How long before I can use a redirected domain without taking back link juice?

[zharriet]

We recently moved our website to a new domain that better matched our brand. I want to use the old domain at some point for another aspect of our business.

How long after we do the domain redirect will it be safe to use the old domain again--without affecting the seo of the new domain?

Thanks!

Harriet

[BeanstalkIM]

I assume the old domain has a penalty and thus the concern with the redirection (not judging, just noting the premise of the answer).  While in these events I am hesitate to connect the dots at all, going back to my affiliate marketing days (when I had a much more cowboyish approach to SEO) I would have done the following:

1 - Put up a one page splash page on the old site.
2 - Disallow the site in the robots.txt file
3 - Put the noindex,nofollow on the splash page
4 - Use a meta refresh on the splash page directed to the new site
5 - if it was a link issue add a disavow file on both domains for the links to the old domain

The splash page should read something like, "This site has been moved to a new domain.  If you are not redirected in x seconds (x being however long you've selected for the refresh) please click here." (where "click here is a nofollowed link to your new domain.

This all said, anytime you link two domains there is always the chance the Google will connect the dots now or in the future so there is an element of risk.  You have clearly shown that you don't want weight passing so that's a perk but it all depends on risk tolerance.

I'll be interested to hear any additional thoughts or techniques.  I haven't done anything like this in many many years.

Good luck !!!

[junseth]

Is there a reason that you aren't doing a redirect right away?

[MarieHaynes]

There really is no expiration date on the link equity that goes through a redirect.  If you're worried about penalized links then they will always be present and if you redirect one site to the other then you'll be redirecting all of those links as well.

BeanstalkSEO's solution probably would work.  If you want to be able to redirect the site without having a splash page you can also do it by redirecting through an intermediary page that is blocked by robots.txt.

[JaneCopland]

I didn't get the impression from this question that the old site / domain was penalised. Correct me if I'm wrong, zharriet, but I got the impression that what you're saying is that you changing domains, redirected www.oldsite.com to www.newsite.com, but that at some point in the future, you want to use **www.oldsite.com **at some point in the future for another part of the business. As such, you want to know when you can "turn off" the redirect without harming the new rankings of www.newsite.com, using www.oldsite.comfor new content.

The answer to this is really hard to give: some sites don't seem to benefit much from having old domains pointed at them. Others benefit for a period before that benefit seems to disappear (meaning that you will have needed to build a good number of news links to the new domain).

It is impossible to say what the effect of removing a 301 redirect at some point in the future will be, but the safest way you can ensure that this doesn't harm the new site is by building a robust platform of good on and off site SEO for that new site so that it can withstand having any benefit of the old site's 301 taken away.

[junseth]

This was my impression as well @zharriet. If you haven't yet gotten an answer, letting us further understand the problem will help us to give you a good answer.

[zharriet]

Thank you, Jane. You rephrased my question much better.
You're correct that the old site wasn't being penalized (rebranding was the reason we moved it.)
I have plenty of time to improve the new site before I need to use the old domain.
Thanks again,
Harriet