I want to change domain names without BREAKING ranks

[Stemage]

Hi all! :)

I'm interested in changing domain names without destroying the rankings I've acquired.

I currently have domain #1 and domain #2. Currenctly #1 is the site, and #2 just points there (been pointing there since the site's inception). I'd like to make the "swift" change to using #2 primarily, and using domain #1 as a pointer.

Does anyone have any pointers (haha), about the smoothest way to go about this? I don't want domain #2 to have any issues being picked up, and I ESPECIALLY don't want there to be an issue with duplicate content.

Luckily, both have about the same level of link popularity currently, which is nice.

Any initial thoughts?

-Stem

[Jill Whalen]

This is going to sound counter-intuitive to what you may have read elsewhere, but due to Google's aging delay you will HAVE TO use a 302 redirect from the old domain to the new.

Read Scottie Claiborne's article Switching to a New Domain Without Losing Your Google Rankings (http://www.highrankings.com/issue142.htm#guest).

Or you can just park both domains and hope that the engines one day decide your new one is better to use than your old one. If you do that, you'll want to use absolute URL links within the site to the new URL.

[Stemage]

Thanks much Jill!!

[queen]

Is this a valid point?

Two methods are currently being used to get around the Sandbox penalty for new sites.

One method is to join the Google Adwords or Adsense program, in which case your pages get spidered in MINUTES. Your site will be checked initially with an algo or human "smell test". If you smell good, you're in. Good rankings will follow (provided of course, that you have good on-page SEO, and a few good backlinks).

I speculate that if you are a Google partner ("approved"), then you are not going to be penalized, unless you subsequently "go bad".