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Please Advice! Changing my website design.

by noorucn
11 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I am going to completely change my web design to build more authority. But My current site has lots of keyword which rank very high in Google. I am currently building my site in another server by copying my current wordpress database and editing there. I have completed designing that demo site, Now I want to transfer that demo site to the new one.Can You advice me some important thinks to take care when I Transfer so that I dont mess up with my rankings after transferring. I heard about making the micro data similar to the previous one, is it so important? Is there any other importance thinks to take care?
#advice #changing #design #website
  • Profile picture of the author alexjames212
    As long as your are sticking with the same domain and your design is navigation friendly you dont have much to worry about.
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    • Profile picture of the author ilee
      Originally Posted by alexjames212 View Post

      As long as your are sticking with the same domain and your design is navigation friendly you dont have much to worry about.
      That's some poor advice...

      You do have something to worry about. With any change to a ranking page, your serp position could go up or down, if you're simply doing an aesthetic redesign, you'll probably be fine as the bulk of the code will be pretty much the same (you can probably get away with focusing on css changes). If you're doing an on-page internal structure redesign, you'll need to be a bit clever with what you do.

      The obvious things to look out for is to make sure anchor text is consistent throughout the change. If you're seeing success with your content already, keep them the same. Make sure all old pages are redirected appropriately.
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      • Profile picture of the author gozen
        Originally Posted by ilee View Post

        Make sure all old pages are redirected appropriately.
        That's something many keep to forget and they end up with tons of 404 messages.
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        • Profile picture of the author patco
          Originally Posted by gozen View Post

          That's something many keep to forget and they end up with tons of 404 messages.
          A good 301 redirection should be done... Why don't you just change your DESIGN, why you should change the urls???
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      • Profile picture of the author noorucn
        "The obvious things to look out for is to make sure anchor text is consistent throughout the change" . Can you tell me what do you mean by it. Let me make you clear, I am not changing content, only designs are going to be changed. I have copied my current wordpress database, put that in another server and redesigned my site completely. Now I am about to transfer my demo database to the current new database.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tim3
    "I am going to completely change my web design to build more authority. But My current site has lots of keyword which rank very high in Google"

    Your site must already have some authority or you wouldn't be ranking very high.

    If it isn't broke, don't fix it.
    If your site is making money leave it alone, your rankings will almost certainly plummet if you change it, at least for a while.

    If you want to restructure from scratch I believe your best bet would be to rebuild the entire site on a new domain. and when it is completely ready 301 redirect the old domain to the new one. Big G gives you the instructions here:

    https://support.google.com/webmaster...er/83106?hl=en

    and this blog post may help.

    http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/how-to-cha...ngs-in-google/

    Someone here has probably already done what you are attempting and will doubtless correct me if I am off the mark.

    Edit: Oops, I only posted half of what I meant to, no wonder Mike had a fit, it didn't appear as intended.
    Post amended with how-to link.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      Originally Posted by Tim3 View Post

      I believe your best bet would be to rebuild the entire site on a new domain, and when it is completely ready, 301 redirect the old domain to the new one.
      Jesus Christ no! Don't do that. I have no idea why anyone would even recommend that as a solution. There is zero advantage to doing that. Only negatives. Horrible, horrible, horrible idea!

      If you are redesigning your site, the two most important things you want to do is maintain the exact same URL structure wherever possible (and 301 individual old URLs that are not created to their new corresponding URL), and make sure that your internal linking structure remains the same. If you do those two things, you minimize the chances of any ranking drops.

      If you are changing the content on the site, you are going to experience ranking fluctuations, which can either be good or bad.
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      • Profile picture of the author noorucn
        Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

        Jesus Christ no! Don't do that. I have no idea why anyone would even recommend that as a solution. There is zero advantage to doing that. Only negatives. Horrible, horrible, horrible idea!

        If you are redesigning your site, the two most important things you want to do is maintain the exact same URL structure wherever possible (and 301 individual old URLs that are not created to their new corresponding URL), and make sure that your internal linking structure remains the same. If you do those two things, you minimize the chances of any ranking drops.

        If you are changing the content on the site, you are going to experience ranking fluctuations, which can either be good or bad.
        Can you tell me about someone who can give me advise personally, I can hire them or even if you want , I can hire you. I want it to be perfect before I transfer my site.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
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    Changing a WP theme can overhaul a site navigation structure so If you already have ranked pages there's a chance you'll end up dropping pages in the SERPs.

    If your not ranking for any decent keywords then do whatever you want, there's nothing to lose.
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  • Profile picture of the author paulgl
    Originally Posted by noorucn View Post

    I am going to completely change my web design to build more authority.
    How is that going to help authority?

    Work on things that actually build authority. Like more links and tons
    of content that expands or enhances what's there.

    Amazon, wikipedia, have authority because of what they have...not design.
    Both of those sites suck for design.

    Rearranging the deck chairs would not have made The Titanic float better.

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  • Profile picture of the author enterprisemind
    Hi noorucn,

    This is just a thought, but couldn't you just setup another site and put WP Twin plugin on both and clone it so you can clone the updated site back once you get the new web design or theme on it?
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