Migration Help with SEO

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by kevydesigns, Jun 2, 2015.

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  1. #1
    Hi,

    I have bought a new php website and I am planning to migrate it to wordpress. I am looking to recreate my pages complete with different content and make it so that the URL stays the same as before. I know that if I remove my old urls completely it will affect my SEO rankings and everything will drop significantly.

    Question is, are there any tips you can provide me on how to do this properly? and whats the best steps to take?

    My main concern is, that I may miss a few pages or maybe changing the page completely will still affect the SEO of the site.

    From what I have researched so far and hope it is correct, it is best to crawl my own site first and see all my inbound links etc.. then change the URLs that way?
    I also heard about using 301 redirects, but not sure how to go about doing it.

    Does the old URLs needs to be identical to the new one? or can they be different but redirected with 301?

    Please help thanks.

    -
    Kev
     
    kevydesigns, Jun 2, 2015 IP
  2. Rado_ch

    Rado_ch Well-Known Member

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    #2
    As far as I understand you will be changing the website but keeping the same domain name (URL). If that is the case its the same as any redesign - no need to worry about changes in design or content (especially if you add fresh new content).

    The 301 redirects are the way to go, however if you are also changing the main URL. This way, in order to keep most the link juice you have so far, you make a 301 (permanent) redirect from the old to the new URL. As for the permalink structure - best to leave it as it is, unless its a wrong/strange/inconsistent structure to begin with.

    Here is a guide straight from WordPress regarding the proper usage of permalinks: https://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks
     
    Rado_ch, Jun 3, 2015 IP
  3. abidaxperts

    abidaxperts Greenhorn

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    #3
    301 redirects helps when you are going to change main URL and links. You can also use .htaccess file to manage redirects.
     
    abidaxperts, Jun 3, 2015 IP
  4. patco

    patco Well-Known Member

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    #4
    The only way to make everything the same is with 301 redirection. But be sure that every page should redirect to the EXACT page in the new website. It can be done easily with htaccess file, but before actually do it, double check if the redirection is OK! ;)
     
    patco, Jun 3, 2015 IP
  5. kevydesigns

    kevydesigns Well-Known Member

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    #5
    I am about to start migrating soon. What I have done now is gathered a sitemap of all my urls. I have managed to make half of the urls and half of them should be broken.
    Since half of them will be broken, I would need to redirect those urls to the 404 error page or back to my main homepage. What is the best way to do this? 301 redirect? Anyone know the code?

    Thanks
    Kev
     
    kevydesigns, Jun 27, 2015 IP