Moving a website to a new URL

paulstar

I am moving a website to a new URL. The individual pages will not change - everything will be moved as is. On each page of the old site I plan to put these two tags:

<META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="0; URL=http://newURL/pagename.htm"&gt;
<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX, FOLLOW">

Internal links on the old site will be changed to point to absolute URLs on the new site.

Is this the best way to do it in order to transfer the SEO juice to the new site?


EDIT: The old free host will not allow me to upload a .htaccess file, so I cannot do a 301 redirect. And I cannot change the DNS.

Moneymaker

I think there's a danger that Google will see this as "black hat" and could drop both sites like hot potatoes. If that happens, it could take a long to to retrieve the situation - if ever.

I would delete the old site and register your sitemap.xml page (on the new site) with Google. In my experience, that gets it listed in less than a week. Obviously you'll then have to add content at least weekly to move it up the rankings.

(Note for newbies: If your earnings depend on a site, make sure you have full control of the site from the very start.)

paulstar

Ah.

The intention is that the "noindex follow" command says: please de-index the old site and index the new site.

Why would this be interpreted by Google as black hat?

bod1467

When you say you don't have server side access, what exactly do you mean?

Is this Windows or Linux hosting? If Linux, are you able to edit/upload a .htaccess file?

http://kb.mediatemple.net/questions/242/How+do+I+redirect+my+site+using+a+.htaccess+file%3F

paulstar

bod1467 wrote: »

When you say you don't have server side access, what exactly do you mean?

Is this Windows or Linux hosting? If Linux, are you able to edit/upload a .htaccess file?

http://kb.mediatemple.net/questions/242/How+do+I+redirect+my+site+using+a+.htaccess+file%3F

The site is a subdomain on an old free host (mysite.freeserve.co.uk). I have tried uploading a text file and renaming it to .htaccess, but it will not allow me to do that. So no, I cannot use .htaccess to do a 301 redirect.

tavernman

Why not change the DNS record on the old site ?

onomatopoeia99

tavernman wrote: »

Why not change the DNS record on the old site ?

If it's a free host (such as the freeserve example given), the DNS will not be under the control of the person who has written the site content.

paulstar

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

If it's a free host (such as the freeserve example given), the DNS will not be under the control of the person who has written the site content.

Correct, I do not have access to the DNS.

I have edited the OP to clarify that I cannot adopt the .htaccess or DNS solution.

Collabora

Thats the issue with free hosting, you have little or no control on DNS etc.

If you have FTP access then you will need to FTP the site files to your PC/Laptop.
purchase a domain then set up hosting elsewhere with FTP access and then FTP the files you now have on your PC/Laptop to the new host.

paulstar

After a bit more research I have decided to go with the following on every page of the old site:

<META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="0; URL=http://newURL/n.htm"></meta>

<link rel="canonical" href="http://newURL/n.htm"></link>

Pages on the old and new sites are identical. Rel="canonical" tells bots to index the version on the new site.

Since I cannot get at .htaccess or DNS of the old site, I hope this is the best way of doing it. Fingers crossed.

Collabora

paulstar wrote: »

After a bit more research I have decided to go with the following on every page of the old site:

<META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="0; URL=http://newURL/n.htm"></meta>

<link rel="canonical" href="http://newURL/n.htm"></link>

Pages on the old and new sites are identical. Rel="canonical" tells bots to index the version on the new site.

Since I cannot get at .htaccess or DNS of the old site, I hope this is the best way of doing it. Fingers crossed.

what happens if the old host goes down or packs up