Hi, I recently bought a site that had a script that was coded in .asp and does not support the linux web server I host on. I decided to get a similar script that was written in html/php, so I don't have to go and buy a windows web server. The site had a url such as: /abc123.asp (just an example) that was ranked on page 1 with a keyword that does not have much monthly searched. The problem I am having now is I can't re-use that .asp file on my new site. If I recreate this file in html, like this abc123.html would this also be ranked the same as before? I am thinking of actually changing the url completely because i found better keywords that has more monthly searches, would it be okay if i use the same content and target my new keyword, but change the url to something like this: 321cba, which has more monthly searches a month? Please help.
Not problem only you need to use 301 redirect from .htaccess file then your all previous pages move permanently to new pages url.
If you can avoid changing the URLs and site setup then avoid it. Changing it changes the site altogether and you will 100% see a ranking drop for some time. If you must change as you are saying and there is no alternative then you will want to 301 all major pages to their new equivalents. For example if you have a page that is about Taco's, then on your new site make sure you have the same taco page'd 301'd from the old one. Does that make sense?
You will need to redirect the .asp URL's/pages to their .html equivalents using 301 permanent redirection, your website ranking and traffic might get slightly affected, but it will fully recover with time.