Google and 301 redirects

[Webzcas]

This is an interesting observation.

I purchased through sedo the domain name casinos-online.co.uk at the end of October, beginning of November. As soon as the domain transferred to me, I did a 301 redirect to my site OnlineCasinoReviewer.com

All well and good.

However this is where it gets interesting. On the 7th December, the site was good to go live, so I removed the 301 redirect to OCR. Now bear in mind the domain casinos-online.co.uk, had never been a live site, indeed it was owned by a domain squatter since being regisitered back in 2004. A Harley Street surgeon no less

Anyhow, redirect removed and site launched initially with over 100 pages and growing everyday. In addition I obtained some very good backlinks to the site (Thanks Bryan ) as well as pointing links from my network at it.

Yet google still thinks Casinos-online.co.uk is being redirected to OCR.

It appears all the links I have obtained in google's eyes are crediting OCR LOL.

Now my own opinion was to wait this out. But I contacted a very good and well informed SEO in Jason Duke from Strange Logic ( Jason has been on countless SEO panels at affiliate conferences ), to get a much needed second opinion.

Jason has at least put my mind at rest, when he came back and said:

Google is a nightmare with redirects, duplicate content, canonical domains etc. Quite simply time solves things

So I am going to wait this out. I have also contacted google via webmaster tools.

But the lesson here is, use 301 redirects at your peril. Hopefully I will soon get an xmas present from google and this issue will be resolved.

Will keep you posted when that happens in this thread.

[Webzcas]

Looks like the reinclusion request even though it wasn't per say a request to reconsider listing the site, has done the trick. Got a generic mail back saying the site has been looked at by someone at google.

Now when I perform a site lookup in google:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourc...s-online.co.uk

It shows the home page. But still an issue with the cache showing OCR on a direct search for casinos-online.co.uk in google.

This should I hope sort itself out within the next few days or weeks.

Moral of the story is, don't use 301 redirect on a site you plan to develop and launch at some point. As google gets it's knickers in a twist. Unless of course you want to have a false and bogus Page Rank for the site in question ( Casinos-Online is currently showing a PR4 ( It should be 0 ) which is OCR's PR LOL )

[casinoplanet]

But the lesson here is, use 301 redirects at your peril.

Hi, I also encountered some issues with redirects.

I use htaccess for redirecting www's to the non www urls and I also use a redirect script for moving desktop visitors to the regular website, if they enter the mobile url.

But somehow I have the idea that this has harmed my PR and also messes up search results, since mobile and regular pages are now mixed.

After reading some articles on it, I found out that opinions on this vary a lot.

This also applies to the use of meta keywords and PR.
Some say meta keywords are of no use for web anymore, but for mobile they still are essential. And according to some also PR is not relevant anymore.

Since I'm no expert, I'm not sure who's right. Any opinions here?

[Webzcas]

Google has finally caught up and is now not confusing OnlineCasinoReviewer with Casinos Online

This also applies to the use of meta keywords and PR.
Some say meta keywords are of no use for web anymore, but for mobile they still are essential. And according to some also PR is not relevant anymore.

I always use meta keywords even though as you say, they are no longer weighted if at all, when a search engine evaluates where to list a site. More a case of a habit that I have kept.

Regards PR, toolbar Page Rank is worthless and you should ignore it. Serps and the subsequent traffic is the only things that matter.

I use htaccess for redirecting www's to the non www urls and I also use a redirect script for moving desktop visitors to the regular website, if they enter the mobile url.

There should be no problem using htaccess to redirect www's to now www urls - Also use your webmasters tool account to confirm the redirection.

Not sure about the redirect script and the effect that could have though.

[Perc]

I always use meta keywords even though as you say, they are no longer weighted if at all, when a search engine evaluates where to list a site. More a case of a habit that I have kept.

I think it's a good habit to keep. Google may not use them anymore, but there are plenty of other search engines out there that do. They may not have the same number of users, but it's still worth optimizing for all search engines.

[Elgoog]

and the meta description is still used in the snippets G gives in the serps, so use it to catch the player!

[casinoplanet]

....I always use meta keywords even though as you say, they are no longer weighted if at all, when a search engine evaluates where to list a site. More a case of a habit that I have kept.....

...There should be no problem using htaccess to redirect www's to now www urls - Also use your webmasters tool account to confirm the redirection.

Not sure about the redirect script and the effect that could have though.....

I also still use the meta keywords and find it a bit scary to remove them.

The redirect is also confirmed in webmaster tools, so that should be ok.

The script builder claims it doesn't harm seo. Since he's quite a trusted guy, I give him the benefit of the doubt.

[casinoplanet]

and the meta description is still used in the snippets G gives in the serps, so use it to catch the player!

Agree, the meta title and description are VERY important!

[Webzcas]

Is this a bespoke script builder or an off the shelf product?

[casinoplanet]

Is this a bespoke script builder or an off the shelf product?

I bought it at detectmobilebrowsers.mobi
It's free for personal use, but for commercial use you have to pay a yearly fee of $50.

This site is owned by Andy Moore and he has developed many successful mobile sites. Gives a lot of mobile SEO advice at the Mobility forum.

Cheers