We want to move Content from one domain to another

[Simonws001]

We have a large amount of unique content on a domain we are no longer using/promoting.

Its been sat there for a couple of years. Its literally wasted content on a non used or promoted domain.

We want to move it to a busy site of ours. Are there any best practices or pitfalls we should be aware of?

[ClaytonJ]

The first question I would ask is why the new site? why no 301 redirects originally? Was it because of the panda update? Is the old content - old school so "keyword stuffed". The main issue is duplication and keyword stuffing.  Is penguin at play because of bad links to the old site? Is that why moved and nothing transferred.

If 100% certain penguin and panda not in play then is not an issue to transfer and then kill off the pages you are transferring from. Eliminate the old URLs from Google's index in Webmaster Tools. That ensures google is clear on what to index.

In a big transfer of content there can be a lot of manual labor depending on the CMS.  Hope you have a good CMS.

Hope that answers your query.

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

I would put the content through a content audit. What's relevant? What's not? What can be updated? What can be consolidated? Going through this exercise will help you prioritize your plan of action.

From there, I would make sure you take a look at Moz's migration guide, as it can help you set up the transfer of your content to the other website - this includes URL mapping, redirects, sitemap considerations, as well as measurements.

Hope this all helps! Good luck!