SEO Tycoon

**frost** · 08-02-2007, 03:21 AM

I want to redirect users on one domain to another domain, but I don't want to redirect search engines. What is the best way to do this? The way which I was thinking of would use a robots.txt and a meta refresh, is that sufficient?

I don't want Google to associate the old domain with the new domain, because the old one seems to have been banned or heavily penalized. I think the reason for this was getting too many links (even though the majority was relevant) from too many sites in too short of time. Anyways, that's besides the point. Is robots.txt and a meta refresh good enough to redirect users and not search engines?

**ForrestCroce** · 08-02-2007, 03:42 AM

That's asking for your new site to get banned. Technically hiding things from search engines is "cloaking" and a big no-no. You could do it with a javascript redirect, but I wouldn't. If you're going to tell the 'bots anyway in robots.txt, you might as well use a 302 or better yet a 301 redirect.

Also, I don't think getting "too many" hits "too quickly" is something that's necessarily going to cause a ban. I might be wrong ... but if it was something else that got you deindexed, and you haven't resolved it, a new domain won't help.

Did you register both domains under your own name?

**frost** · 08-02-2007, 04:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ForrestCroce

That's asking for your new site to get banned. Technically hiding things from search engines is "cloaking" and a big no-no. You could do it with a javascript redirect, but I wouldn't. If you're going to tell the 'bots anyway in robots.txt, you might as well use a 302 or better yet a 301 redirect.

The 301 redirect is what I am mainly worried about. I feel like if Google didn't like my first site, and I give a permanent redirect to my new site, then I don't see why they wouldn't just apply the old ban/penalty to the new site. I suppose my idea would be just as bad.

By the way, I don't think I did anything wrong originally, but I can't find a place on Google to get support or ask for information on why I am banned/penalized.

Quote:

Did you register both domains under your own name?

Yes, sort of. I registered both domains, but they are both hidden in whois via whois privacy service. They will also be on the same server/IP, but I have other sites on same IP which have good standing in search engines. I know there's a SEO rumor out there claiming that part of the algorithm takes into account different whois information... but I think several thousand people share mine.

**chrishirst** · 08-02-2007, 08:51 AM

Your first mistake is assuming the first site is banned, because it isn't.

new sites don't get banned, new sites don't get penalised

New sites just take 6 to 12 months before the pages start to rank in the SERPs
And your new site will do exactly the same!

Read through this. http://www.highrankings.com/forum/in...p?showforum=71

**frost** · 08-03-2007, 01:39 AM

My site isn't showing up at all when I search for the domain in Google. Not in the first page or the other two. I've never run across this problem before until it started a couple months ago.

I have 7 sites on a dedicated server which I started at roughly the same time, 6 are doing as I expected in terms of searches, and one, the one I have invested the most time into in terms of finding relevant traffic, can't even be found in Google.

I am starting to feel disappointed in the SEO community in general (not directed at you, chrishirst). There seem to be very few unanimous answers to a question as I have asked many of my SEO questions across multiple forums, and it seems to me that too many people have conflicting responses, or responses (as in this case, sorry) in which I doubt their validity.

Since most of SEO seems to be based on experiments and the old Pagerank paper by Page and Brin, I guess I will be doing my own experiments and seeing which tips work on my own, starting with this one.

**ForrestCroce** · 08-03-2007, 01:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frost

Yes, sort of. I registered both domains, but they are both hidden in whois via whois privacy service. They will also be on the same server/IP, but I have other sites on same IP which have good standing in search engines. I know there's a SEO rumor out there claiming that part of the algorithm takes into account different whois information... but I think several thousand people share mine.

Google is a domain registrar; they don't actually provide this as a service, but I think they have a lot more access than you or I would to the real info.

I don't think this has anything at all to do with the algorithm, but if you're worried that 301 redirects would carry a ban forward to your new site ... if they have some other way of knowing the two sites are associated, or run by the same person, wouldn't this be the same thing as a 301, essentially? I don't know if Google can see beyond your privacy filter, and a lot of budget hosts put about a thousand sites on the same box or IP address, so I wouldn't give a second thought to that.

Part of the reason you're not finding a unanimous answer is that Google has worked very hard to keep their secret sauce a secret, to prevent manipulation.

**emojay** · 08-03-2007, 02:32 AM

in my opinion better yet use the redirect if change the urls of your site because redirecting them is like your web site is committing a suicide.

**ADAM Web Design** · 08-03-2007, 02:52 AM

What Forrest said: if SEO were really as common knowledge as everyone purports it to be, everyone would have #1 ranking...the problem is that there only 10 spots for any keyword or phrase.

frost: I don't know if you've mentioned the "banned" site to any of the other SEO communities, but you haven't mentioned it once here. Most people miss the obvious things such as site structure, architecture, ease of navigation, and all the user components of SEO.

So...what's your old site, and what's your new one?

**chrishirst** · 08-03-2007, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Since most of SEO seems to be based on experiments and the old Pagerank paper by Page and Brin, I guess I will be doing my own experiments and seeing which tips work on my own, starting with this one.

WhooHoo, another conversion

This is absolutely the right thing to do, Trust No One! Or at least treat the information with a healthy dose of skeptiscism or suspicion.

There is nothing cut & dried in the SEO world, despite the best efforts of many forums and "experts" striving to prove they have the perfect answer.
What works for one site could be a total disaster for another,
Test, wait, analyse and never jump to conclusions. then test, wait and analyse once again.