Moving a Site...Again?

[jdwanchalk]

...says...
"
"
...I say...

[jdwanchalk]

Double post.

[Ridge]

I dunno anymore info than what you posted, but if geo targetting is the only issue then there is NO reason to move it. Unless you only want to target one country I guess, but even so you don't have to move a site to do that.

[TheDonk]

I dunno anymore info than what you posted, but if geo targetting is the only issue then there is NO reason to move it. Unless you only want to target one country I guess, but even so you don't have to move a site to do that.

Well, it's a whole set of great keywords and long-tail I could go after better on the new domain. I should've mentioned earlier....the only reason I'm even considering it at all is because of time. I'm excited about this new domain and it's ability to convert...but I only have time to do one site properly, or two poorly. Maybe I should do what MJ said and let the older site sit and make it lower maintenance until the time is right. MJ has me leaning in his direction, but not 100% sold yet.

[Sebastian]

I agree with your last plan TheDonk - I've been through these decisions myself.

The thing is... you're risking your entire old site (which will be worth a lot more when programs come back btw), for a small gamble without the SEO benefits of the new domain.

If you 301 your old site using Webmaster Tools, you're telling Google it's the same site. So the newdomain.ca will rank exactly the same as the old site in a few weeks. Now, the boost you get for "newdomain" will be diluted compared to what you would see for a new site lauch. For Google, newdomain is just a rebranding of the old site. You can't accumulate domain name value by 301's for ever. It's true that the last domain is what counts of course, so it is somewhat nice to have...but I think you're wasting domain name potential doing that.

So I'd keep the old one and translate it, and develop new site on the side. My 2 cents anyways, these are always tough decisions.

[Ridge]

Well it sounds like Seb and MJ and them have more info that you posted, so the advice they are giving is probably solid.

[addz123]

One of my sites (.org) receives around 50% traffic from the UK, 25% from US, and the rest is from Canada, Australia, Germany,Ireland Greece etc.

Like Ridge or MJ said, there is no reason to move it unless you want to specifically target a country. Otherwise with a .com doman you can target any markets that you like. Also, I just did a post on kevin's old blog and 301s don't pass all page rank, they can also reset the age of your site/content potentially. Overall just looks like you're much better off sticking with your .com. Even if you wanted to target a specific country you could use the geotarget location in webmasters tool without having to change a thing on your site.

[Strider1973]

Some people here seem to know more than others...
Is it possible that you have "US" in the domain name, which would give you a reason to change the domain name?

[Randy Ray]

Is it a .us or a .com? If it's a .com, then the DOMAIN isn't what's targeting the USA, it's the content. Just something to think about.

This is most painful part of this decision. The domain it's on now is a very good domain, but it really targets U.S. visitors more than non-U.S.. The new domain is very non-US. I feel like I'm throwing away a great domain if I do this...but the bottom line is building a long-term business that we can rely on isn't it?

I dunno wtf to do for sure, and either way I go is gonna have some pain involved. You're right, I'd be a lot more excited to have this new site with instant content & backlinks pointing to it - something that almost instantly (weeks) can start attracting non-US visitors.

[Randy Ray]

As a general rule of thumb, I don't mess with redirecting sites to new domains. I own Good Movies | Good Movie Reviews | The Best Movies for example, but I bought Good Movies - Good Movie List - Good Movies to Watch, which is a better domain, IMO. But I just decided to develop the 2nd domain separately and continue to run the initial site. I just don't see much benefit from moving it to the other domain.