What does Move Announcer do?

Move Announcer looks in your web server transfer log file to find sites linking to your old web URL. We then e-mail the webmasters of those pages, telling them that your page has moved and giving them the new URL of your site. See our technical summary for more details.

We also allow people to submit moved web sites without announcing the move, and allow people to search the database of moved sites to see if we know to where an old site has moved.

How many links makes a move announcement worthwhile?

Would you move your house without letting your friends and loved ones know where you have gone? In other words, a move announcement of some sort is always advisable. This is why people put up "We have moved" pages or forward users to their new site.

It has taken months or years to build up a set of links to your site -- don't throw that valuable advertising away when you move your site.

A comprehensive web site promotion program is a must for any web site. It doesn't matter how good your site is if you don't tell anyone about it. Building links to your site is a great way to generate traffic, but it's a continual process that takes lots of time. Don't throw away that valuable marketing tool just because you move your site. After all, you probably moved your site in the first place so it would be easier for people to find.

If I receive an e-mail from Move Announcer, how do I know it is legitimate?

We verify that the submitter of an announcement has access to change the web site being moved before we send announcements (see our technical summary). If you suspect the message may have been forged, you can also look up the site in our moved sites database.

How effective is Move Announcer?

Move Announcer can contact 80% or more of the sites we find linking to your web page. A list of all the pages we find containing links to your site is e-mailed to you once the process is complete. We also include a list of those sites we were not able to contact. In many cases, this was because we got remote server errors or they were directory sites or other sites that do not accept URL changes by e-mail.

Unfortunately, sometimes sites don't include webmaster contact information anywhere, making it impossible for anyone to contact the site owner. To find out how to properly add contact addresses to your own site, see our technical summary.

While we can announce moves for sites in most languages, please note that our algorithms are optimized for English language sites and thus the notification rate for non-English sites will not be as high.

The sheer size and fluidity of the Web makes it impossible to track all pages linking to your site. The Web is continually updated with new pages and changes to existing pages, so you may want to request another Move Announcer service three or four months after your first one. Also, if your site can be referenced as just yoursite.com as well as www.yoursite.com, be sure to perform a move announcement on both.

What sites will be notified?

We will notify those people which have links to your site, as indicated by your web server's log file. If more than one page at a domain contains an old link to your site, we will only notify the webmaster of one of his pages. Move Announcer does not currently offer a search engine submission service and we do not contact search engines to change your listing. Also, there are also many directory listings out there that do not accept changes by e-mail, and so we do not contact them either. For more information on how to contact directory and search engine listings yourself, see our Tips page.

How much does it cost?

The cost for your site depends primarily on the number of pages linking to it. For a quote, start by entering your old URL on our home page.

Access to the moved sites database is free of charge for the benefit of all web users.

Can I do a custom announcement?

Move Announcer can announce moves with a custom message within certain guidelines. Contact us at support@moveannouncer.com for more details.