How can I change my URL without losing good google rankings?

[nissan]

Hi,Forum newbie and not sure if this is the best place to ask this.Basically in 1999 I set up a website - netribution.co.uk - which got good traffic and google rankings (no. 1 for terms like film funding, film network, etc) even now three years after the site was last updated properly in 2002.I'm now looking at relaunching the site - but would like the domain to be less UK focussed - so have got the domain netribution.org on which I'm planning to build a new php based site (the last one was all html).So my questions this - is it possible to move the site across in some way so that google recognises the new versions of the old pages (eg netribution.co.uk/interviews/rachel_weisz/1.html will become something like netribution.org/content.php?interviews=rachel_weisz ) with the same interest? ie by using auto redirects or a slow transitional period from one to the other.Secondly - will google rate this site less favourably. I recently set up http://www.ukfilmfinance.com with a php CMS structure, and this ranks terribly, despite links from the front of netribution, and sites like the BBC.Hope this is clear - and thanks in advancenI would not recommend it. A big factor in ranking is the length of time a site has been live on the net. If you have done good work with this URL, it could become a real authority site, something you don't want to give up...but if you are going to still start up with a new domain, I think you should read up on 301 redirects.Although I don't completely agree with vetofunk that the time onlineplays a huge role in ranking, I do agree that changing your URL isnot going to be an easy, smooth transition.If you had only a few pages on the first site, you could 301 redirecteach one of them, but more than that is awkward at best.I suggest that you first rethink your goals here. Is it really thatthe .uk bothers you or are you just in the mood to write php?Personally, I think the .uk adds character to the domain name.BompaThanks for the replies.No I'm not up for PHP programming I'm actually only in the process of learning how to code anything with PHP at the moment, so the less new things to learn the better!It's really the uk thing - good if you think it adds character, but I'm sure there must be people in the rest of the world who will be put off posting news / information local to them if they think it is a British site. Maybe I'm wrong.The site still gets 5-8,000 page impressions a day of which maybe half comes from engines. There's about 4,000 html pages there (although done with Dreamweaver Templates) so putting redirects in would be a bit tricky.Is there an easy way to mirror the site at netribution.org and encourage new visitors and links to point to that. Then after 12 months (or however long it takes) netribution.org would be recognised as a serious live and active domain..?CheersNicBompa wrote:Axe wrote:netribution wrote:Axe wrote:I did say the time factor played a role...but that was if you have done good work with this URL, it could become a real authority site, something you don't want to give up. If the site was put up, but no seo work was done as far as related links, quality directories, it would only make a up a small factor. But if you did good seo for the past 6 years, I bet any one-two year old site would have a hard time matching the positioning in the engines of a 6 year old site.For a new site, your going to get sucked into this "sandbox" of Google. This has been debated time and time again, but something is there, that delays any new site from getting good positioning for a long time, depending on the industry.I don't think to many people get turned off by the domain name. Of course I would never recommend keyword-keyword-keywords-kewords-online.com. If you have good prices and can show that you are a trusted site, your good to go.Bompa wrote:Axe wrote:But what's the competition like on those keywords? And is your site going to stay there?New sites do get bumped up short-term, I've seen this too often in some of my domains when I register them for the first time, they start off on page one of my chosen keyword results, then they disappear into oblivion within a couple of weeks. Then out of the blue after a year or so, they'll start ranking highly again (with minimal page changes or additions - and without soliciting any backlinks).And, like I said, then there's the domains I've just had sitting around for a couple of years, that rank highly when I actually get a site on them, then continue to rank highly, none of the effects I've noticed in the above example.Short-term, the only real solution is regularly adding new content (new PAGES of content, new URLs), so that those URLs are getting the "new content effect" and coming up highly for a week or two before being bumped down.Like you said, the observations are debatable, but I've never seen any of the large scale testing you've mentioned that confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is not the case.If you can show me with some reputable reports, I'd be really interested in having a look at them. Axe wrote:Let me rephrase.The fact that you register your domain for several years shows the search engines that you are serious about your website. Google sees this as a positive sign and thus influences how Google positions your site accordingly.That better for you?Axe wrote: