Tips to Merge Two Domains?

[Ci3reR]

Hi all, my client assigned me to merge both their two domains.

To cut the long story, at the moment they have, for example, domain1.com and domain2.com. Practically, they sell quite the same products but with different content and layout. This has been happening for several years: domain1.com came first then domain2.com a couple of months after.

They noticed that domain2.com has now more traffic than domain1.com. Another reason is they want to use one placeholder to avoid brand confusion (as expected because the products are actually the same).

So, they are planning to merge the brand into domain2.com.

I think this is just the same as moving domain, isn't it?

I have been preparing all things as per SEOmoz SEO Guide: How to Properly Move Domains and Google's moving your site .

Do you have any other tips to include?

I want to make sure that the domain moving will be successful and the link juice on domain1.com can be transferred to domain2.com .

Many thanks for your help!

[SeoExpertos]

Hi Christian,

The appropiate way to do it is with a 301 redirection, and you have to put it on Webmaster Tools too.

Good luck!

[Ci3reR]

Hi Exequiel,

Thanks for your inputs, these are also in the links above.

Just wondering if there is anything else I need to be aware of

[SeoExpertos]

Hi Christian, In my opinion I wouldnt do it. I tell you why... Imagine that now you redirect your site to the one that is ranking better, and in a few months you receive a penalization on this site... you are going to loose everything. I think the best option is conserve your second site. Actually you can use it to test new seo strategies

[Ci3reR]

Hi Exequiel, I am a bit confused now. Your reply seemed to contradict your first one; which I thought you were in support to migrate the domain.

You, however, raised a valid point here. Nevertheless, sometimes it is a risk due to business decision and to avoid brand confusion.

We will be still keeping the domain1 after migration, so we can have mitigation plan if this doesn't work.

I also want to seek everyone's opinion on this matter.

[SEO5Team]

Hi Christian,

You highlighted excellent sources for reference. You can apply the 301 redirect to move the domain. Ideally 301 the specific pages to domain 2 that relate to the same product info as domain 1. This way when someone clicks on a product page for domain 1 that is still ranking , they see a similar page on domain 2 when they are redirected.

[Valarlf]

think the best thing you can do is do a 301 redirect, maintain two websites can be complicated in your case it seems unnecessary.

[Ci3reR]

Hi SEO5,

Thanks for your input. Yes, I am working on this, just to make sure that the mapping will be as relevant as possible.

By the way, have you had experience for "change of address" on Google Webmasters to set domain1 back to domain1 again?

This is just in case.

Many thanks,

Christian

[Ci3reR]

Thanks, Luis. I feel the same way, too. That is one of the reasons my client finally decided to merge the brand.

[SEO5Team]

yep, here is a reference source for the change of address.

[Ci3reR]

Ah, thanks about it. Withdrawing a change of address is what I looked for.

Just in case if there is a need to revert.