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Tips for Changing Your Top-Level Domain

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I recently worked with a client to help them change a top-level domain, in the course of that project I did some research and wanted to provide a summary here…

The best way to do this is to provide a 301 redirect for each page to the corresponding page in the new domain. If there is no corresponding page you could do one of two things, redirect it to the top-level domain www.example.com) or leave it alone and the user will get a 404 Page Not Found error (not recommended).

Changing the URL may have a short term impact, but from everything I’ve researched, if you do the 301 redirects than it should work out long term just fine.

Here is some step by step advice from the Google Webmaster Blog:

Here are the main points:

  • Test the move process by moving the contents of one directory or subdomain first. Then use a 301 Redirect to permanently redirect those pages on your old site to your new site. This tells Google and other search engines that your site has permanently moved.
  • Once this is complete, check to see that the pages on your new site are appearing in Google’s search results. When you’re satisfied that the move is working correctly, you can move your entire site. Don’t do a blanket redirect directing all traffic from your old site to your new home page. This will avoid 404 errors, but it’s not a good user experience. A page-to-page redirect (where each page on the old site gets redirected to the corresponding page on the new site) is more work, but gives your users a consistent and transparent experience. If there won’t be a 1:1 match between pages on your old and new site, try to make sure that every page on your old site is at least redirected to a new page with similar content.
  • If you’re changing your domain because of site rebranding or redesign, you might want to think about doing this in two phases: first, move your site; and second, launch your redesign. This manages the amount of change your users see at any stage in the process, and can make the process seem smoother. Keeping the variables to a minimum also makes it easier to troubleshoot unexpected behavior.
  • Check both external and internal links to pages on your site. Ideally, you should contact the webmaster of each site that links to yours and ask them to update the links to point to the page on your new domain. If this isn’t practical, make sure that all pages with incoming links are redirected to your new site. You should also check internal links within your old site, and update them to point to your new domain. Once your content is in place on your new server, use a link checker like Xenu to make sure you don’t have broken legacy links on your site. This is especially important if your original content included absolute links (like www.example.com/cooking/recipes/chocolatecake.html) instead of relative links (like …/recipes/chocolatecake.html).
  • To prevent confusion, it’s best to make sure you retain control of your old site domain for at least 180 days.
  • Add your new site to your Webmaster Tools account, and verify your ownership of it. Then create and submit a Sitemap listing the URLs on your new site. This tells Google that your content is now available on your new site, and that we should go and crawl it.
  • Finally, keep both your new and old site verified in Webmaster Tools, and review crawl errors regularly to make sure that the 301s from the old site are working properly, and that the new site isn’t showing unwanted 404 errors.

Here are the important tips to think about:For each page on domain X, have it 301-redirect to the corresponding page on Y. (Typically this is done through .htaccess, but check with your hosting provider).

  • For each page on domain X, have it 301-redirect to the corresponding page on Y. (Typically this is done through .htaccess, but check with your hosting provider).
  • http://www.google.com/webmasters is your friend. Keep an eye on it during the transition to make sure that the redirects are having the effect you want.
  • Give it time. How quickly the transition is reflected in the results depends on how quickly Google will recrawl your site and see those redirects, which depends on a lot of factors including the current reputation of your site’s pages.
  • Don’t forget to update your Sitemap and resubmit to Google Webmaster tools.
  • If possible, don’t substantially change the content of your pages at the same time you make the move. Otherwise, it will be difficult to tell if ranking changes are due to the change of content or incorrectly implemented redirects.

Here is a very helpful video by Matt Cutts explaining the 301 Redirect process in pretty simple terms.

Any other helpful tips for changing domains or hosts?

Google+ Local Replaces Google Places

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It was only a matter of time but Google Places is no longer. Say hello to Google+ Local, as of this morning over 80 million business pages on Google were replaced with Google+ Local pages. This seems to be a change that many expected for a while as Google seeks new ways to insert their social platform into our every day web habits. In addition to this important change, Google is also leveraging their acquisition of Zagat in 2011 by incorporating their ranking system and wealth of data and reviews for local restaurants. Now, when you access a Google+ Local page, you’ll find a new 30 point scale a la Zagat rankings. A better explanation of the ranking system here.

Google+ Local pages are certainly more dynamic than the old Places pages, with the ability to add pictures, make customizations, etc. It also provides more opportunities for interacting with customer similar to Facebook or Twitter, but with that added functionality new burdens are placed on small business owners to understand how Google+ works in order to maximize those opportunities.

