Site redesign. Possible SEO problems?
-
Hi!
Our website has enjoyed good rankings for lots of our keywords for the past 9years.
Over the years the site became heavy, so we want to change the design radically. Content, filenames, titles, urls etc. will all remain identical just the change of a template. The new one is minimalistic and responsive design. We are worrying this may drop our domain or page authority and kill all our past SEO efforts.
**How to do this with the least harm to our rankings? Anything we need to avoid?**Articles/advice/suggestions comments on design and SEO would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your help!
Alina
-
Thank you for a reply, Andy!
Now the other question: how much can we change the content not to lose the ranking? Does the change of titles and the content structure influence? What if I leave the keywords but change the content structure?
-
Now the other question: how much can we change the content not to lose the ranking? Does the change of titles and the content structure influence? What if I leave the keywords but change the content structure?
-
Screaming Frog's a great one, a few Google Chrome plug-ins I would use are:
ReDirect Path -> https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/redirect-path/aomidfkchockcldhbkggjokdkkebmdll
Check My Links -> https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/check-my-links/ojkcdipcgfaekbeaelaapakgnjflfglfIf you use these in combination you will hopefully be able to find any errors in your new design.
-
Fully agree with Andy. The trick with these kinds of design updates is to have a clear testing plan to make certain that, even though you don't think URLs, content, titles etc are being changed, they actually haven't changed. There can be many edge cases where, even though the template change should interact the same way with all content, titles, URL rewrites etc, it just might not. You want to confirm any such cases have been found and fixed before going live with the new design.
Paul
-
She clearly states "Content, filenames, titles, urls etc. will all remain identical just the change of a template." so redirects don't enter into the equation here.
-
301 Re-directs all the way ensuring that all of your old URLs resolve to relevant content. One thing I would advise against is a splash screen and making sure that all of your content is available within 3-4 clicks.
Good Luck
-
Hi Alina,
Changing your site is always a daunting task, but as long as it is for the better, there is no reason why you should lose out.
I have done this a few times now and each time I have been improving the site and then seen a positive jump in traffic and conversions.
All you are doing is changing the template, but when completed, do check the site over with Screaming Frog Spider just to make sure the new template hasn't created any obscure pages or issues that you can't see.
-Andy
-
Hello Alina, recently i changed design of my website (the same you want to do) but i did not change the url's and titles because if i have made that i have lost rankings.
My advice for you is that you change your design but try not take the url's and titles, at least url's. Finally, if you do that, please, 301 re-direction, but you'll lose rankings, sure.
Regards
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
-
My webstore: Arbeidslys.no - recommended SEO tips for this site
Hello, I'm new in the seo word, but I have worked hard the last year and get good feedback on the rankings. Now I just wondering what to do? Need some help from seo experts, please give me feedback and tips to the next steps for my webstore. I want to rank higher in google, like everyone. Please check it out: http://www.arbeidslys.no Thank you Preben
Technical SEO | | Arbeidslys.no0 -
Site Link Issues
For several search terms I get site links for the page http://www.waikoloavacationrentals.com/kolea-rentals/kolea-condos/ It makes sense that that page be a site link as it is one of my most used pages, but the problem is google gave it the site link "Kolea 10A". I am having 0 luck making any sense of why that was chosen. It should be something like "Kolea Condos" or something of that nature. Does anyone have any thoughts on where google is coming up with this?
Technical SEO | | RobDalton0 -
Ajax, SEO and Angular
Hi all! We have a platform which includes a housing area which is created by ajax and angular. You can see a sample here:
Technical SEO | | Eurasmus.com
eurasmus.com/en/erasmus-antwerp/student-room-accommodation It has a static version under which shows the first 18 rooms, the rest are generated by angular.
Also this static version has a dynamic text with around 400 characters. Is this the right procedure?
How would you suggest to do it?0 -
YouTube vs. LimeLight - What are the SEO pros and cons of each platform for on-site video viewing?
Are there any SEO benefits of hosting on-site videos using LimeLight? I know the various benefits of using YouTube but before going forward with a site redesign I want to hear what others have to say. Thanks, Jake
Technical SEO | | JakeMatulewicz1 -
Does Google differentiate between a site with spammy link building practices from a victim of a negative SEO attack?
I've be tasked with figuring out how to recover our rankings as we are likely being hurt by an algorithmic penalty. I have no idea if this was the workings of a previously hired SEO or the result of negative SEO, **how does Google differentiate between a site with bad/spammy link building practices from a victim of a negative SEO attack? **
Technical SEO | | Syed_Raza0 -
I need help compiling solid documentation and data (if possible) that having tons of orphaned pages is bad for SEO - Can you help?
I spent an hour this afternoon trying to convince my CEO that having thousands of orphaned pages is bad for SEO. His argument was "If they aren't indexed, then I don't see how it can be a problem." Despite my best efforts to convince him that thousands of them ARE indexed, he simply said "Unless you can prove it's bad and prove what benefit the site would get out of cleaning them up, I don't see it as a priority." So, I am turning to all you brilliant folks here in Q & A and asking for help...and some words of encouragement would be nice today too 🙂 Dana
Technical SEO | | danatanseo0 -
My site has vanished from google
Hi my site has vanished from google. We have been for a very long time. for example if you put in gastric band hypnotherapy then we would be first page number two and also lots of other keywords but now we have vanished from google and i do not know why or how to solve this. can anyone please help me and help me understand what i need to do to solve this please My site is http://www.clairehegarty.co.uk I am not sure if i have been banned or why i have dropped out of google
Technical SEO | | ClaireH-1848860 -
How do I set up a site review for a password protected site?
We need to conduct a SEO analysis for a website that is on a private, password protected development site -- is there anyway for SEOMoz tools to access and analyze a PW protected site? Thank you, Sara Merten
Technical SEO | | kev110