Help with 301 redirects

[KatGamer]

I'm moving my (Wordpress) website from mysite.com to mysite.net. My friend gave me her website about 10 years ago and I've been paying for it since, but she's always held on to the domain name through a third-party registrar. Now she's become unresponsive to emails and texts so I'm going to buy mysite.net. I am also moving webhosts so I thought I would just clone the site and point mysite.net to the new host.

 

Is a 301 redirect via .htaccess at the mysite.com host the best way to permanently (as long as the old domain name stands) redirect traffic to the new site? How long will it take Google to just start pointing people to the new site instead of the old? What am I about to mess up that I don't realize? lol

[BinaryData]

That's one of three ways.

 

Way 2

 

Way 3

 

I own my domains through GoDaddy. I can set the re-directs there. Way 2 is through my DreamHost Panel.

[+BudMan MVC]

yes a 301 is how you redirect and tell the browser this has moved here perm.  But that doesn't mean the user will update their bookmarks or anything.  And might never notice that they end up on yoursite.net vs yoursite.com

 

Your best bet is once you have the new site up, change the old site to inform the users that you have moved, then sure you can auto redirect them after a few seconds.  But you should prob mention something to them they should update their links to reflect the new domain - please update your bookmarks, etc.

 

 

[DSquared2]

I agree that a 301 redirect is a necessary step and that you should include a message on the .com site that the site has moved to the .net url. 

 

On 12.5.2016 at 5:57 AM, KatGamer said:

Is a 301 redirect via .htaccess at the mysite.com host the best way to permanently (as long as the old domain name stands) redirect traffic to the new site? How long will it take Google to just start pointing people to the new site instead of the old? 

If you want to learn some tips and tricks for .htaccess, this article is a nice little summary. Ultimately, though, I find it quite easy and comprehensive. You don't have to worry too much. 

 

As far as how long it will take Google, it's actually pretty quick. Just help yourself out here by registering your change of address with the change of address tool in your Google console.