This document outlines a plan to merge two mega-sites, B.com and A.com, while maintaining search engine rankings. The plan involves: 1) Forcing 10% of users to a beta site (beta.A.com) using cloaking; 2) Forcing all B.com users to beta.A.com using a paywall and redirect; 3) Conducting a mass redirect from B.com and beta.A.com to A.com. This approach allows for a gradual transition of traffic and rankings to the new combined site, A.com. Unconventional methods like cloaking and paywalls are deemed necessary to smoothly merge the sites without search engine issues.

1. How to Survive the Merge
of Two Mega-Sites:
- 2 sites
- 2 languages
- 4 million daily PageViews
Brighton SEO – April 22, 2016

2. 2@matteo_monarifor
Nice to meet you!
§ Co-founder & Agency Director of BizUp:
Rome-based, International projects, competitive niches
§ Former Head of SEO in EU media group + gaming
Me

3. 3@matteo_monarifor
Portobello Market, London, UK

4. 4@matteo_monarifor
Jemaa el Fnaa, Marrakesh, Morocco

5. 5@matteo_monarifor
Its online version: “B.com”
• + 21.000.000 pages
• Alexa (Morocco): 5
• A few milions PVs/day
• 2 languages (fr + ar)
• Very good rankings
% of Top-10 rankings out of 100 top target KWs
Traffic

6. 6@matteo_monarifor
B’s problem
B just bought its main competitor A, and
wants to merge with it, using A’s brand
but keeping B’s rankings:
BB.com
AA.com
A+
A.com
(R) (R)

7. 7@matteo_monarifor
Jemaa el Fnaa, Marrakesh, Marocco

8. 8@matteo_monarifor
More specifically
Brand
SEO
CMS +
DB
B
B.com
A
Brand
SEO
CMS +
DB
A+
A.com
A
A.com

9. 9@matteo_monarifor
With a step in between
Keep A+ in beta for a month,
with people still using also A and B.
R
B
B.com
A
A.com
A+
beta.A.com
0 1 2
B
B.com
A
A.com
A+
A.com

10. 10@matteo_monarifor
We do our homeworks...

11. 11@matteo_monarifor
...by the book:
Step 1:
B.com’s database is replicated on beta.A.com
(beta.A.com kept un-indexed via canonical)
Step 2:
• Domain change & 301 beta.A.com ! A.com
• Domain change & 301 B.com ! A.com
• URL changes & 301s within A.com

12. 12@matteo_monarifor
Too easy: surprise requirements!
First force 10% of users to use beta.A.com
Then force ALL B users to use beta.A.com
beta.A.com = accessible but invisible to SE
and
B.com & A.com ranking but 10% users blocked
then
B.com ranking but all users moved to beta.a.com
B
B.com
A
A.com
A+
beta.A.com
1

13. 13@matteo_monarifor
Ok, let’s go Mac Gyver on this

14. 14@matteo_monarifor
1. Force 10% of users to use beta.A.com
Solution: Cloaking
10% A.com and B.com’s visitors whose user-agent is
different from GoogleBot are “tagged” via cookie
and redirected via JS towards beta.A.com.
Thanks to the cookie, those users will ALWAYS get
redirected. For them, the site change has already
happened.
IMPORTANT: risky solution (“shady JS redirect”)
= the least it stays active, the better it is.

15. 15@matteo_monarifor
2. Force ALL B.com users to use beta.A.com
Theoretical solution: Redirect 302
à Risk: Google’s “URL freedom”
2006: https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-advice-discussing-302-redirects/
2014: http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4646897.htm
2016: https://plus.google.com/+JohnMueller/posts/E4PqAhRJB2V

16. 16@matteo_monarifor
Let’s re-check the problem
B.com ranking
but unaccessible to users
...for a long time...
....is it possibile?

17. 17@matteo_monarifor
2. Force ALL B.com users to use beta.A.com
Practical solution: Paywall + first click free
(http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-click-free-for-web-search.html)
All non-GoogleBot users:
1) Land on B.com’s ranking page
2) On click a pop-up forces them to go to beta.A.com

18. 18@matteo_monarifor
Result: A month of “cloaking” & no issues

19. 19@matteo_monarifor
Time for Step 2!
On day X, the following happens at once:
• beta.A.com canonical is removed
• beta.A.com website is moved to A.com
• beta.A.com à 301 ! A.com
• B.com’s paywall is removed
• B.com à 301 ! A.com
• URL changes and 301s within A.com

20. 20@matteo_monarifor
Results: B.com gets quickly deindexed

21. 21@matteo_monarifor
Results: A.com’s new URLs get indexed

22. 22@matteo_monarifor
Results: A.com ranks in place of B.com
TOP-30TOP-3

23. 23@matteo_monarifor
Final Result
Rankings + Brand + Combined Trust
=
The new A+ has now twice B’s traffic

24. 24@matteo_monarifor
Key takeaways
• By the book solutions may not be enough
• Sneaky methods are sometimes necessary
Do not be afraid
of thinking outside the box!

25. Thank you!@matteo_monari
m.monari@bizupmedia.com