301 Redirect, old domain to new - PLEASE HELP!

[somsto75]

Hello, I'm pulling my hair out over here trying to transition from an old domain to a new one. My host isn't helping me at all and the info I scrounge up is just leading to more confusion.

Here's my situation:

- I'm on the same server/host but I recently wanted to change to a new domain name; a slightly shorter and easier to type/remember type of domain name.

- My domains are from a different registrar than my actual website host. So this means two admin panels to deal with: more fuel on the fire.

- I want all www.olddomain.com pages to redirect permanently to www.newdomain.com pages.

- I also want to add code to the same .htacess that will take care of canonical issues i.e.
non-www to go to www. As it stands, this I got straightened out.

- By using the admin panel, the direct old domain name redirects to the new one. It's the other pages on Google that are a problem and I am getting 404 errors for. Ex: www.olddomain.com/info.html. I want it to go to www.newdomain.com/info.html.


Could somebody please help me understand this. What code do I use? WHat do I do with the old domain? Park it? Use the pointer in the admin & the forward option in the domain admin??? Don't bother with anything in the admins?

PLEASE HELP!!

[JCB]

try adding the following to the old domains .htaccess

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.newdomain\.com
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.newdomain.com/$1 [L,R=301]

should redirect the page to the new site.

[somsto75]

I've tried I think most of the codes out there including this one. My main issue is that both domains point to the same server so any of these redirects create a loop. i tried even parking the old domain and that still didn't work.
I'm so burnt out on this I'm thinking of just cutting the loss (presence of about 6 years in ranking on google). Those dead pages will definitely ruin my ranking but I'm out of options.

[JCB]

dont give up, I have done this before but I remember it was a pain to work out, Let me see if I can find what I did and I will post here later. What PR is ur site?

[somsto75]

I appreciate that very much, thanks... I'm assuming you mean postion ranking? It's usually in the top 10...