Information for those who access via the .org.uk domain

[Mojo]

This is a message for those members who access the forum via our http://www.railforums.org.uk domain name.

With effect from Tuesday 1 February, the .org.uk domain will be redirected to the appropriate location on our .co.uk domain name.

Why are you doing this?

This has not been our primary or advertised domain name for over 2 years now, and as a result we are going to redirect this to our .co.uk domain in order to reduce confusion and trouble when users logged in on the wrong domain click on links to other parts of the forum and find they are not logged in.

What do I need to do?

Check the address bar in your web browser.

The overwhelming majority of our users already access the forums in the way, and if you already access us at http://www.railforums.co.uk/ then you need to take no action.

If however, you use our .org.uk domain and you click the 'remember me' box to ensure you always remain logged in, then you will need to visit http://www.railforums.co.uk/ and log in. If you have set a style using cookies (as opposed to setting one in your User CP) then you will also need to change this.

All files will be diverted to our .co.uk domain for the foreseeable future, but if you have any links to us in your bookmarks or on your website then you may want to change them to ensure the page loads quicker.

If you have any questions, please post them here.

 

[wintonian]

Why not move towards the redirection of .co.uk -> .org.uk as .co.uk is or was intended to be used by commercial organisations?

 

[Mojo]

Because .co.uk which we have used for much longer, is the domain by which over 99% of people use, by which our highest ranked pages on Google can be found, by which most of our referrers use and so on.

The .co.uk domain is for general use.

 

[rail-britain]

You might want to update the google map, as it still shows both Domain Names
I accidently ended up at the .org.uk earlier this morning whilst searching for something

 

[wintonian]

Because .co.uk which we have used for much longer, is the domain by which over 99% of people use, by which our highest ranked pages on Google can be found, by which most of our referrers use and so on.

The .co.uk domain is for general use.

Ok, that makes sense.

 

[Mojo]

You might want to update the google map, as it still shows both Domain Names
I accidently ended up at the .org.uk earlier this morning whilst searching for something

This is one of the main reasons we are doing this.

There is no need to update anything further though, as the redirect means Google will catch up in a few months.

 

[rail-britain]

There is no need to update anything further though, as the redirect means Google will catch up in a few months.

If the Domain Name remains live then google will continue to spider and store
An exclusion needs to be put into place
Equally, login to the account at google and apply the exclusion

 

[ralphchadkirk]

If the Domain Name remains live then google will continue to spider and store
An exclusion needs to be put into place
Equally, login to the account at google and apply the exclusion

No it will not. If google encounters a .org.uk URL it will be redirected like everyone else and store the .co.uk domain.

 

[Daniel]

I can see why it's being done, but I do know of some TOC's who block www.railforums.co.uk but allow www.railforums.org.uk ...!

 

[Peter Sarf]

Because .co.uk which we have used for much longer, is the domain by which over 99% of people use, by which our highest ranked pages on Google can be found, by which most of our referrers use and so on.

The .co.uk domain is for general use.

Oh dear. When I do my usual google search for railforums the org.uk url comes out top. I suppose if I / others keep using it it keeps a high ranking ?.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Oh dear. When I do my usual google search for railforums the org.uk url comes out top. I suppose if I / others keep using it it keeps a high ranking ?.

No, because you are all redirected. Thus, Google's bots are redirected and within two or three days all the links on Google will have swapped over.

 

[rail-britain]

No it will not. If google encounters a .org.uk URL it will be redirected like everyone else and store the .co.uk domain.

That is how the visitor searches are dealt with, but the .org.uk will remain stored in google
I recently pointed this out to a client who was also using a redirect and was wondering why google had still retained links that were over 6 months old, and they thought would have been removed

This is where the google accounts into use, to remove the entire Domain Name or specific pages that cannot be read by the robot.txt file or sitemap

 

[Mojo]

Google gets it in time. We used to have a third domain which is no longer mentioned anywhere on Google.