What a mess .. USU > CEON > USU ... and redirect Domain ... HELP!

**shags38** · 20 May 2019, 02:02 AM

v155f php 7.1

Originally was just going to ask 'how best to redirect a domain such that inbound links to all pages followed to the new domain' (domain name change) ... however the situation is now far more complicated and I desperately need some solid advice ... please.

background;
- was using USU with no problems on v1.5.1 (6 sites)
- upgraded to v1.5.5f and suffered issues with Google Search (WMT) and a loss in rankings
- issue was a USU canonical compatibility with 155f - urls not being written to sitemap
- out of necessity I installed CEON to replace USU
- USU did not redirect the USU format urls so Google was even further confused and 'link juice' to pages other than index was lost
- USU has now been fixed and as I find CEON not only a little complicated / time consuming to use I want to revert to using USU (credit to mc12345678 for trying to help me through the original instigation of CEON - still struggle with it though)
- USU apparently will not redirect the CEON formal urls
- for SEO purposes I want to redirect the domain to a different domain name (branded partial match)

This creates a confusing dilemma for me;
This Question has been asked in the CEON URI Mapping forum here [https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread....ight=CEON+URI] and no I am not duplicating a post, simply referring to it as an integral part of this query .... no answer as yet but it is only a day old post and it is the weekend so I am not being impatient)

How can I go about redirecting CEON urls to USU urls effectively and efficiently without losing any indexing by Google and any link juice, both external and internal?

Question: Do I redirect the domain name (and rewriting of content to reflect a 'brand' - reason for domain name change) and THEN worry about the link rewriting mess afterwards ... or ... my inclination, get the mess sorted out and then redirect (and modify content) AFTER the urls are stablized.

If was your situation how would you resolve it to best effect in respect to the search performance of the site, and hence revenue.

cheers,
Mike

**dbltoe** · 20 May 2019, 05:04 PM

IMHO
Top Ten items for SEO

Lots of relative content on EVERY page
Spelling, punctuation, grammar
Robots.txt
sitemap.xml
alt tags that mean something
images that load quickly
No duplication - 301 or .htaccess redirect
SSL for the actual site (also match www or non-www)
html that verifies
CSS that verifies
...
...
...
Change Zen Cart's method of presenting a URL.

**shags38** · 21 May 2019, 12:01 AM

Originally Posted by dbltoe

IMHO
Top Ten items for SEO

Lots of relative content on EVERY page
Spelling, punctuation, grammar
Robots.txt
sitemap.xml
alt tags that mean something
images that load quickly
No duplication - 301 or .htaccess redirect
SSL for the actual site (also match www or non-www)
html that verifies
CSS that verifies
...
...
...
Change Zen Cart's method of presenting a URL.

Thank you for your response dbltoe ... it is much appreciated.

I think your list is very comprehensive - for primary search term the site is currently sitting between #5 to #7 variable on average, (sometimes 2 pages sit in that range) and working now at aiming for #1 / #2 where it was formerly, and am in the process of developing a 'brand' presence, currently a missing component (trust, consumer confidence etc).
So working on the premise that in this case 1 thru 10 are all satisfactory, top notch even .... or at least currently being brought up to scratch (content being slightly modified to include a 'brand') .... with the last things left to do being, a) sorting out a the url re-writer situation as best as is practicable (accepting that this aspect of SEO sits outside the top 10 ... but is still an integral component of best practice SEO), and b) redirecting domain to a new branded name - then what would be your suggestion in respect to the 2 questions as posed;

Question: How can I go about redirecting CEON urls to USU urls effectively and efficiently without losing any indexing by Google and any link juice, both external and internal?

Question: Do I redirect the domain name (and rewriting of content to reflect a 'brand' - reason for domain name change) and THEN worry about the link rewriting mess afterwards ... or ... (my inclination), get the mess sorted out and then redirect (and modify content) AFTER the urls are stablized.

Looking forward to your input.

cheers,
Mike