How best to change website?

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by Arcos, May 13, 2009.

  1. #1
    I have a client who has a very successful website ranked page 1 for most of their relevant keywords.

    They are looking at a completely new design for their site but worried about how this will affect their rankings.

    Is there a sure fire way of retaining their position once the new site is launched?

    Any help appreciated.

    Thanks
     
    Arcos, May 13, 2009 IP
  2. Sunlust

    Sunlust Active Member

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    #2
    As long as the design will be SEO Friendly, then you have nothing to worry about.

    Don't know what SEO friendly design means? Google it.
     
    Sunlust, May 13, 2009 IP
  3. rv12may

    rv12may Peon

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    #3
    yeah dear, if you make your new design SEO friendly then you don't have need to be worried and i believe you know about seo friendly like avoid flash, use h1 tag, alt tag in all img, content optimization with keywords density, make navigation seo friendly and more.
     
    rv12may, May 13, 2009 IP
  4. coolamazer

    coolamazer Peon

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    #4
    I have heard that drastic site structure change affects google rankings. i am not sure though. e sure to check out authoritative places like search engine land or seo forums in particular.
     
    coolamazer, May 13, 2009 IP
  5. kkkrisss

    kkkrisss Peon

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    #5
    We have done this recently...and we have lost our ranking in the USA, i still do not know why... The site ranks perfectly everywhere else except in the USA. Still struggling to get it back on track...
     
    kkkrisss, May 13, 2009 IP
  6. bobchrist

    bobchrist Active Member

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    #6
    It may outperform if you keep SEO in mind from the very beginning while an overhaul.
     
    bobchrist, May 13, 2009 IP
  7. zeruel

    zeruel Peon

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    #7
    Most of my friends that changed their website layout experience losing their rankings for quite some time. I don't know why, but they included every content up to their meta tags to the new site but still lost rankings for about a month.
     
    zeruel, May 13, 2009 IP
  8. Kerosene

    Kerosene Alpha & Omega™ Staff

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    #8
    helloe dears,

    Try and change the layout of the site by using your style sheets as much as possible, and NOT by changing the crawled code. Try and keep as much of the same text content, meta/alt tags, image names etc as you can. And don't forget to 301 any old urls to somewhere nice.

    You might want to try using a duplicate content checker 'in reverse', and aim to get your new design as close as possible to the site you're going to replace.
     
    Kerosene, May 13, 2009 IP