On a recent episode of Ask Googlebot, Google Search Advocate John Mueller discussed a concern many small business owners have.
Businesses often work on launching a new website while still running their old site. Mueller was asked if owners must delete the old site when the new one goes live.
Here’s what he advises.
Navigating The Transition From Old To New Websites
Mueller stressed the need to remove or update the outdated website since leaving contradictory information online could confuse users and harm SEO.
Having inconsistent details like changed business hours or addresses on both sites might frustrate customers and make it harder for search engines to correctly index and rank pages.
To provide the best user experience and SEO performance, it’s crucial to ensure the old site is no longer publicly visible or is updated to match the current information.
Best Practices For A Smooth Transition
The solution, Mueller suggests, is to implement redirects from the old site to the new one.
“Ideally, you’d redirect the old website to the new one,” Mueller stated. This not only aids users in finding the correct website but also helps search engines transfer any existing signals to the new domain, potentially boosting its standing.
Mueller recommends getting help from a web developer or hosting provider to implement the redirects properly. He suggests leaving the redirects in place for at least one year to guarantee a smooth changeover for users and search engines.