Hello All,
Me back after a long time. Actually, with a problem.
One of my client websites is going to be revamped. Though there will not be much change in the content, but the structure can be changed like an entire page might be subdivided into categories, index page might be added etc.
Please let me know the impacts it would have on SE results.
The other thing that can have an impact on a SEO is if the slugs/urls are changed without notifying the search engines, or doing a 301.
Our restructure has taken 3 months out of our webistes life. as we went from a one language site to multiple language site and all the urls got changed as we also moved from php to asp.
If you can avoid changing urls you should do so
After your site were revamped, the results are one of the two: your site will get a good raking, another is your site will never get a raking. so you must pay attention to this.
1.301 all of the old pages
2.don’t change when revamping and understand why a page is ranking in the first place
the impacts depend on a lot of things, e.g. what’s the current html structure & markup, and how does the new one look like.
Internal linking can also have an effect, e.g. the amount of internal links on each site, or whether it takes now more/less clicks to get to individual pages from the front page.
Also, do you intend to change the url structure? if so, make sure you use 301 redirects from old to new.
If the revamp is done properly, it should have long-term benefits for SEO. You might experience a brief dip immediately, as search engines find their way round the new structure, but the gains you can make over a longer period will quickly outweigh that dip.
When I say “done properly” - they key here is that whatever URL from the old structure a visitor requests, they get the “best fit” page in the new structure. To do this, you need to set a 301 redirect on any and all pages that are moving, to take visitors to the most appropriate page. This means that (a) search engines can easily see where your content has moved to, and can transfer your rankings and listings from the old URL to the new one, and (b) anyone following an out of date link or bookmark will still get to the content they’re looking for.
it can definitely affect you site rankings on SEs… but that’s totally normal… you can still get it back by continuing building some links…
There is one other thing that you need to remember is that even small changes in the content can make a difference to the overall relevance of your site. So definitely remember to 301 all of the old pages, make sure you get all of the key phrases and elements in the right tags on the right pages and that the overall flow and structure of the site is optimized, however you also need to be very careful about what you do / or don’t change when revamping and understand why a page is ranking in the first place - I’ve seen single sentences make a page or two’s difference when it comes to competitive phrases.