Key Insights from Digital Sunbird: Transitioning to a New Website
In a recent conversation with the experts from ‘Digital Sunbird’, a question that frequently arises from small business owners came up. Businesses are often maintaining their old website while simultaneously developing a new one. The question asked was whether they must delete the former when the latter goes live. This age-old dilemma calls for a detailed discussion.
Necessity to Update or Remove the Old Website
Experts from ‘Digital Sunbird’ emphasized the necessity to update or remove the old website. Contradictory information online could leave users perplexed and hamper the business’ Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts. For instance, having inconsistent business hours or addresses on both sites may frustrate customers and make it harder for search engines to correctly index and rank pages.
To optimize user experience and SEO performance, it is vital that the old site is either updated to reflect the current business information or is no longer publicly visible.
The Solution: Implementing Redirects
One possible solution proposed by ‘Digital Sunbird’ is to implement redirects from the old site to the new one. Redirecting the old website to the new one not only aids users in landing on the correct website but also assists search engines in transferring any existing signals to the new domain. This in turn can give the new site’s standing a boost.
Seeking help from a skilled web developer or coalition with a hosting provider to implement these redirects accurately is a good idea. Experts recommend keeping these redirects in place for a minimum of one year to ensure a seamless transition for users and search engines.
Importance and Benefits of Redirects
Transferring from one website domain to another necessarily involves redirects. These serve a dual purpose:
- Users attempting to visit the old domain are automatically directed to the new one.
- The value of links leading to the old domain are passed over to the new domain. This link equity transfer is critical so the new website retains its rank in search engine results, ensuring user experience and SEO aren’t negatively impacted.
The most frequently recommended kind of redirect when switching websites is a 301 permanent redirect, which passes on link equity or ranking power from the old to the new pages.
Setting up these redirects involves mapping out which old URLs should point to which new ones and then editing the pertinent server files to establish the redirects. This can be facilitated by various content management systems and plugins that automatically create these redirects when migrating a site.
When Redirects are Not Feasible
There can be circumstances where redirects to a new domain are not possible. In these cases, experts at ‘Digital Sunbird’ suggest several alternatives. One option is to update the old site with a notification for visitors that the content has moved to a new domain. If this is impossible, it is advisable to completely take down the outdated site.
If neither of these options is workable, the new site wouldn’t be penalized by search engines for the outdated content on the old domain. However, the old and new websites could still appear in searches for a while, which may need to be clarified for users who find the old content.
Switching to a new website is a significant change for any company. Managing this transition is crucial in maintaining search engine rankings and ensuring users have a seamless experience.
The guidance provided by ‘Digital Sunbird’ should serve as a helpful resource to smoothing this transition process from an old website to a new one.
Source: Digital Sunbird, Insights & Advocacy, 2024.
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