Completely redesigned webmaster - set up new site in Google Webmaster Tools, or keep existing??
-
Hi - our company just completely redesigned our website and went from a static HTML site to a PHP based site, so every single URL has changed (around 1500 pages). I put the same verification code into the new site and re-verified but now Google is listing tons and tons of 404's. Some of them are really old pages that haven't existing in a long time, it would literally be impossible to create all the redirects for the 404s it's pulling.
Question - when completely changing a site like this, should I have created a whole new Search Console? Or did I do the right thing by using the existing one?
-
Hey!
You can add a new one but it wouldn't make any sense as the data is still the same for the old site so you can just keep on going with this one and update a lot of stuff in there so your new site will validate better.
Martijn.
-
Hi there,
No, don't create a new Search Console.
Upload a sitemap that is updated with the new URLs and make sure to have an correctly optimized 404 error page.Here, some Best practices for error pages - Moz Academy
Best Luck!
GR.
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
-
Issue with site not being properly found in Google
We have a website [domain name removed] that is not being properly found in Google. When we run it through Screaming Frog, it indicates that there is a problem with the robot.txt file. However, I am unsure exactly what this problem is, and why this site is no longer properly being found. Any help here on how to resolve this would be appreciated!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Gavo1 -
URL Errors for SmartPhone in Google Search Console/Webmaster Tools
Howdy all, In recent weeks I have seen a steady increase in the number of smartphone related url errors on Googles Search Console (formerly webmaster tools). THe crawler appears to be searching for a /m/ or /mobile/ directory within the URLs. Why is it doing this? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately this is for an unresponsive site, would setting the viewport help stop the issue for know until my new responsive site is launched shortly. Cheers fello Mozzers 🙂 Tim NDh1RNs
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | TimHolmes1 -
Bing Webmaster Tools failed to reach sitemap any suggestions?
My sitemap has been submitted to Bing webmaster tools well over a year ago and I have never had any problems. Starting last week it showed failed, for some reason it can't reach it. I have resubmitted several times and it fails every time. I can go to the url with no problems, and Google Webmaster Tools does not have any problems. We have made no changes in over a year to how the sitemap is made and submitted. Anyone have any ideas?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | EcommerceSite0 -
How to resubmit a Web 2.0 site to Google?
I have 3 web 2.0 sites that look like theyve been hit by a penalty. I have checked their backlinks and there are a lot of backlinks from sites that have been deindexed. I have requested the removal of lots of the links, but now I need to resubmit the site to Google. Is this even possible with them being a web 2.0 site? I don't have webmaster tools for the site so how would I do this?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JohnPeters0 -
Setting Up Google Analytics for domains with 301
I have a client with a google analytics account that is a mess. domaina.com domainb.com 302's to domaina.com domainc.com 302's to domaina.com domaind.com 302's to domaina.com I thought the client was doing 301s on all these domains to the primary domain. I have logged into there analytics account and found data is being tracked on the other domains i.e domainb,c,d.com etc. How is it possible that google analytics is tracking data on these domains when no analytics code has been created and the urls are redirecting to domaina.com? Also there are not sites on these domains so for webmaster tools should I enable domain verification through a cname on the dns? Also I can I best setup a way to track traffic coming from say domainb.com? Whats the best step by step guide to use to set this up.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JohnW-UK0 -
Got a site in Google news, now what do I do?
I have been working on a site for 7 months, publishing articles each day. The site is dedicated to the niche that I am in. It was accepted in to Google news 1 week ago and I am now getting 3 times the amount of traffic. Its great news but I am now wondering how beneficial it is for me. I sell business management advice and really need to generate leads. Thats how I increase my business Any ideas how I could use this Google news site to do this?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JohnPeters0 -
So What On My Site Is Breaking The Google Guidelines?
I have a site that I'm trying to rank for the Keyword "Jigsaw Puzzles" I was originally ranked around #60 or something around there and then all of a sudden my site stopped ranking for that keyword. (My other keyword rankings stayed) Contacted Google via the site reconsideration and got the general response... So I went through and deleted as many links as I could find that I thought Google may not have liked... heck, I even removed links that I don't think I should have JUST so I could have this fixed. I responded with a list of all links I removed and also any links that I've tried to remove, but couldn't for whatever reasons. They are STILL saying my website is breaking the Google guidelines... mainly around links. Can anyone take a peek at my site and see if there's anything on the site that may be breaking the guidelines? (because I can't) Website in question: http://www.yourjigsawpuzzles.co.uk UPDATE: Just to let everyone know that after multiple reconsideration requests, this penalty has been removed. They stated it was a manual penalty. I tried removing numerous different types of links but they kept saying no, it's still breaking rules. It wasn't until I removed some website directory links that they removed this manual penalty. Thought it would be interesting for some of you guys.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RichardTaylor0 -
Migrating a site from a standalone site to a subdivision of large .gov.uk site
The scenario We’ve been asked by a client, a Non-Government Organisation who are being absorbed by a larger government ministry, for help with the SEO of their site. They will be going from a reasonably large standalone site to a small sub-directory on a high authority government site and they want some input on how best to maintain their rankings. They will be going from the Number 1 ranked site in their niche (current site domainRank 59) to being a sub directory on a domainRank 100 site). The current site will remain, but as a members only resource, behind a paywall. I’ve been checking to see the impact that it had on a related site, but that one has put a catch all 302 redirect on it’s pages so is losing the benefit of a it’s historical authority. My thoughts Robust 301 redirect set up to pass as much benefit as possible to the new pages. Focus on rewriting content to promote most effective keywords – would suggest testing of titles, meta descriptions etc but not sure how often they will be able to edit the new site. ‘We have moved’ messaging going out to webmasters of existing linking sites to try to encourage as much revision of linking as possible. Development of link-bait to try and get the new pages seen. Am I going about this the right way? Thanks in advance. Phil
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | smrs-digital0