WebProNews

301 redirections will help Google find your site if a move to a new domain, as they reminded webmasters with some helpful moving tips.

Google needs content. Without it, there are no search results, and no multi-billion dollar contextual ads feeding the bottom line (which they will talk about today after the market closes.)

Sometimes a site publisher picks up a new domain and needs to make sure visitors, and search engines, don't get lost with the move. The Google Webmaster Central blog discussed that topic, starting with the essential 301 redirect.

Using 301 redirects serve as a way to get people and crawlers to the new domain. It also serves a higher purpose: helping webmasters avoid potential duplicate content penalties to their rankings within search results.

It's a work-intensive process, but can be automated as shown on Wikipedia.

Google included in its suggestions the idea that a change for rebranding or redesign purposes might be accomplished best in two phases: site move first, redesign second.

"This manages the amount of change your users see at any stage in the process, and can make the process seem smoother. Keeping the variables to a minimum also makes it easier to troubleshoot unexpected behavior," Google's Ríona MacNamara said.