To Redirect or not to redirect? - Irish SEO, Marketing & Webmaster Discussion

lostie · #1 (**permalink**) 21-05-2007, 02:12 PM

We're about to launch a new branch (well its always been there but we're doing it up) off our software website (micromail.com) to deal with student software. We've purchased the domain studentsoftware.ie, but im wondering should we hold the software section of our site on the new domain, or should we just use studentsoftware.ie as a redirect to a student section of our own site, say micromail.com/students? I would tend to think the latter would be better as it would rank higher and be a lot easier than starting from scratch, but branding wise, would it be pointless telling people to visit stuentsoftware.ie if it just redirects them elsewhere? Any advice?

louie · #2 (**permalink**) 21-05-2007, 03:18 PM

Regarding SEO you'll be better off using the new domain and make a link from the other one to it.

lostie · #3 (**permalink**) 21-05-2007, 03:57 PM

Really? I would have thought a page on an old site with lots of back links would rank higher than a brand new page? And we would have to link back to our online shop on the micromail.com for purchases. Overall i think it would be much easier to use micromail.com/students.htm and use the new domain name to make it easier for people to remember the name of the site.

louie · #4 (**permalink**) 21-05-2007, 04:04 PM

if you use 301 redirect you won't loose any ranking you have.

I don't see micromail.com/students.htm on your website and BTW have a look at your server cause without the www. your website can not be accessed.

If you don't already have the students.htm page on your website you can use the new domain to build links to the other one.

lostie · #5 (**permalink**) 21-05-2007, 04:25 PM

I've only just put up the /students.htm page now (Micromail - Adobe Student Licensing). I know that micromail.com doesnt work but im not sure how i amend that? Is that an issue for the hosting company? So, you think it would be better to have the pages on the new studentsoftware.ie domain rather than just using that domain as a permanent redirect to the existing student pages on the micromail domain? If we were to put the pages on the new studentsoftware.ie domain, would you advise keeping exactly the same design as that of our main site?

louie · #6 (**permalink**) 21-05-2007, 05:31 PM

Yes the non www. is the setup on the server.

The new domain is not yet in search engines, so it's a good idea to make the right move with it.
You can use it to give some sort of an-detail description about the products you have, how students can benefit from it, etc, then link to the old one for purchase, so you can use it for information purposes. The old website has a good rank, but very few pages in Google and that's because the title is very common to other pages, same for the description, while the url is changing.

site:www.micromail.com - Google Search

blacknight · #7 (**permalink**) 21-05-2007, 07:12 PM

A micro-site using the new domain with plenty of content would be the ideal solution.

Fix the canonical problem as well, or you'll end up with issues further down the line.

If you use the correct techniques you should be able to do well with it

blacknight · #8 (**permalink**) 21-05-2007, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostie

I've only just put up the /students.htm page now (Micromail - Adobe Student Licensing).

The page title is very poor. Who cares that it's Micromail?

You need to place the emphasis on what people are actually looking for.

http://www.micromail.com/chest.htm - the people you are targetting probably don't know what the program is called, so you're not making use of the filename

lostie · #9 (**permalink**) 21-05-2007, 09:00 PM

Quote:

The page title is very poor. Who cares that it's Micromail?

You need to place the emphasis on what people are actually looking for.

I only realised the title when i posted that comment, obviously I didnt mean that title for the student page. Anyway ive changed it now to "Student Software - Massive reductions at Micromail ", still not ideal but it'll do for now anyway. All these pages are new so theyre far from perfect yet. Also since this weekend we've fixed the canonical problem with the .ie sharing the .com's IP, they're now both with the same host and theres a 301 redirect from the .ie to the .com.

So you think I should copy the student pages ive made and put them on the new domain, and link to it heavily from the .com site to build up its page rank? And should I keep an identical design so people who find it though the .com site dont feel theyre on a separate site?

louie · #10 (**permalink**) 21-05-2007, 09:18 PM

Yes that will probably be best.
About the design, yes keep it as close as possible to the original site and to make a small difference you should look into a different colour scheme, stronger or softer.

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