Merging two sites - best practice WordPress
- SOLVED
Hi Guys
I have two sites hosted in seperate places
http://www.7connections.com/
http://coachbarrow.com/
We are discontinuing the 7Connections site and I need to change the domain on Coachbarrow.com to the 7Connections.com domain.
Do I create an add on domain (7connections.com) where CoachBarrow.com is hosted and transfer the site to that?
The CoachBarrow.com domain will no longer exist
Any advice is appreciated
Thanks
Steve
Answers (4)
Eric P. answers:
After checking google, I see much more indexed content on [[LINK href="https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Acoachbarrow.com"]]coachbarrow.com (4,740 indexed pages)[[/LINK]]. [[LINK href="https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Awww.7connections.com"]]7connections.com has much less indexed content[[/LINK]] (only 98 pages in the index).
Because of that, I would export 7connections.com to xml, import that into the coachbarrow.com site. Then I'd move the coachbarrow.com site with the added data to the 7connections.com domain. You can use either hosting service for the final domain.
Set up the redirection on the coachbarrow.com domain to keep everything and only change the domain name, so that pages/links from Google work after the merge. If any of the 7connections.com content "moves" (the path/query part changes after importing to the coachbarrow.com site), you <strong><em>might</em></strong> want to set redirects so the links to the indexed pages work there as well.
Others have pointed out some good tools for moving to another domain name.
There are many ways to do this. Paying attention to what search engines (especially Google) have indexed and not breaking those links is an important consideration, though.
If you need more help on this contact me (click on my profile name and send a private message here).
Steve Watson comments:
Brilliant Eric, thank you. I may be in touch when I make the move if that's ok.
Francisco Javier Carazo Gil answers:
Steve,
You will have to change all database rows where old domain appears to update with the new one, this is the best tool: http://interconnectit.com/products/search-and-replace-for-wordpress-databases/
Also you will have to create a 301 redirect from the old site to the new one and register the new sitemap http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com.es/2008/04/best-practices-when-moving-your-site.html
Navjot Singh answers:
If Coachbarrow domain does not need to exist wouldn't it be easier to shift the files and database from Coachbarrow's hosting to the other domain's hosting. You will not need to migrate the domain. Just shift the data with minimal downtime. Later you can shut down the Coachbarrow's domain and hosting altogether.
Navjot Singh comments:
And ofcourse As Franisco suggested to change the domain that is indeed the best tool. You can create a 301 redirect at the Coachbarrow's hosting for the time being.
Thierry Pigot answers:
Hi,
Just export delete domain content in a wordpress xml file export.
Import this content on the final domain.
Create 301 redirect on the delete domain to the new url.
Thierry