undefined
Skip to content
Moz logo Menu open Menu close
  • Products
    • Moz Pro
    • Moz Pro Home
    • Moz Local
    • Moz Local Home
    • STAT
    • Moz API
    • Moz API Home
    • Compare SEO Products
    • Moz Data
  • Free SEO Tools
    • Domain Analysis
    • Keyword Explorer
    • Link Explorer
    • Competitive Research
    • MozBar
    • More Free SEO Tools
  • Learn SEO
    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
    • SEO Learning Center
    • Moz Academy
    • SEO Q&A
    • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Agency Solutions
    • Enterprise Solutions
    • Small Business Solutions
    • Case Studies
    • The Moz Story
    • New Releases
  • Log in
  • Log out
  • Products
    • Moz Pro

      Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

    • Moz Local

      Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

    • STAT

      SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

    • Moz API

      Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

    • Compare SEO Products

      See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

    • Moz Data

      Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
    Moz Pro

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

    Learn more
  • Free SEO Tools
    • Domain Analysis

      Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

    • Keyword Explorer

      Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

    • Link Explorer

      Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

    • Competitive Research

      Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

    • MozBar

      See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

    • More Free SEO Tools

      Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

    What is your Brand Authority?
    Moz

    What is your Brand Authority?

    Check yours now
  • Learn SEO
    • Beginner's Guide to SEO

      The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

    • SEO Learning Center

      Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

    • On-Demand Webinars

      Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

    • How-To Guides

      Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

    • Moz Academy

      Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

    • SEO Q&A

      Insights & discussions from an SEO community of 500,000+.

    Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
    Moz API

    Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

    Find your plan
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Small Business Solutions

      Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

    • Agency Solutions

      Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

    • Enterprise Solutions

      Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

    • The Moz Story

      Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

    • Case Studies

      Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

    • New Releases

      Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

    Surface actionable competitive intel
    New Feature

    Surface actionable competitive intel

    Learn More
  • Log in
    • Moz Pro
    • Moz Local
    • Moz Local Dashboard
    • Moz API
    • Moz API Dashboard
    • Moz Academy
  • Avatar
    • Moz Home
    • Notifications
    • Account & Billing
    • Manage Users
    • Community Profile
    • My Q&A
    • My Videos
    • Log Out

The Moz Q&A Forum

  • Forum
  • Questions
  • Users
  • Ask the Community

Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

  1. Home
  2. Digital Marketing
  3. Web Design
  4. Website Redesign - Will it hurt SERP?

Moz Q&A is closed.

After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

Website Redesign - Will it hurt SERP?

Web Design
6
8
3.4k
Loading More Posts
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as question
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
  • howardd
    howardd last edited by May 8, 2013, 1:30 AM

    Hi - I am planning to redesign my blog and I was wondering if this will affect my rankings?

    The new website template (custom designed) is much more user and seo friendly. The content, url structure, internal linking structure, meta tags, and site structure will remain exactly the same, but the visual design will be different (new sidebar widgets, and slightly different layout on inner pages).

    The current website is ranking very well (mostly top 5), has a healthy backlink profile, strong social media presence, and great traffic.

    I have heard that switching to a new template will dramatically hurt the rankings. Is this true? Are there any exceptions? Any ways I can prevent the rankings from dropping?

    Would really appreciate your input. Thanks in advance.

    Howard

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • howardd
      howardd @Webrevolve last edited by May 9, 2013, 1:20 PM May 9, 2013, 1:20 PM

      Matthew, much appreciated.

      Thankfully I don't need to worry about redirects since it's just a transition to a new template. About 90% of the other elements will remain intact.

      Checking webmaster tools after the transition sounds really helpful.

      ps. Thanks to everyone for your great responses!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • howardd
        howardd @MattAntonino last edited by May 9, 2013, 1:14 PM May 9, 2013, 1:14 PM

        Thanks for the detailed answer. This, in itself, could make a great article 🙂

        After reviewing the items you mentioned, I actually realized some of the things I had neglected.

        Apparently after transferring all the content to the demo website, some of the elements had changed, including: date of the posts, H tags, Authors, and few of the meta tags. So glad I caught your response in time to fix those issues.

        For the most part, the new site is an improved version of the current site so if the rankings drop, I'll be surprised.

        After I make the transition, I'll let you know the results. Hopefully this could make a good case scenario for the community.

        Thanks again!

