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Changing home page topic

by MikeMiller
4 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi All,

I have a problem with one of my websites: it has been operating for years now, all of its content is about a narrow topic and it has good rankings even for broader terms. For most of the broader terms the home page is ranking now.

I would like to broaden the content of the website, introduce other topics as well. This will mean that the home page will have much additional content and won't focus on the original narrow topic anymore, the original topic will be moved to a new url within the domain as a category. Normally I would use 301 redirect to move the content, but as the original URL, the home page will also stay in operation just with different content I don't really know how could I tell search engines that the original home page topic has been moved?

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!
#changing #home #page #seo #topic
  • Profile picture of the author SEO Power
    Topics don't move, pages do. Unfortunately, you can't tell Google that your homepage content has moved without redirecting and I'm sure you don't want to redirect the homepage to an internal page. So, I suggest you don't change anything on the site.

    Instead, create new categories and publish the new articles under the new categories. Alternatively, you can use subdomains.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeMiller
      I understand that topics don't move I was just curious whether there's a best practice for my problem. Of course I don't want to redirect the homepage, that would be pointless. I'm not about to completely change it either, but as you said, I will create new categories and articles, and I'm worried that it will affect my rankings. As I mentioned, currently the whole website focuses on a single topic and the homepage has very good rankings for relevant keywords. As soon as I start introducing other topics to the website (necessarily to the homepage as well) it's content won't be primarily focused on the original keywords/topic anymore, that's why I'm worried that it will hurt it's rankings.

      Originally Posted by SEO Power View Post

      Topics don't move, pages do. Unfortunately, you can't tell Google that your homepage content has moved without redirecting and I'm sure you don't want to redirect the homepage to an internal page. So, I suggest you don't change anything on the site.

      Instead, create new categories and publish the new articles under the new categories. Alternatively, you can use subdomains.
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      • Profile picture of the author SEO Power
        Originally Posted by MikeMiller View Post

        I understand that topics don't move I was just curious whether there's a best practice for my problem. Of course I don't want to redirect the homepage, that would be pointless. I'm not about to completely change it either, but as you said, I will create new categories and articles, and I'm worried that it will affect my rankings. As I mentioned, currently the whole website focuses on a single topic and the homepage has very good rankings for relevant keywords. As soon as I start introducing other topics to the website (necessarily to the homepage as well) it's content won't be primarily focused on the original keywords/topic anymore, that's why I'm worried that it will hurt it's rankings.
        Start with a few articles. If you notice any drop in rankings, stop. That said, I don't see how expanding into other topics can cause a drop in rankings. Bear in mind that the new articles would need links too.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Lee
    I think Google has gotten pretty good at figuring out what page should be ranked if you have more than 1 page on the subject.

    I had a similar situation where I tried to rank the homepage for a bunch of keywords. I decided to take one of those keywords and build a giant page around it and rank that. Most of the links still point to the homepage, but the new page ranks for the main keyword now. Just put a link to the new page from the homepage.

    Also, it's difficult to rank for keywords with category pages if that's what you're planning on doing. Google would rather show the searcher content and information about the topic rather than a list of articles. Something to think about.
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