Need Some Help - Converting To A New Domain and 301 Redirects

[MJM]

Hello all, it's been years since I've done this so I wanted to run it past everyone to see if I have this right.

I bought a better domain for one of our sites and want to move it to the new domain. I've already cloned Site A to Site B and it's setup and ready to go - I just need to finish the process by redirecting all pages of Site A to Site B.

My understanding is there is two ways to do this:

1. Page to page 1 on 1 301 redirects aka SiteA.com/page-123/ to SiteB.com/page-123/

However, am I correct in understanding if the structure, layout, and url folders are all staying the same aka no url changes we can do a simpler global 301 redirect and save the time of making a a file of a couple hundred urls in the 1 on 1 option?

Hope I wrote this in a way that makes sense. Site A has established traffic and rankings, but very few links to internal pages to worry about. Help appreciated from those smarter than me!

[universal4]

There is a variable you can use in htaccess that will take the page name from one and tack on the the new domain is one shot....

I am sure one of the members that does this more can help pretty quick...

I was thinking it was a $ sign, but I might be incorrect about that.

Rick
Universal4

[universal4]

I "think" you want the 1st example here, but you might confirmation of that.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/...-to-new-domain


Be sure while testing, keep closing and reopening different browsers, so that you local cache does not skew testing.


Rick
Universal

[MJM]

The code I was going to use if going that route is this:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^olddomain.com [NC,OR] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.olddomain.com [NC] RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://newdomain.com/$1 [L,R=301,NC]

[MJM]

Thanks for the helpful link, I don't get the difference between "full website redirection" and running "two domains side by side" as they both stay live so as to host the htaccess file on the old domain.

[universal4]

I am not sure you need the "old domain" part....since the htaccess file should only be on the old site.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

The ^ takes care of (in simple terms) all requests and the $ makes page names the variable that is carried through

and the /$1 appends said variable to the new domain during redirection.

I may not have explained that exactly right, but is sorta what takes place.

Rick
Universal4

[MJM]

So if I'm reading you write the entire htaccess file would essentially look like this (on wordpress). Also does it matter if I include www or not? I do use www as preferred version currently.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]


# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>


# END WordPress
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php70 .php .php5 .php4 .php3

[universal4]

Not sure that is enough, I think this is the correct example for wordpress

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !.*YOURDOMAIN\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://YOURDOMAIN.com/$1 [R=301,L]

RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

Rick
Universal4

[universal4]

If you are using https, then in the example you would have to adjust the 1st rewrite condition.

Rick
Universal4

[MJM]

Assuming this is the right way to go and not a lengthy and time consuming process requiring page by page redirects, I think I'm good to go. Redirect is in place and working, thanks for the assist on this!

[universal4]

Glad to have helped,

See my pm, and happy to help you test , but usually after a few successful tests you likely have it fine.....if anything goes into a sub folder (like visit links etc) it wouldn't hurt to test a few.

Rick
Universal4

[MJM]

I'm actually having a hard time with the google change of address tool, keeps failing to verify even though it shows in my accounts as verified. Never encountered that before, so I added and verified both versions http and www (formerly was just www) and that didn't cut it. Not https yet. I'm wondering do I need to add redirects to both www and non www versions in that htaccess file? I'm thinking google wmt says yes.

[universal4]

I have had a few sites do that also with www and non www.

I cant see this as being a big problem, but not sure why sometimes the verification doesn't seem to work as intended (something in their algo seems to treat the sites separately - and some it doesn't do it)

Rick
Universal4