Jimmyp24

Hi Ziggy, something that I missed in your original message, you spoke about re-directs.

If I use the SquareSpace 301 redirects, it looks like search engines move the old page ranking to the new one? Does the url have to be exactly the same though i.e. 

brazenmonkey.co.uk/leicester-square       but won't work if it points to 
brazenmonkey.co.uk/leicester_square

This could be my salvation?

Jimmy

301 redirects direct visitors to a different URL when they click a link to a nonexistent page. They tell search engines that a page has moved, and search engines transfer the old page's rank to the new page.

To use a 301 redirect, the original URL can no longer exist, and the new one must exist. Ensure the old URL doesn't exist by deleting the old page, disabling it, or changing its URL.

You should use 301 redirects if:

• You changed a page's URL (in its page settings).
• You deleted a page from your site and want to redirect to your homepage.
• You imported content and the URLs changed. In this scenario, it's usually because your previous site didn't have a page slug for the blog page, just posts.
• You're redirecting to another domain.

Thanks for the tips Ziggy, I'll address the issues and see how we go. Might check back here in 12 months to update! Jimmy

Hi Ziggy, this is really helpful thank you! I have set up some really good SEO on the .uk version, based on the tutorials provided. Would it be safer to have .co.uk operating as normal, and wait to see if the new .uk version creeps up the board over a month or so?

That way there could be a point where the domain authority for both is really good, or does the mere presence of .uk start to tank the old .co.uk do you think?

Hi, I have a weird question if someone could enlighten me! 

My friend has this old old old Wordpress website brazenmonkey.co.uk

It's been live for such a long time that it's in the top 10 google rankings. 

I created a new Squarespace site for him and was about to transfer it across, but I was told that as it's a new site, Google would need to index it again, and it would likely drop out of the Google top 10 (maybe temporarily, maybe permanently!). 

He said that the current position is too valuable to the business, so I cannot point the old Wordpress one to the new SP one. As a compromise I said I would create a new domain for the updated site brazenmonkey.uk and have a link to it from the old one, something like "Please visit our new site".

Now I know this is really bad practice, but I cannot think of an alternative (I am not a developer).

My question is, will doing this, affect the old site's SEO at all, and will it start to drop as a result. The idea is that in time, if the new one does well in Google, we can put the old one to pasture. 

Any advice would be much appreciated! 

Jimmy