Changing URLs

[webmaster]

I need to bulk move a bunch of pages from one set of URLs to a different set of URLs within the same domain. The site has already been indexed by the search engines.

Requests to each old URL will receive a 301 'Moved Permanently' status code, pointing to the new URL, and will do so forever.

Should my internal links continue to point to the old URLs for some amount of time? This would seem to be the best way to let the search engines know that the pages have been moved. The alternative is to let them think that the new URL contains duplicate content, until they get around to requesting the old URL again.

Thoughts?

[JohnW]

>Should my internal links continue to point to the old URLs for some amount of time

I would say no. The internal links should change at the same time you add the 301s.

[gobeyond]

I would say no. The internal links should change at the same time you add the 301s.

Agreed. The internal links help spiders navigating your site. Why put a hurdle (301 redirect) in front of them?

[webmaster]

Agreed. The internal links help spiders navigating your site. Why put a hurdle (301 redirect) in front of them?

The logic behind the idea was to help the search engines flush the old URLs from their index. Rather than having them think for awhile that I have duplicate pages on the site, they would immediately know that the old page had been removed.

That may be unnecessary, and I'm not sure whether page rank is transferred across 301s, but that was why I was exploring the idea.

[mugshot]

the nature of a 301 is to tell engine/spider/user than the requeted page no longer exist, not for a while, not for 1 minute or 1 month, but forever.

by 301-ing your old pages to the new ones, it gives you time to change your internal links - and even if a spider crawls the old internal links - it will also be 301-ed to the new ones. its the same difference.

although, you'd be surprised how fast g picks up on a 301 and reindexes the new pages. and your internal links would not cause dup content because the page is 301-ed, again a permanent move. but don't take your sweet time to update your internal links - because - it affects your internal site link architecture :)

[webmaster]

the nature of a 301 is to tell engine/spider/user than the requeted page no longer exist, not for a while, not for 1 minute or 1 month, but forever.

by 301-ing your old pages to the new ones, it gives you time to change your internal links - and even if a spider crawls the old internal links - it will also be 301-ed to the new ones. its the same difference.

although, you'd be surprised how fast g picks up on a 301 and reindexes the new pages. and your internal links would not cause dup content because the page is 301-ed, again a permanent move. but don't take your sweet time to update your internal links - because - it affects your internal site link architecture :)

I know the purpose of a 301. There is lag time between when Googlebot finds the new URL and when it attempts to recrawl the old URL. I'm not sure why you think I'd be surprised at how fast this happens. I've run tests. Although Googlebot is constantly crawling the site, it still takes awhile. I was simply attempting to eliminate the lag time.

The internal links can be, and have been, changed by flicking the proverbial switch.

[mugshot]

all you can do is hope for the best after doing everything you know. have a beer or 2 :)

[webmaster]

Yeah, I just try to follow best practices. Since I had the luxury of being able to go either way, it occurred to me that I might be able to help the search engines along.

If page rank doesn't get carried over across 301s, then I would have beene shooting myself in the foot by maintaining the old links for a time. If anyone knows the answer to that, I would be interested in hearing it.

[pleeker]

If page rank doesn't get carried over across 301s

It does get transferred over.....

[webmaster]

It does get transferred over.....

Thanks. And thanks to everyone else who posted here.

[DimaX]

the nature of a 301 is to tell engine/spider/user than the requeted page no longer exist, not for a while, not for 1 minute or 1 month, but forever.

by 301-ing your old pages to the new ones, it gives you time to change your internal links - and even if a spider crawls the old internal links - it will also be 301-ed to the new ones. its the same difference.

although, you'd be surprised how fast g picks up on a 301 and reindexes the new pages. and your internal links would not cause dup content because the page is 301-ed, again a permanent move. but don't take your sweet time to update your internal links - because - it affects your internal site link architecture

Wow thanks for this info!