4 replies to this topic

[jamie_g]

Hi gang,

I'm preparing a recode for an established site that has consistent top 10 rankings. The revised site design will remain the same but we are breaking the site up into include files and coding for XHTML/CSS approach (the structure will change as well).

My action list only thus far only consists of one item:

1. Map out all current URLs (ranked or not - the site is smaller 300 pages) and set-up 301 redirects

The new coded version will also take advantage of a revised document structure (headings, p & lists - the old site had these but the revised will be more consistent).

I feel like I'm missing items for my action list?

Cheers, Jamie

** There may be other items that I have considered but listed)

[Randy]

If at all possible you'll want to keep the same page filenames Jamie. Not with the includes, but with the URI's the engines actually see and have indexed.

301's can help if there is an absolute need to change the structure completely, but expect at 4-6 month period for the engines to catch up with the changes if you end up changing all of the filenames.

Changing the underlying code that delivers the page usually doesn't have any negative effect. Changing the words on the pages will have some effect. Changing the filenames/structure will often have a rather drastic negative effect in at least the short term.

[jamie_g]

Hi Randy, thanks for your quick response.

We are planning on reworking the site structure to incorporate shorter/keyword rich URLs (the non-targeted ones will stay the same):

Stay the same
www.mydomain.com/about/

Revised - From
www.mydomain.com/section/product/product-sub-category/product-name/details.html

To
www.mydomain.com/product/product-name/

A large chunk of the site is being move over to a database and were are planning on URL rewriting to handle the Search Engine friendly URLs

On this project the SEO has been done by someone else in my office (includes revised: page copy, title tags, image naming, etc.).

Is this not the best approach to take? I was expecting the wait for the engines to pick up the changes - am I missing anything else?

Thanks again,

Jamie

[Jill]

We are planning on reworking the site structure to incorporate shorter/keyword rich URLs (the non-targeted ones will stay the same):

I wouldn't do that if I were you. It's not going to be worth the lost rankings for all those months. We have a bunch of other threads on this topic you might want to look at.

[jamie_g]

Hi Jill,

I'll have a read of these other resources and post any additional questions.

Thanks again,

Jamie