Transferring from a co.uk domain to a .london domain.

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

• 
  Joseph Asamoah: Hi I have a few questions: 1) One of my friends wanted to know if transferring from a co.uk domain to a .london domain will help enhance the sites SERP ranking , I said it will make no difference to SEO but he could have  ;it changed for branding purposes what are your thoughts?2) if he intends to switch domains anyways do I need to do a 301 redirect to his new site in order to maintain his rankings or I could I just ask him to wait for his domain to expire then get a new one? (Will that also make any difference to SEO)
• 
  Ryan Cramer: Hi Joseph. ;
  Here's a few things to keep in mind:
  
  1. domainXYZ.co.uk usually will have more authoritative value than domainXYZ.london
  2. ;domainXYZ.london may restrict the domain value to reaching anywhere outside of london. If your friend has a local pub, store, etc, this may be ok, but there are better ways to accomplish this with the .co.uk domain
  3. According to Matt Cutts, a 301 redirect will help with broken links, however it reduces the "link juice" by about 10%, so expect a drop in visitors if you switch.
  4. Google does have a site move tool, however, you still have a loss in traffic due to issues with old links without a redirect. You will probably also have to wait for Google to reindex the site.
  
  Obviously, sticking with the co.uk will have much better benefits for SEO, but perhaps not for marketing. If your friend still wants to change to the .london after understanding this, I can provide you with a technique that I used on an 8000 page site that had a 10% drop for a period of 48 hours compared to the 50% drop for 2 months that most get when transferring via normal 301 methods.
• 
  Joseph Asamoah: Thanks loads but he has decided stick with the  ;.co.uk domain. ;
• 
  Ryan Cramer: whew! that means I don't have to explain my super secret 301 migration plan! It's a good move, I would like to recommend that you add the geo coding and location meta tags to indicate the focus on the London market.  ;That would give you the best of both worlds
• 
  Rahul Chauhan: Hi Ryan Cramer,
  
  I want to know that secret if you don't have any problem in revealing it.
• 
  Edwin Jonk: From the expert panel in this weeks SEO Questions hangout on air on 00:38:33 into the YouTube video: https://dumbseoquestions.com/q/transferring_from_a_couk_domain_to_a_london_domain +Joseph Asamoah
  
  The cuetimes listed on this page are functional while the live broadcast continues and also once Youtube has finished processing the public broadcast. Processing time varies between 6-24 hours. During this period the clip is viewable in full but the cuetimes cannot be relied on. ;
  
  If our assistance with this issue was useful to you, please consider sharing your success story so that others might benefit.
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  Ryan Cramer: Hi +Rahul Chauhan ;I've finally been convinced to start blogging what I've found works and started a new blog on blogger.  ;When I get the post together for this issue, Ill send you a message with the link (hopefully tonight)
• 
  Rahul Chauhan: Thanks +Ryan Cramer ;
• 
  John Britsios: +Ryan Cramer would you mind sharing the source where +Matt Cutts said that a 301 redirect will help with broken links, however it reduces the "link juice" by about 10%?
  
  I know that 301s dilute PageRank, but that it is ; about 10%, that is new to me.
• 
  Edwin Jonk: I think he is referring to:
  What percentage of PageRank is lost through a 301 redirect?
  
  But it is not 10%:
  It is exactly like a link
  
  However within PageRank the "link juice" is already reduced by the damping factor [1]. As far as I understand the original paper calls this rank sink [2]. ;
  
  [1] ;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank
  [2] Today PageRank is much more than what is described in this paper:
  http://ilpubs.stanford.edu:8090/422/1/1999-66.pdf
• 
  Ryan Cramer: Hey, thanks +Edwin Jonk ;I forgot to add the link to the video, that is the one I was talking about.  ;I don't have the data to say what that 10% is about, because I am more interested in sharing the successful solution.  ;
• 
  Edwin Jonk: Sure share your solution. In the links I posted the damping factor is 0.85. However this is never confirmed.
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  Ryan Cramer: +Edwin Jonk ; I sent you a hangout request.  ;I'm not exactly sure the group's protocols for sharing.  ;Some details can get rather lengthy in description and I want to respect the members of the group (as well as not come across as a pompous windbag)