        Howard

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Webrevolve
          Webrevolve last edited by May 8, 2013, 7:19 AM May 8, 2013, 7:19 AM

          I think you have a good approach to this, and so, all things being the same, a refresh of the site should not hurt.

          You mention that "content, url structure, internal linking structure" will all remain the same - if this is true and you keep everything in this bracket 'as-is' then you should be fine.

          The most common reason rankings are lost when implementing a new site is re-directs, or the lack a redirect strategy to be more clear.

          As your site structure / url structure is going to remain in-tack, then you wont really need to consider mass redirects.

          However, here is what I would do just in case:

          Before Launch:

          Create a report of top linked to pages using Open Site Explore

          Create a report of top content from the last few months from Google Analytics

          Map all the URLs from the current site, use screaming from or something

          After Launch:

          Submit XML sitemap to webmaster tool

          Review and improve on-page content

          Monitor traffic in Google analytics, view top content for the period after launch and compare to the report you created prior to launch

          Monitor and fix crawl errors in webmaster tools if any

          Attract new links

          Submit new XML sitemap (two weeks post launch)

          Keep developing great content

          howardd 1 Reply Last reply May 9, 2013, 1:20 PM Reply Quote 1
          • DennisSeymour
            DennisSeymour last edited by May 8, 2013, 5:03 AM May 8, 2013, 5:03 AM

            keep it simple. The work and how much your rankings will change (usually just temporary) will be dependent on what you focus to work on and how big the site is

            Just do things one at a time.

            • Make sure you fix all errors ASAP (images, internal links etc)
            • Redirect the old urls to the new urls
            • Make sure the speed of loading is the same of faster.
            • Basically, just do things quickly and optimise.

            Run screaming frog after and fix all the remaining errors. Youll probably see more errors in webmaster tools once your site gets recrawled but those will probably be easy fixes.

            Remember, just focus and get it done ASAP and youll be fine.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • MattAntonino
              MattAntonino last edited by May 21, 2013, 5:29 PM May 8, 2013, 3:48 AM

              This is a tough question to answer.  Technically yes, your SERPs will probably change. Hurt?  That's hard to say.

              I'm going to list a few reasons your SERs may change. I don't want to argue with everyone about which factors matter, etc. but these are some potential reasons your rankings may change (and other SEOs may disagree on which of these actually matter. I'm including them for the sake of completeness and to show that there are MANY reasons a site change will bounce your rankings.)


              These are just some things that may change:

              1) Site speed. You could be faster (better design, fewer big images) or you could be slower (that would hurt your rankings.)

              2) Site structure. If you had a Wordpress site for instance that used to list all your post titles as H2 and your subheadings as H3 and now all your titles are H3, that is likely to at least somewhat affect your structure and yes, you may see some SERP changes.

              3) Code / text ratio/density whatever you want to call it.  Most SEOs will tell you very straightforwardly that "keyword density" is dead. And yet we've tested that this is a moderation thing. If you have a word too many times, you get penalized.  Too few and it's just assumed to be one word among many, not a topic.  The hint is to fall somewhere between say oh I dunno, 2 and 30 for most pages, right?  Now, I've done a test that suggested if the word was on the page say 15 times and that was 2% of the whole page text, it wouldn't be penalized.  Same word, same 15 times, and reduce the extraneous code so it's 10%?  Gets penalized every time.   So while on page keyword density is dead, MY (albeit flawed) study told me that changing code tremendously could affect your keywords if you tend to be on the higher (penalty) end.

              **4) Validation.  **Again, I'm being controversial and I understand many SEOs disagree with this one.  However, you're asking what "may" hurt - and if your site was 100% valid before (or close) and it has a lot of errors now, that would (in my opinion) affect your SEO.

              5) Page Age.  Hurt or help - it's hard to say.  Google normally prefers fresh content so you may actually see some improvements on this.  However, when Google has "seasoned in" your pages and you change them, they aren't always 100% awesome at getting your rank exactly the same after any sort of change or even date update.  (We had a news site for awhile that had ranking issues because older articles would get their "last edited" date updated frequently and Google would often drop older, successful URLs back 3-4 pages when we updated. It made no sense but ... ya, Google.)

              6) Page layout.  Google quality guideliens say that "the page layout on the highest quality pages makes the main content immediately visible."  If your update makes more or less content show up "above the fold" as it were, you may see SERP changes for better or worse.

