 Redesign Top 10 Do's & Top 10 Dont's! |
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High Rankings Search Engine Optimization Forum > Search Engine Optimization > Search Engine Friendly Design & Usability  |
 Jan 12 2007, 07:17 AM
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#1
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HR 2  Group: Active Members Posts: 21 Joined: 16-May 06 User's local time: Feb 9 2010, 07:54 PM Member No.: 11,764  |
We are about to embark on a redesign project and im trying to compile a high level top 10 do's/dont's list.
Our site has a Google PR6 with a significant number of inbound links (homepage and deep links) we rank page 1 for many of the high volume terms for our industry and therefore do not want to cause a negative impact on our SERP's Any contributors to the list?... |
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Jan 12 2007, 07:56 AM
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#2
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 LiLo Group: Active Members Posts: 831 Joined: 2-July 04 User's local time: Feb 9 2010, 08:54 PM From: York, UK Member No.: 4,207 |
Change the whole site structure...
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Jan 12 2007, 08:04 AM
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#3
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HR 2 Group: Active Members Posts: 21 Joined: 16-May 06 User's local time: Feb 9 2010, 07:54 PM Member No.: 11,764 |
interesting response but....what about URL format, re-directing existing inbound links....plus we have a structure which works (in terms of the sales funnel we use to push visitors through our site, and we rank #1,2,3,4 for many terms)
Im more concerned about minimising any negative impacts on our SERP's the re-design may have... Ive noticed competitors dissapear from the rankings loose Google PR etc etc |
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Jan 12 2007, 08:23 AM
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#4
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 Convert Me!  Group: Admin Posts: 17,377 Joined: 17-August 03 User's local time: Feb 9 2010, 01:54 PM Member No.: 551 |
I think LiLo is probably saying Don't change the whole site structure.
That's the most common mistake I see when one is redesigning a site. If at all possible you'll want to keep the same page names because the engines already know about these pages and the links that may be pointing to them. If you absolutely have to change the structure in a way that entails changing filenames you can implement 301 redirects to help, but you should still expect some pain in the process. |
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Jan 12 2007, 08:35 AM
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#5
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LiLo Group: Active Members Posts: 831 Joined: 2-July 04 User's local time: Feb 9 2010, 08:54 PM From: York, UK Member No.: 4,207 |
Opps yes I did mean that! DONT ( I know this from experience ). Unfortunately it was a necessity as I was REALLY changing the site, but it causes a lot of issues. I used the 301 method with a bit of PHP majogory to send things to the right places.
If you can avoid it dont change the file structure, there are still old pages of my site indexed in google from 2 YEARS AGO! |
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Jan 17 2007, 03:41 PM
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#6
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 Token Wheelchair Chick Group: Active Members Posts: 344 Joined: 17-November 05 User's local time: Feb 9 2010, 04:54 PM From: Vancouver, BC Member No.: 9,449 |
DON't be afraid of running some simple usability tests on your current site vs. some competitors using real people.
DO pick up a copy of Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think" and you'll come up with a few more don'ts than 10, I would imagine. Your redesign should not be completely focused on SE's but neglect the user experience. If you're gonna redesign, redesign it right. |
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Jan 20 2007, 09:53 AM
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#7
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HR 1 Group: Members Posts: 2 Joined: 16-June 04 User's local time: Feb 9 2010, 03:54 PM Member No.: 3,963 |
Don't use a splash page and don't use small text.
Don't design for the search engines, design for the end users but don't forget meta tags. Don't let your son, daughter, friend, cousin, or any other non-professional design it but don't pay too much. -enjoy- |
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Jan 20 2007, 10:43 AM
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#8
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 High Rankings Advisor Group: Admin Posts: 29,201 Joined: 21-July 03 User's local time: Feb 9 2010, 02:54 PM From: Ashland, MA Member No.: 2 |
QUOTE Don't design for the search engines, design for the end users but don't forget meta tags. Don't worry about meta keywords tags. |
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Jan 20 2007, 11:25 AM
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#9
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 HR 10  Group: Moderator Posts: 7,489 Joined: 24-July 03 User's local time: Feb 9 2010, 02:54 PM From: Somerville, MA Member No.: 22 |
Are we looking for the 10 basic things everyone should know, or 10 cool things you may not have thought about?
