Google may see this as duplicate content!

[Guest]

Hi SEOs! My team runs several eCommerce sites that will soon be rolled up into one brand new site. We're debating keeping the existing sites live for a few months, but instead of keeping the add to cart button, we'd transition it to "shop on new site" and it becomes a referral link. Some team members are concerned that Google may see this as duplicate content and our new site won't eventually rank.

Any thoughts? Anything we may not be thinking about? Thanks in advance!

[Adam]

Why not 301 redirect to new site?

[Shawn]

Your post is leaving out a lot of detail. What exactly does “rolled up into one brand new site” mean from your perspective on SEO? The devil is in the details only with the plan can anyone help you figure things out. Also how old are the domains? How much traffic?

[Phạm]

Not only SEO but shop revenue will be affected if using "shop in new site" button. 301 redirect the whole site please.

[Dorron]

301 redirect the old site and monitor 404 errors in search console and redirect as needed. At first you will see a dip expect that it will take at least 2 to 3 months to reflect the correct metrics as you transition from one url to the other. Based on the limited info that's my limited opinion based on experience of merging websites.

[Mitchell]

My question would be why? I am guessing it might be easier having everything in one place but with any changes comes risk. The right way would be 301 and redirect to the page on the new domain but even when done right there is a risk on loss of rankings. Most of the time it goes well but can , for no real reason, just drop or dissapear for a bit.

Personally, when it comes to money if there isn't a huge reason to change I tend to avoid messing with it as I like money more than risk.

[Ronald]

• Keep the old site domain live.

• 301 all of it.

• Do this till you "all" traffic is migrated.

I assume you have a marcomms for this too.