Should I Use Redirect?

[Bec]

Why not buy the 2nd domain and just build a new site?

In mainstream, it's normal to have 4 or 5 sites that look nothing alike. With the same inventory and at different price points.

Jane doe may not like site 1 and 2 but she will trust site 3, not knowing it's all the same shit.

It's not that kind of site ... it has been online eight years and the makeover is so that I'm not having to do as much to keep the site current with new material, new book releases, event announcements and so on.

[IntenseCash.com]

That sounds like quite a job. I think the suggestions for the 301 are best. Like GayDemon said there is no guarantee this won't affect your google ranking and positions. I think there is some good suggestions here. I wouldn't purchase a new domain because you don't want to lose those spidered pages

Mark

[gaybucks_chip]

So here's a question (hope I'm not hijacking):

What if you are changing the name of a site over time? Are you better off registering the new domain, pointing it to the exact same location as the old one (so they resolve to the same place), or will that get the original site "sandboxed" as well?

And is there a particular age after which the "aging" of a domain doesn't matter? Is it when the domain was originally registered, or when it was transferred, or when WHOIS info changed?

[Dzinerbear]

I'm not sure about this, but my sense would be that a domain would begin it's probation when it became active with content to index. Without any unique content of its own, it would be of no concern to anyone. The search engine wouldn't even index it because there's nothing to index, it's forwarded to another domain. Once you put content on a domain the spiders have something to look at, index, and include in the serps.

If you're planning to change the name of a site you own, I'd put up a simple landing page there now with some niche-specific text. Establish some history with the search engines.

Michael

[Fister]

I agree with keeping the same site and using a .htaccess permanent redirect from the old pages. You'll keep the benefit of the PR of the old pages until Google updates for the redirection and this will give you some time to gain some PR for the new pages.

[Bec]

I really appreciate all the feedback ... it all helped me immensely, as there were quite a few things I wouldn't have even thought of -- like the robot.txt or the htacess way to redirect once it was all up.

[Bec]

So here's a question (hope I'm not hijacking):

What if you are changing the name of a site over time? Are you better off registering the new domain, pointing it to the exact same location as the old one (so they resolve to the same place), or will that get the original site "sandboxed" as well?

And is there a particular age after which the "aging" of a domain doesn't matter? Is it when the domain was originally registered, or when it was transferred, or when WHOIS info changed?

Found this http://www.ragepank.com/articles/97/...ving-a-domain/ on one of the sites Bjorn listed, it may have some of the info you wanted Chip.