Moving Wordpress to new domain, same content, 301 - experiment.

I want to copy my entire wordpress site to a new domain and do a dynamic 301 from old domain to the new one.

Question is, if I simply copy (note move) the entire site/database from domaina.com to domainb.net - then on domaina.com go to the settings and change the site address to domainb.net and leave it at that.

When anyone from search engine goes to domaina.com/mypost they will be redirected to domainb.net/mypost - everything and everything will be redirected.

Is this considered a proper 301 redirect? Will it work? Would it be considered duplicate content? First domain will no longer be accessible this way.

Also, should I notify webmaster tool that the site has moved or should I just leave it?

Any assistance is appreciated.

P.S. This is not a penalty avoidance issues, just the brand name is changing. Original domain ranks well.

The 301 could take time to process if there is an abundance of pages on the domaina.com, however, 301'ing the site should be enough, and you shouldn't suffer any penalty as long as there are no pages left on domaina.com (e.g., all pages are redirected). Google will pick up on the site 301'ing pretty quickly, so there should be no need to tell Google. I've 301'd several domains and Google has picked up on all of them relatively fast.

Thanks. There are no penalties on domaina - but is changing site url considered as 301 redirect? Or should I use htaccess file.

If you 301 redirect the site, it won't be considered duplicate content.

You can use this code for htaccess redirection.


Is not required to notify webmaster tools, but is not bad either.

If the two websites are exactly the same then in cpanel you do a redirect and check "wild card" so domain1.com/p1 will automatically redirect to domain2.com/p1 and there shouldn't be any penality.

Thanks guys. I think I'll stick with the good old htaccess. I will notify webmaster tool but only after I see pages from old domain getting deindexed.