way, i think that i will get the best of both worlds, in that i keep my original site where its ranking now, but i get to use the new name/domain name/email on all my stationary etc (shorter web address and matches new company name)

I'd email Google regarding it, but i know for a fact i wouldn't get a straight answer.

[ian harper]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Filv4pP-1nw

but why would you want to lose the ability for searcher not to view that page? and as I said above take up more of the search result page? why have one slot when you can have two? plus you get the chance to give two messages to your prospect, thats two bits of the apple.

plus you give up the chance to have an authority site in your control that you can link from giving you more page rank.

[Matt Gibson]

Sorry guys, i was getting confused with the 301 redirect.

The redirect i was talking about was just the redirection of the new domain name to the old site.

So i can use the new domain name, and if they type it in they get redirected to my old site. Like someone said, the domain doesnt have to match the company name. I was just curious if i did the redirect this way, would the analytics still track as well.

Ian,

I know what your saying, but if i had two sites, i would split them.. commercial clients and domestic. Im not really keep on designing a new site, and to be honest, most of it would probably be duplicate content, with the risk of getting hammered by Google and losing possibly both sites.