Merging three sites to one

[Profero]

Hi guys,

I just wanted confirmation if this is the right way to go about doing this. I need to merge three websites and I've never done three websites in to a brand new site before.

Ok so we have

Sitex.com
Sitey.com
Sitez.com

We've created a SiteB.com

SiteB.com has

SiteB.com/SiteXCat
SiteB.com/SiteYCat
SiteB.com/SiteZCat

Each X,Y and Z have over 1,000 pages. They only have about 10 pages each with Page Authority above 10 and the domains arn't that strong.

What i plan to do is:

301 redirect each site domain (X,Y,,Z) to it's corresponding category. e.g. Sitex.com > SiteB.com/SiteXCat

301 redirect each page off X,Y,Z that has a Page Authority above 10 to their new pages on SiteB.com

Then, I'm unsure if i should 410 every other URL...

I don't think its worht 301 every single URL if they arn't in search results much - but maybe it is if they have a lot of inbound links even with low page authority?

Any ideas and does the above seem the best practise?

Thanks.

[AlanMosley]

The only think you are 301 redirecting are requests, such as incomming links. so it is whether the page has links that is important.

You can 410 what is left, as it will get rid of the other pages quicker, but just letting them 404 will do the same.

[SeattleOrganicSEO]

Matt Cutts did a video to answer this question that coincidentally we wrote a quick blog post about yesterday.  Interesting timing...

http://seattleorganicseo.com/sosblog/move-multiple-websites-domain-steps/

[My-Favourite-Holiday-Cottages]

I would investiage if there is any way to rewrite the whole lot with one rule, or auto-generate a 301 list. If your very sure your incoming link data is fresh and thats not possable then I would only 301 the pages with links.

[AlanMosley]

If you have a rule for conanonical domain that will do. Point all domains to the one website the canonical rules should read if domain is not canonical.com then 301 to canonical.com. the would account for any domain that is not correct not just www and non www.

As for fresh link data,i would go with what you got, then start looking at your 404s,

BWMT will tell you if the 404 has links pointing to it.

[Profero]

OK thanks Alan. I used OSE and just sorted pages with links and set up 301's and will let the rest 404.