I just paid someone to redesign on of my websites. I am keeping all the pages names, title tags, meta tags, and content the same but the site should have better navigation and easier for the visitor to use. The only problem is I am worried about losing my rankings. The alt tags order, etc will of course change and because the layout is different. Any suggestions as far as seo? Anyone redesigned a site and had a negative experience with rankings? Positive?
If you change the URLs on the new site from those of the existing site it can have a negative effect for a short while. As the new URLs are indexed and the old page URLs disappear you'll see improvements.
since you are keeping all the file names same, you will have the same URLs. seach engine will vew it positively as the site is being updated. SE likes fresh content and site update which says that the site is live. even if there is impact on ranking, it will be temporary. you should go back up in ranking over time. so some link building and submit to some SB sites for quick indexing the new pages once you are done
Thanks for the advice. I have uploaded my new design, I think it looks a lot better. You can see it here The old site design can be seen here
I like the new site design 100% in the right direction! You might be interested in this post on SEOMOZ http://www.seomoz.org/blog/which-do-you-need-traffic-or-customers I also recommend adding a buy now button above the fold on the home page, next to the image of your book