              7) Breadcrumbs and Navigation.  If your old theme had poor (or amazing) navigation and the new one is opposite, you could see SERP movement for sure. Google loves its breadcrumbs. If you had them and removed them, you could fall a bit.  If you didn't have them and you do now, you could rise.  Breadcrumbs signal good user experience and Google rewards that.

              😎 Mobile optimization.  If the old site wasn't responsive/mobile friendly and the new one is, that could affect your mobile SERPs (and possibly your desktop ones ... depending on how its implemented.)

              9) Analytics. I've posited before that Google must use some data from Analytics - time on site, pages per visit, bounce rate, etc.  .They seem to correlate VERY strongly with my "most visited pages" and those with the highest rank.  I would suggest that if your user experience dramatically improves, your SERPs may as well.

              10) Schema.  You said the structure is essentially remaining the same but if the new one allows for review stars, authorshop markup, photo schema or whatnot, that could improve SERP position.

              howardd 1 Reply Last reply May 9, 2013, 1:14 PM Reply Quote 3
              • JCurrier
                JCurrier @FedeEinhorn last edited by May 8, 2013, 3:19 AM May 8, 2013, 3:19 AM

                Google will have to spider the site before any loss in rankings due to design, right? So, if there is a drop in rankings, it won't necessarily be recovered in a re-index.

                But, so long as there are no errors and the site remains the same structurally and content wise, there shouldn't necessarily be any issue. Even if there are no errors with the new theme as far as SEO goes, if the new design affects the load speed, this could affect the ranking of your page.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • FedeEinhorn
                  FedeEinhorn last edited by May 8, 2013, 1:56 AM May 8, 2013, 1:56 AM

                  That is only truth if the new theme that you are going to use has errors. If it has been SEO'ed and all the content will be the same, you may some rankings decline until Google spiders the new site and re index it. But that shouldn't take very long.

                  You need to think on the users first, will the users love the new site? If they will, then Google will follow, don't worry about that.

                  JCurrier 1 Reply Last reply May 8, 2013, 3:19 AM Reply Quote 1
                  • 1 / 1
                  1 out of 8
                  • First post
                    1/8
                    Last post

                  Got a burning SEO question?

                  Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                  Start my free trial


                  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.

                  • See all categories

                  Related Questions

                  • DigitalMarketingSEO

                    NO Meta description pulling through in SERP with react website - Requesting Indexing & Submitting to Google with no luck

                    Hi there, A year ago I launched a website using react, which has caused Google to not read my meta descriptions. I've submitted the sitemap and there was no change in the SERP. Then, I tried "Fetch and Render" and request indexing for the homepage, which did work, however I have over 300 pages and I can't do that for every one. I have requested a fetch, render and index for "this url and linked pages," and while Google's cache has updated, the SERP listing has not. I looked in the Index Coverage report for the new GSC and it says the urls and valid and indexable, and yet there's still no meta description. I realize that Google doesn't have to index all pages, and that Google may not also take your meta description, but I want to make sure I do my due diligence in making the website crawlable. My main questions are: If Google didn't reindex ANYTHING when I submitted the sitemap, what might be wrong with my sitemap? Is submitting each url manually bad, and if so, why? Am I simply jumping the gun since it's only been a week since I requested indexing for the main url and all the linked urls? Any other suggestions?

                    Web Design | Sep 4, 2018, 11:54 AM | DigitalMarketingSEO
                    1
                  • johncurlee

                    Best practice for multilanguage website ( PHP feature based on Browser or Geolocalisation)

                    Hi Moz Experts I would like to know what does it the best practice for multilanguage website for the default language ? There are several PHP features to help users to get the right language when they come from SEO and direct; present the default language by browser language, by gelolocalisation, etc. However, which one is the most appropriate for Quebec company that try to get outside Canada ? PRO and CONS. Thank you in advance.

                    Web Design | May 1, 2015, 5:57 PM | johncurlee
                    0
                  • vivekrathore

                    Will interlinking using dynamic parameters in url help us in increasing our rankings

                    Hi, Will interlinking our internal pages using dynamic parameters(like abc.com/property-in-noida?source=footer) help us in increasing our rankings for linked pages OR we should use static urls for interlinking Regards

                    Web Design | Mar 9, 2015, 4:25 PM | vivekrathore
                    0
                  • KevinBloom

                    Multiple websites for different service areas/business functions?

