rebuilding a domain ranking when you change names

[SLP-NYCT]

Hi All,

I just switched my company's domain name from stlawrenceproperties (dot)net to www.SLPNYCT.com for four reasons.
1) It better suits the direction we are going in
2) It fits much better in all forms of advertising
3) e-mail addresses are much easier to describe to the public on the phone
4) Telling someone your domain name is so much easier.

So I am using a permanent redirect from the old domain name to the new, but whats the best way to quickly rebuild page ranking with the new name?

[barlamenterprises]

I personally recommend leaving up the other site on the old existing domain that already has page rank, etc, and then just have the new domain forward over (not mask) to the new site that way you don't need to worry about anything changing.

[GreggRio]

Larry, that seems prudent. I have my original domain from many years ago that is very simple for e-mail and the other reasons you mention in dealing with people. A redirect should be fine. The simpler the better, especially with crappy cell service and poor sound quality. The less to type the less to screw up

[VRI]

Best practice is to redirect the individual pages to the corresponding pages on the new domain.

It's best for visitors and for search engines.

[CLTMichael]

To me SLPNYCT.com isn't an easy domain name or e mail address to give out at all.

[SLP-NYCT]

To me SLPNYCT.com isn't an easy domain name or e mail address to give out at all.

try spelling out larryjensenatstlawrenceproperties while on a cell phone to someone else on a cell phone or printing that on a business card. Even had trouble as some e-mail fields did not allow for all the characters.

I test marketed SLPNYCT on a number of fronts. Retention with that was much better than the previous. We also tried slp247 but people wanted to put the / between 24 and 7 for 24/7 which did not work with the web site.

Outside of my market, NYCT may seen difficult, but when you live on the NY and CT border, we are use to seeing and hearing NY CT every day.

Also, when combined with all the advertising the web site, phone and e-mail all continue to repeat. Repetition = retention

[GreggRio]

What VRI mentioned Larry is the 301 redirect tool that you might want to look into. It is easy to use and a good suggestion.

[SLP-NYCT]

yeah, I use the 301 for the other domains. I have a few.

[nitsujri]

out of curiosity, what were the PR of the old pages and all the ones pushing towards your site? i did a look up on the stlawrenceproperties.com and www.stlawrenceproperties.com, and i find no PR for either of them.

if there is no PR for any of these pages, then i'd simply recommend doing standard SEO work from the ground up.

[barlamenterprises]

Keep in mind Google values domain age. A new domain will be much harder to rank and take longer, as well as possibly being sandboxed, as opposed to an older domain that Google trusts already.