Site Redesign: Potential Problems?
-
We're looking at a cleanup of our site and making our navigation menu simpler and more visual. The problem is there's a massive fear that we will incur some sort of SEO hit at a time when we can ill afford one.
The bulk of the changes are around some tertiary pages that have some SEO value but are not primary targets or traffic sources. The pages with content aren't moving URLs or changing, nor is the core content of the site, just the template. The new template, I feel, is easier to navigate and easier to spider (menus are flyout divs with images).
So are there any tips or tricks to changing the layout of your site without hurting SEO? Anything we need to avoid?
-
Interesting article. Certainly helps to explain short term dips after a change. I'd venture that Google removes some trust ofter a change and then has their quality reviewers look at it to make sure it's still trustworthy. I think we're going to push the template changes back to the off-season since we can't afford even a small hit for the busy one.
-
Read this: http://searchengineland.com/interview-google-search-quality-rater-108702
It what Google Quality raters look for in websites. I don't think it'll have an effect all all. You're not changing the URLS or the content. You're just changing the NAV and the look and feel. Build to convert more visitors. Have money prepared for an Adwords campaign in case your rankings go down.
-
Hi
I guess I have to say it has some impact. Having a site structure change will score a new value for googlebot when it crawl your page. New value will be then recalculate, reindex and refresh from the index in Google. It will then cause you a lower SERP ranking with your targeted keywords...
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Why ranks my site so bad?
hello together, i think, that you read questions like this very often, but i hope someone has some good ideas for me. https://goo.gl/3iOmcqy with the keyword "sophos sg 210" we rank very bad. But i don't know why 😞 We have trust elements, a very good "avergage time on page" unique content... But i don't know, what can we make better 😞 Thx you so much
On-Page Optimization | | enbitcon0 -
Is there a way to find out who is trying to damage my site
Hi, to cut the story short, i hired a seo guy to do work on my site, paid a lot of money, but then when he was let go all the links to the site were stripped and other work had vanished. I want to know if there is a way to prove this and to also check on any other damage that he could be doing at the moment to my site. The site was running high in the search engines and then dropped a short while after he was let go.
On-Page Optimization | | in2townpublicrelations0 -
Two sites into one
I have two sites owned by one client, he wants to merge them into one keeping one website, but which one? I've been using the Moz Pro to look at the stats for both sites; page authority, inbound links etc, but they're both fairly close in results. The client wants to know what would be the best course to take with these two sites, what site should he keep and which should he merge? Any advice?
On-Page Optimization | | barrowr0 -
Tips on URL structure for a site re-design
Wanted to know what you would do with regards to urls – in an ideal world how would you structure them? Keen to know as me and dave are soon to have a meeting about this and were wondering about changing them from the current – http://www.looking4parking.com/airport/gatwick to something like - www.looking4parking.com/gatwick-airport-parking We will soon have pages for the specific parking types that will be a lot more engaging to users with some really useful content on benefits, features, how a certain type of parking works, images, video etc. Currently going to a type of parking, such as meet and greet just brings up a dropdown modal – I was thinking of having the url structure looking like this – www.looking4parking.com/gatwick-airport-meet-and-greet-parking www.looking4parking.com/gatwick-airport-on-site-parking www.looking4parking.com/gatwick-airport-park-and-ride We will then have specific pages for each parking product – in which this product will have unique content built around it – each will have an overview of the product, benefits, features, reviews, images, directions to the car park, find your route and eventually a video on each product So for example we currently have the product “Jet Parks 2” at Manchester airport – the current url is - http://www.looking4parking.com/airport/manchester/park-and-ride/jetparks-2 I would like to change this now we have the opportunity to refresh the whole system, to something along the lines of **domain/location/product title - **www.looking4parking.com/manchester-airport-parking/jetparks-2 or as we have some similar products at certain airports (mainly where the airport has multiple terminals) we would just change it to the following - www.looking4parking.com/manchester-airport-parking/jetparks-3 What are peoples thoughts/opinions on the above?
On-Page Optimization | | RyanCrawf19840 -
Article on site and distribution, is it duplicate content?
I was always taught to place all original articles on site, let them get indexed by Google, then put out for distribution through various press release outlets. With the latest penguin update, how does this practice work out concerning duplicate content? In theory, I wrote the article so I should get credit for it on my site first, then push through various distribution outlets to get it out to my targeted audience in my niche field. Typing out loud I would tend to think if the article is on my site first then I would get credit and any others following would be hit by duplicate content if in fact google considered it a dupe violation. Any input on this? Am I on track or am I heading for a train wreck.
On-Page Optimization | | anthonytjm0 -
Duplicate Content - Site Wide or Internet Wide?
Hello... I am creating a new website and i was wondering how you guys would define duplicate content? If my new site had the same page titles and descriptions as my existing site, would that be duplicate content? Or does duplicate content mean same titles and descriptions in the same site? I'm wondering if i can upload the same database (with page titles and descriptions and alt tags) to my new site or if that would be looked at as duplicate... Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | Prime850 -
How quickly should I change/edit sites to avoid potential over optimization penalty?
Regard today's White Board, I'm wondering how quickly one should start changing title tags, page content, footer links, etc. on sites? I operate a few different sites and some of them definitely have things that need to be changed. Would it be weird or trigger something in Google if all the sites were changed in 24 - 48 hours? Thanks for your help!
On-Page Optimization | | jdrrocks0 -
On-Site Optimization and Repeat Customers
Hello, One of my clients has repeat customers. All of his surface level categories are optimized. None of his 2nd or 3rd level categories are optimized at all. Is there any harm in optimizing these 2nd or 3rd level categories. Is there any way it could cause a problem with repeat customers? I didn't think so but I want to make sure. Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | BobGW0