What is the best way to change a website address?
We have 2 websites on WordPress. The first one is redirected to second one. All the contents are in the second one. As part of our branding initiative we want only one website address and want to transfer all the contents from second website to the first one.
Any advise?
Hi Thivaharan
Moving the content from one website to another when you are using Wordpress is simple. There are plenty of cloning programs out there for this. we use "Wptwin". This program will let you make a clone and move it to the new domain in one go. It is a simple program to use as they have lots of videos but after the first time you will not need them anymore it is that simple. (I am not the owner or getting paid for this software or advise).
As for duplicate content one of the people mentioned above. This does not apply by your situation as there would be two different domain names. The duplicate content issue only arises when you have the same content on the same domain.
You have several options available to you if I understand your question correctly:
- You could duplicate your site on the preferred domain name and speaking from a marketing angle you could use both sites and fine tune them to different keyphrases hence increasing your online exposure.
- You could clone the content from the second site to the first site and simply let the second site expire (domain name). Should you be paying for two hosting accounts once you have moved the content contact your company and tell them to close the hosting account for the second domain. This will wipe your data from the second domain and leave you with one website for your marketing.
Hi,
I maybe corrected but all you need to do is change the DNS records. If you are not to sure what to do ring your hosting provider. If your 2 domain names and hosting are all with the same provider this will be simple.
Regards
Peter
You need to make sure there is no duplication of content from old to new page. Google doesn't like this. Rather than using a URL redirect, it's best to do an internal server based redirect by updating htaccess files. Speak to your web person about this. Also, you can manually update redirects through google webmaster tools which is important
Hi
My recommendations are to create the new website address "duplicating" your current one but setting it to be no indexed/block search engine robots. Set it up with Google Webmaster Tools and Analytics as well - these should be under the same account as your current site.
After a couple of weeks, you need to go to your current website's Google Web Master Tools account and report a change of address https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/83106?hl=en
Then redirect the old site to the new site. Remove the blocking and check all your page redirects
You should be fine.
Thivaharan Thuraiappah, Principal | Xero Certified Advisor | Xero Add-ons Consultant at LALI Business Consulting Pty Ltd
Thanks Peter, I will contact the hosting provider. Regards Thiva