OK - I get it. 301 redirects are important. :)

Here's the scenario and my question:

My client had been using exampleinc.com for a couple years and recently purchased example.com and wants to make this his primary domain. I should also mention that this isn't a super high profile site so there really isn't any high PR or golden natural rankings I'm trying to maintain. When I implemented a 301 redirect from exampleinc.com to example.com, it worked just fine. I did a server header check and exampleinc.com comes up with a 301. Perfect, right? It seems so. The only (perhaps minor) problem is that hypothetically, if someone had a subpage of the site bookmarked using the old domain (exampleinc.com) and they go to it now, it won't redirect to that same page using the new domain (example.com). It will simply go to the home page of example.com.

I guess it kind of stinks that it won't just go to the exact subpage, but I guess it's good because it probably makes it more obvious to the user that the domain name has changed - so they should probably update their bookmark. Should I have done something any different? I read on a couple posts about the possibility of creating individual redirects for each and every page... but that sounds like overkill, especially since I'm not trying to maintain any existing great rankings.

Oh - and if it makes a difference, the site is on an IIS server.

Thanks!

Texken,

I think what you need is a mod rewrite rather than a 301. I found an example of what this will do and how to do it in another thread right here at SEW.

http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=3925

Hope that helps.

JEC

To answer your question ... you have to make the 301 redirect global.

In IIS under the "home Directory" tab click "A Redirection to a URL:"

and below that only check "A Permanent Redirection for this URL"

this will create the global 301 redirect you are looking for.

FYI - you cannot use mod_rewrite if you are using IIS as your webserver.

To answer your question ... you have to make the 301 redirect global.

In IIS under the "home Directory" tab click "A Redirection to a URL:"

and below that only check "A Permanent Redirection for this URL"

this will create the global 301 redirect you are looking for.

FYI - you cannot use mod_rewrite if you are using IIS as your webserver.

These are the settings I have now. Depending on what you mean by "global," it kind of works now. It will redirect any individual page. The issue is, it redirects it only to the home page. So for example, if I had www.exampleinc.com/products/widgeta.htm bookmarked, it redirects to www.example.com rather than to www.example.com/products.widgeta.htm.

FYI - you cannot use mod_rewrite if you are using IIS as your webserver.
I overlooked the last sentence about IIS. Thanks for the clarification. However, I believe there is a Mod Rewrite utility for IIS called ISAPI_Rewrite that once installed has the same capabilities.

From the looks of it, the suggested global redirection is essentially Microsoft's method of implementing a permanent 301 redirect. I hope I have that correct. If that's the case, this will not redirect page for page, which is what he's trying to do. Rather, it will just redirect any pages requested from one URL to whichever URL he puts in the address under the global setting. At least, that's how I'm seeing it. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

JEC

If that's the case, this will not redirect page for page, which is what he's trying to do. Rather, it will just redirect any pages requested from one URL to whichever URL he puts in the address under the global setting. At least, that's how I'm seeing it.

JEC

Yep - exactly. That's the issue. Any way around this?

In IIS Manager, navigate to the file you want to redirect. Right click (on the actual file) and select properties

Under the file tab click "a redirection to a url"

Redirect to: yournewurl.com

Under "the client will be sent to:"

Check "the exact URL entered above" and "a permanent redirection for this resource"

no need to mess with any othe the other tabs

Hit apply, hit ok

move on to the next file to redirect