New ecommerce site: Close old site and full domain redirect or keep it linking to new site?

[ModowestNZ]

We have rebranded and are working on our new site (B). Our old site (A) has a much higher domain/page authority than our new site.

Currently we have the original Site A still there, with all links/pages pointing to the new Site B when people click.

I am unsure whether we'd be best to close down the Site A completely and do a full domain redirect to Site B.

Site A:  10 years age and has a moderate amount of links to it. 
Homepage -   PA: 24   DA:11

Site B: 6 months age, few links
Homepage -   PA: 1   DA:2

My concern with the full domain redirect is that the indexed/ranking pages would dissapear. The benefit is less brand confusion for our niche range of party accessories.

[_nitman]

Hi David,

If you're planning to switch to the new domain, I would recommend you to not close the existing domain but redirect all the pages to their equivalent pages on the new domain. Please note, relevance is the most important factor here from SEO perspective. Gradually, all your indexed pages will be replaced by their corresponding new pages (ranking might not be the same though).

Also, keep an eye on search console for the domain A as well. This will give you an idea on how many pages are still breaking and then you can quickly fix them or, redirect to their corresponding new pages.

P.S Of course you'll loose your domain authority here, but if its a business decision, this is how you can handle it the best way I believe.

Hope this helps!

[GlobeRunner]

The biggest decision here is whether or not you want to continue to maintain two separate websites--or if it's better to spend your time building one brand and concentrating on one website.

When it comes to links, Domain Authority, and Page Authority, you can easily 301 redirect the old site to the new one--so that really shouldn't be a concern. It's the overall decision of maintaining and building two sites and two brands--rather than one.