I’ll be following this change closely as small, locally owned businesses will need to find strategies to adapt to the changes and take full advantage of this new functionality.

Roundup of Google + Reviews

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Google + reviews

This week Google launched their Google + social sharing platform, which many are characterizing as a warning shot across Facebook’s bow. The consensus is that it’s way too early to tell  if this is a flash in the pan like Buzz, or a legitimate rival to Facebook and Twitter. It’s in limited release right now, but many influencers in the digital and social marketing sphere were granted access, here is a roundup of first impressions.

David Meerman Scott wanted to hate it, but just couldn’t pull himself away, read his thoughts here.

Chris Brogan says it’s way too early to know where it will go, and lets us know his impressions on whether it will work for business or not.

Ian Lurie pontificates on the reasons it might be a winner, and why it could be a loser.

Mashable has a straightforward review of the many features available in Google +.

As most of these folks have summized, it’s pretty early in the game to envision the impact that Google + will have. The rest of us will just have to wait and see for ourselves once it’s in full release.

Google Announces Change to Search Algorithm

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Whenever Google makes an announcement about it’s complex search algorithm the marketing world takes notice. While most changes are subtle and rarely noticeable by searchers, this new change is relatively significant. Google has been under a lot of pressure to specifically target what are commonly referred to as “content farms” and other sites known as “scrapers”.  Danny Sullivan over at Search Engine Land has an informative look at Google’s announcement here.

Danny defines content farms in the following way:

  • Looks to see what are popular searches in a particular category (news, help topics)
  • Generates content specifically tailored to those searches
  • Usually spends very little time and or money, even perhaps as little as possible, to generate that content

Matt Cutts explains Google’s reasoning here.

This was a pretty targeted launch: slightly over 2% of queries change in some way, but less than half a percent of search results change enough that someone might really notice. The net effect is that searchers are more likely to see the sites that wrote the original content rather than a site that scraped or copied the original site’s content. ~ Matt Cutts

While it doesn’t appear that this change will effect the average search user, it’s an interesting development and acknowledgment that perhaps Google will always be a work in progress.

5 Tips to Make Your Press Release Strategy Work Harder

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5 tips for press releasesPress releases have been an important tool for marketing pros for a very long time. While the old days of a busy press room filled with eager reporters clamoring for a scoop may seem antiquated in today’s digitally syndicated world, press releases have never been more essential in getting the word out to your audience. With the right strategy in place your releases will allow you speak directly with your buyers, without being filtered by the media. Here are five tips you that you can put to use right now to help make your press release strategy work just as hard as you do.

1. Press early, press often:

With distribution services costing so little and online press releases providing significant search benefits you can’t afford not to be producing press releases as much as possible. Big news is great, but small news can be just as powerful in the new world of PR. So what news might warrant a press release? Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • Add a product feature?
  • CEO speaking at a conference?
  • Win an award?
  • Publish a white paper?
  • Win a new customer?
  • Hire a new superstar?
  • Recruiting new talent?

2. Speak directly to your buyers:

One thing that publishers do that marketing pros often don’t is understand their audience before trying to fill their informational needs. Press releases provide an opportunity to speak directly to your buyers. Try to speak their language and help them solve their problems. Remember that you’re not writing for the media, so don’t try to make things sound more complex or sophisticated than they really are, unless your buyers share that erudition (means sophistication…see?).

3. Remember the keywords:

When writing your press release make sure to focus on phrases that your customers use to search for your product or service. By working these phrases into your copy you’ll have a better chance of your release showing up in search engines for the phrases that are most likely to convert potential prospects into customers. Headlines are crucial, do what you can to make sure the most important keyword phrase appears in the headline.

4. Link back to landing pages:

Links are essential to beating out the competition for SEO supremacy. If you’re writing about a particular service or product feature that your buyers will find interesting don’t just link back to your home page, direct that link to a landing page within your site containing the specific information you’re referencing. Better yet, use links to push potential prospects into the buying cycle by using landing pages that have a specific call to action.

5. Include social media tags:

Most distribution services have the ability to add social media tags to your press releases, take advantage. They might charge extra for this service so if you’re on a tight budget use this feature for more important news. Allowing your “fans” to share your news with their own social networks improves visibility and raises your credibility.