Is it possible to move a 450-page html website to a new hosting service and migrate the content into wordpress, without losing the Google indexing and page rank?

I have a client that started with a free website on Bravehost. Straight html. No database involved. The client wishes to move to Hostgator. He wishes to reduce the content to 20 pages and publish using wordpress. I have advised him not to trash those 430 now-unwanted pages, as the Google indexing has value.

The goal is to move the html site to a new hosting account and into wordpress in such a way that the URL remains the same and Google index and inbound links remain the same, while the bulk of the content will be unavailable to visitors. What would be the best way to do this?

If this isn't the best section to ask in, please tell me. Any serious advice will be much appreciated.

Depends!

Is the hostname going to change?

The goal is to keep everything the same.

then what's the problem?

Put the site up on the new host and test it. switch the DNS over, leave the old hosting up for about 5 days and there will be no ill effects at all.

It's possible. Just migrate all content to new server first. If everything looks good, just update domain DNS. If new account uses a new domain, don't forget to make permanent redirect as well

That's what I thought, but wanted to be sure before I started. Thanks, both of you, for your input.

Keep both sites up; use the meta refresh tag to point original users to the new site:


'<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="2;url=http://Your_New_host.com">'


The free site most likely is set up as a sub domain so you should be able to leave it alone. Set up the new site under their domain name. You could even run back link the sites. Since the new host has a database Google will not see it as a duplicate site.

Regards,

Stu

Since the new host has a database Google will not see it as a duplicate site.

And HOW exactly would it NOT be duplicate simply because it is database driven instead of static pages????

And HOW exactly would it NOT be duplicate simply because it is database driven instead of static pages????

It would be....


right?

Originally Posted by webcenters

Since the new host has a database Google will not see it as a duplicate site.

Are you SERIOUS? I would love to hear more smart thoughts like this.