Folks,

Client is changing site name (e.g. from http://oldname.com to http://newname.com)

Server location not moving (files and db staying put as is).

Site has been up for a while and SEO concerns are present.

The site is on a server running LAMP and CPanel.

What I've done:

1. At domain registration site for new name I've set the name servers to the current site.
2. At CPanel at current site I've added the new domain as a "Parked" domain
3. At CPanel I've done a 301 redirect, enabling the wildcard feature.

The only thing that isn't working properly:

• Wildcard redirects use "dirty" urls. Example: user types in: oldname.com/blog and the redirect goes to newname.com/index.php?q=blog.

That page shows up fine, but I'd prefer the url be: newname.com/blog. Once on newname.com/index.php?q=blog if you click on any internal links, the "dirty" url goes away and everything is perfect.

One response is, "It could be worse!"

But I really would like to fix this.

Two questions:

1. How can I get the redirect to redirect to the clean URL?
2. Do you see anything wrong in my procedure (maybe there is a problem that I'm simply not noticing yet)

Thanks much!

Shai