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Jan 22 2007, 12:00 AM
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#10
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HR 3 Group: Active Members Posts: 59 Joined: 24-December 06 User's local time: Feb 9 2010, 12:54 PM From: Phoenix, AZ Member No.: 15,632 |
There's so many things you could do... I would recommend visiting alistapart.com (web design/usability/web standards/etc) and going through their articles -- write down things you find interesting that would be of value and present them to your designer/programmer/etc. There is an endless amount of amazing knowledge on that site and can definitely help you.
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Jan 22 2007, 10:35 AM
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#11
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 HR 5 Group: Active Members Posts: 301 Joined: 15-December 05 User's local time: Feb 9 2010, 08:54 PM From: Bedford Uk Member No.: 9,794 |
QUOTE(all_things_natural @ Jan 12 2007, 12:17 PM)  We are about to embark on a redesign project and im trying to compile a high level top 10 do's/dont's list. Our site has a Google PR6 with a significant number of inbound links (homepage and deep links) we rank page 1 for many of the high volume terms for our industry and therefore do not want to cause a negative impact on our SERP's Any contributors to the list?... 1 Dont Use flash 2 Dont Use flash 3 Dont Use flash 4 Dont Use flash 5 Dont Use flash 6 Dont Use flash 7 Dont Use flash 8 Dont Use flash 9 Dont Use flash 10 Dont Use flash :-) |
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Jan 22 2007, 12:33 PM
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#12
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 HR 5 Group: Active Members Posts: 311 Joined: 5-July 06 User's local time: Feb 9 2010, 03:54 PM From: Blackburn UK Member No.: 12,541 |
better still -
11. Don't use Flash and AJAX (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/happy.gif) |
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Jan 22 2007, 06:12 PM
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#13
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HR 1 Group: Members Posts: 1 Joined: 22-January 07 User's local time: Feb 10 2010, 06:54 AM Member No.: 15,938 |
1. DO devise a plan and get on with it
2. DO understand your users and know what they like and don't like about the current site, but remember they (the customers) are not always right. ;-) 3. DO fix the stuff they don't like 4. DO leave the stuff they do like alone! 5. DO set benchmarks (i.e. the site's goals) If the site already has benchmarks, is it meeting them? 6. DO monitor your benchmarks and make changes if necessary 7. DO rough designs and test them, and do so something about the results! 8. DO analyse log stats on both the current site and your test sites (if you can) 9. DON'T obsess over minor details 10. DO a subjective re-assessment of your site against the competition maybe including: ¨ Usability (how do I get to and then get back to the same bit of information) ¨ Search (usefulness there of if available) ¨ Branding (response to, how implemented, consistent experience) ¨ Content depth (how much of each category of content) ¨ Functional toolset (what can I do here? print, save, share, comment etc) ¨ Community (can I become involved?) ¨ Partners (online/offline relationships) ¨ Technology (platform) ¨ Love/Hate factor (personal notes) Don't lose site of your own vision for your site. (Just because competitors have something you don't doesn't necessarily mean your site suffers.) Do have fun! ;-) |
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Jan 22 2007, 06:17 PM
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#14
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HR 10 Group: Moderator Posts: 7,489 Joined: 24-July 03 User's local time: Feb 9 2010, 02:54 PM From: Somerville, MA Member No.: 22 |
Well said. And welcome to HR (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/hi.gif)
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Jan 23 2007, 05:32 AM
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#15
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 HR 6 Group: Active Members Posts: 848 Joined: 21-November 05 User's local time: Feb 9 2010, 07:54 PM From: Ogmore-by-Sea, Wales, UK Member No.: 9,487 |
QUOTE(adybee @ Jan 22 2007, 05:33 PM) better still - 11. Don't use Flash and AJAX (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/happy.gif) I'd agree with the above if the whole site is based on Flash / Ajax. However, I see no problem at all by making your site more interesting with Flash / Ajax elements. Otherwise you might as well have written: don't use Images. |
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