Moving Pages To A New Website

[vinyl-junkie]

Some of you may recall me asking some questions in the Website Critique forum about the appropriateness of some content on my website (which is devoted to music, but the content in question was web development/technology related). Well, I decided to take some of the advice given, and started a new website so I could keep my two interests separated.

This brings me to my question. I want to move those technology related pages to my new site but I'd like not to lose them in the SE's index, nor have visitors lose the ability to find them. How is the best way to go about it? I was thinking about changing the pages on my music site to display a "this page has moved" message, with a link to the new site's page. Is that the best way to handle this, or would you recommend something else?

Another question - The more I read here in the forums, the more I'm confused about just what meta tags the SE's really look at and obey. If you think my method of moving those pages is good, will it also help to have an "expires" meta tag on the old pages so they'll die a natural death?

Thanks in advance for any help and advice. :)

[Advisor]

Can you set up permanent redirects via your .htaccess file from the old pages to the new ones, on the new domain? I would think this would be your best solution for your users and the search engines as it would be seamless.

Within your old site, you would simply change the links to point to the new pages, but set up the redirects on your server so that any search engine listings eventually get updated.

Hope this helps!

Jill

[RandyDotcom]

I would avoid redirects.
Make new permanent links to the new pages, Leave the old pages where they are but change the links to be appropriate.
watch for the new pages to be indexed, then remove the old ones.

No risk, certain other spiders are offended by redirects.

[vinyl-junkie]

I don't have direct access to the .htaccess file. I have access to a control panel, but the only thing I see there is forwarding an entire domain, which isn't what I'm trying to do.

Q - If I go the redirect route, I guess I would have to ask my web host to forward the desired pages, right? (there are 2 of them) BTW, both websites are hosted by the same company, if that makes any difference.

Also, and this is probably a dumb question, but why can't I get to the .htaccess file myself?

[Advisor]

Do you know if you're on an apache server? You might be able to just create a text file and name it .htaccess and put the redirects in it, then upload it to your server. I believe that's all you need to do.

Jill

[vinyl-junkie]

My web host is WebHost4Life (http://www.webhost4life.com/hosting.asp), and their website says this about their server:

IIS 5.0 with Windows 2000 Advanced Server

Jill, I have to plead ignorance about servers, but I guess this means what you suggested won't work for me? :confused:

[Advisor]

I'm not a big server person myself, but I don't think you can use the .htaccess file with a windows server. Someone with more knowledge can probably confirm. Heck, just ask support at your host!

Jill

[qwerty]

Windows servers don't use .htaccess, but there is similar functionality. The problem is that you need to have direct access to the server. I don't think it can be done through a control panel, so you may need to call your host.

But if you're interested, here's a knowledge base article (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=324064) on migrating .htaccess data to an IIS server.

[RandyDotcom]

Originally posted by vinyl-junkie
My web host is WebHost4Life (http://www.webhost4life.com/hosting.asp), and their website says this about their server:

IIS 5.0 with Windows 2000 Advanced Server

Jill, I have to plead ignorance about servers, but I guess this means what you suggested won't work for me? :confused:

that's my prefrence, what I use at home as well.

It is not necessary to redirect. Put the pages for each site in their repective directories. Leave the currently indexed site where they are but change the links to be appropriate. wait for the nw pages to be indexed, then put the page has been moved procedure.
'<meta refresh'
The object is to move the pages without losing the indexing. So Don't
Get the new pages indexed!

[g1smd]

The new pages may be seen as duplicate content, so I would do one of two things:

Clear the content of the old pages and just put a link to the new version on that page, or leave the old content there but point all navigation on the pages you have moved to point to the new site.

Whatever you do, add <meta name="robots" content="noindex,follow"> to the old pages so that Google drops them from the index. That will take about 6 to 8 weeks.

This will preserve the content for people arriving from old bookmarks, and old SE listings, whilst ensuring that spiders and visitors do get pointed to the new content, which they can then index or bookmark.

You can leave the old pages there as long as you like as they will eventually not be listed anywhere or linked to. When they are receiving zero visitors they can then be removed.

[vinyl-junkie]

Originally posted by qwerty
Windows servers don't use .htaccess, but there is similar functionality. The problem is that you need to have direct access to the server. I don't think it can be done through a control panel, so you may need to call your host.

But if you're interested, here's a knowledge base article (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=324064) on migrating .htaccess data to an IIS server. Thanks for posting that article, Bob. I just turned in a support ticket to my web host to ask if I can get the redirect setup.

Whether or not I go that route will largely depend on how much they charge for it. I know that they charge $20 to setup a 404 page, which is kind of a rip-off when you consider the amount of work entailed in the setup. If they want to charge $20 for a 404 page, plus redirects on these two URLs I'm talking about, I'll go for it because I for sure want the 404, but we'll see.

The cheap route, of course, would be to do what others suggested and just change the existing page to just a message pointing to the new page. I'll let everyone know what my web host says about the fee.

[Advisor]

Hey Pat, how about just switching servers? Charging $20 for a 404-error page? That's ridiculous. I imagine you're paying way too much for other stuff too.

There are tons of Apache server hosts where you'll have full control, and not pay an arm and a leg!

Jill

[vinyl-junkie]

Originally posted by Advisor
Hey Pat, how about just switching servers? Charging $20 for a 404-error page? That's ridiculous. I imagine you're paying way too much for other stuff too.

There are tons of Apache server hosts where you'll have full control, and not pay an arm and a leg!

Jill Actually, the service itself is pretty reasonable; it's the extras that are the killer, although I do like this hosting company *way* better than the first one I had. I chose it based on some recommendations on another message board.

The only question about how practical a move might be would be regarding some ASP code I'm using to read a MS Access database for some dynamic content web pages. I think I might have to change that code some, but I guess that's a question for another area of the forum.

[vinyl-junkie]

Errr, I guess I'll have to go the cheap route. Here's the tech's response to my request: : what is ".htaccess"?

what we can do is redirect at web server level in IIS. for each redirect, we do charge $5/year.
:rolleyes:

[RandyDotcom]

The server enviroment is very different from IIS and Apache.
In IIS there are global settings to allow for central administration, in Apache each new site is scripted with it's own independent settings. Apples and Oranges.

You don't need either .htaccess, nor a redirect.

You have 2 sites correct?
Make the Links point to the correct pages., including any links on the pages to be moved.
I Would not add the <meta NOINDEX>, just wait for the new pages to be indexed, there is not enough duplicate data to make a difference.

Once the new pages are doing well, remove the old old ones.
The default 404 for IIS has a link to the host or default page.
theirs may be a little more elaborate, let me check!