                    I'm wondering what the implications are for having multiple domains for different service areas of a company? I realize having multiple domains for one company can be troublesome because of the possibility of duplicate content, keyword cannibalization, and linkbuilding to multiple domains. But when the domains are for very different service offerings/unique business functions that each serve  their own purpose (and have  different positionings), is there a downside to having more than one domain? Any thoughts would be appreciated!

                    Web Design | Jan 14, 2015, 6:45 PM | KevinBloom
                    0
                  • DanielBernhardt

                    Will SASS ruin my SEO?

                    Hello, I am thinking about using SASS for my website, striping the current CSS style sheets and translating it all to SASS.. will this hurt my SEO?

                    Web Design | Jul 9, 2014, 2:07 PM | DanielBernhardt
                    0
                  • 1SMG

                    3 Brands, 3 Services, 3 Different Websites Right?

                    My client was told that having 1 website for 3 different brands/services is better than having 3 websites. I need your help to prove my value to a new client.  This client has worked with Reach Local on PPC for some time and when they first got started the Reach Local Markering Consultant told this cleint that they needed to have one site for better SEO purposes. The client was told that Google ranks websites higher if they have more paid traffic going to them.  I've been doing this for long enough to realize this does not help ranking, at least not enough to make a difference. Keep in mind this is for 3 different companies.  One company does plumbing, another electrical and the last one does air conditioning.  They also have  4 locations but only two locations have mutliple services opperating out of them.  I understand these 2 location will not have there own Google+ Local / Places listing.  Using the same address for 2 different business and expecting a first page ranking is just not possible. Right now when you visit the clients website you see a logo that rotates with a banner section that follows the logo rotation.  First you see the AC Company and then the Plumbing etc.  I see this as confusing to the end user and it is more work to get it ranked for SEO.  I recommended that we build 3 speerate websites for each service and just list out all the addresses that the company services on the contact page.  I would also design inside the footer links to the other services for branding purposes. Please share your thoughts on how you would handle this if you were doing the SEO for your own 3 different business services. I really appreicate any input/insight to this.  Thank you so much in advance!!!!

                    Web Design | Feb 20, 2013, 7:53 AM | 1SMG
                    0
                  • RankSurge

                    Does anyone think the <figcaption>attribute from HTML5 will have any influence for image search?</figcaption>

                    There is a <figure>element that is supposed to provide better descriptions of image on the web in HTML5 - do you think that will replace the importance of the "Alt" tag? Link to figcaption description </figure>

                    Web Design | Feb 15, 2012, 4:02 PM | RankSurge
                    2
                  • JoshTurner

                    Changing from Squarespace to Wordpress - Will I Lose My Rankings?

                    I have a friend who has a squarespace site that is giving him lots of trouble.  For one, even though it is supposed to redirect to GreenSpaceConstruct.com...Bing and Yahoo don't seem to recognize this domain.  Instead, they show greenlightconstruct.squarespace.com in the serp's.  Oddly, Google shows the site as GreenSpaceConstruct.com. The site is ranking well for some terms.  I'm afraid that converting to wordpress will hurt his rankings in the short term.  If bing and yahoo are crawling this squarespace domain, and he moves it...is there a way not to just completely lose the rankings? Thanks for any thoughts.  Much appreciated! Josh

                    Web Design | Feb 10, 2012, 3:53 PM | JoshTurner
                    0

                  Get started with Moz Pro!

                  Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                  Start my free trial
                  Products
                  • Moz Pro
                  • Moz Local
                  • Moz API
                  • Moz Data
                  • STAT
                  • Product Updates
                  Moz Solutions
                  • SMB Solutions
                  • Agency Solutions
                  • Enterprise Solutions
                  Free SEO Tools
                  • Domain Authority Checker
                  • Link Explorer
                  • Keyword Explorer
                  • Competitive Research
                  • Brand Authority Checker
                  • MozBar Extension
                  • MozCast
                  Resources
                  • Blog
                  • SEO Learning Center
                  • Help Hub
                  • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                  • How-to Guides
                  • Moz Academy
                  • API Docs
                  About Moz
                  • About
                  • Team
                  • Careers
                  • Contact
                  Why Moz
                  • Case Studies
                  • Testimonials
                  Get Involved
                  • Become an Affiliate
                  • MozCon
                  • Webinars
                  • Practical Marketer Series
                  • MozPod
                  Connect with us

                  Contact the Help team

                  Join our newsletter
                  Moz logo
                  © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                  • Accessibility
                  • Terms of Use
                  • Privacy

                  Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.