Merging 2 websites to 1

[Steven McEvoy]

Hello,

I have two 4 yr old websites that I am going to merge into one.
How do I go about doing this ?

What is the best way to move the content from site a to site b with out hurting SEO?

Thanks in advance

 

[enlytend]

Off the top of my head - ...

301 redirect every page that you move from the old URL to the new, ESPECIALLY:

1. any page that drives traffic
2. any page with external backlinks
   
3. any page with social shares (not a SEO thing, but who wants FB followers going to a 404?)

Don't forget to redirect things like images, pdf's ...
Don't remove any content
Don't reorder content on a page, or if you do be aware that it can change things
Use the same title tags for these pages on the new site that you were using on the old.
If you can, try to preserve the internal linking and relative heierarchy of the pages you move.
Try to muck as little as possible with the internal linking and relative heirarchy of existing pages on the site you are moving to
Set up a change of address in GSC
Cross your fingers. Pray, if you're so inclined.

 

[Steven McEvoy]

So I understand 301 redirect correctly, if I have my old website "domain.com/blahhhhh_blaht" and 301 it to "example.com" all of my links will be coverted to "example.com/blahhhh_blaht" ?

 

[deez007]

Assuming ur site is Wordpress?

 

[Steven McEvoy]

Assuming ur site is Wordpress?

Yes thats correct, thanks.

 

[enlytend]

You'll probably have some temporary traffic loss while Google catches up on your changes, so if possible I suggest doing it when things are slow.

 

[Steven McEvoy]

So i have moved all of my content over and imported my posts to my new website. Now how do i go about just redirecting the old domain to the new domain, so that if someone tries to access domain.com/blahhhhh_blaht(old site) they will be sent to example.com/blahhhhh_blaht(new site)

 

[enlytend]

On your old site, use a redirect plugin (assuming its WP), or just directly update the .htaccess file. Google it - there are a lot of tutorials and examples.

Do all your posts have the same URL path on the new site as they did on the old (i.e. only the domain is different)? If so you may be able to do it in one rule. If not, you will need to redirect pages and resources individually.

Sorry - busy day, but maybe someone else will step up with details.

 

[Steven McEvoy]

Well im taking down the old site. so why would i update the .htaccess if itll be deleted? Do i just redirect my domain in the registery?

 

[enlytend]

IF all your new resource paths are the same, that might work - as long as the redirect has an option to direct all pages to the equivalent. Registrar redirect options often just redirect the entire domain to the new root domain - that's bad from an SEO standpoint. You don't want to send all your old pages to the new home page.

 

[Steven McEvoy]

Thank you all for the help! Problem solved