SEO impact of 301 redirects based on IP addresses from a specific state

[VeteransFirstMarketing]

Hello Moz Community!

We are facing an issue that may or may not be unique, but need some advice and/or clarification on the best way to address the issue.

We recently rebranded and launched a new site under a new domain and things have been progressing well.  However, despite all the up front legwork on trademarks and licensing, we have recently encountered a hiccup that forces us to revert to the old URL/branding for one specific state.  This may be a temporary issue that lasts a couple of months or it could potentially be in the court system for a couple of years.

One potential solution we have discussed is to redirect the new site to the old site based on IP addresses for the state in question.  Looking for any guidance on what type of impact this may have on SEO.  Also open to any other suggestions or guidance on dealing with this situation.

Thanks

[VeteransFirstMarketing]

Thank you Kristina.  This is a very interesting solution that definitely deserves some further exploration and might just be what we are looking for.

Best regards,

Keith

[VeteransFirstMarketing]

Thank you Oleg.  302 redirects have definitely been a part of the discussion.  The concern we have with using a 302 redirect is if this does turn into an issue for more than a few months.

[KristinaKledzik]

Agree with Oleg above; that's not a good solution if this lasts years, though.

Is there any chance you could serve the old site using the current URLs?

Google uses URLs as unique identifiers, which means that if you redirect to URLs that are only for the old site, it'll think you've created new pages. New pages mean a month or so of low rankings, before your page has a proven click through rate and gets some links.

If you use your current (and future) URLs to load the old site, though, Google won't see that as a site overhaul, it'll see it as content modifications on a pre-existing page.

Hope this helps! If 302s or using the same URL isn't an option, let us know so we can brainstorm more solutions with you.

Best,

Kristina

[OlegKorneitchouk]

1. use 302 (temporary) instead of 301 (permanent) redirects2) you want to be sure that Googlebot isn't redirected to the old site (which would hurt your new site rankings) - Here is how to verify googlebot.

Note: Googlebot crawlers all originate in California

Don't expect the old site to rank (since Google won't follow the redirect) but new site should be fine.