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Will doing ths with WordPress hurt SEO?

by elevatingyourbusiness
4 replies
  • SEO
    • |
After 16 years, I'm changing my website from self-coded then validated coded, to WordPress.

I thought I'd do it by making sure that I had all the sites files (saving all my files using FTP). Then uploading WP and the new theme. I'd make sure that the WP home page didn't override my sites index.html page. If it did, I'd fix that.

When all was done, I'd change the home page to PHP from html and "wa-la" the new site is live.

However that's not working. While WP added a index.php to the site, I have so far, been unable to do what I thought I'd do. (IF any Warrior knows how I can fix this, LMK)

In the meantime, I've been given this page in Codex ... which basically says to set up a new directory for the WP site, then make changes to the root so that when the WP site is complete, it then includes the new home page.

Codex: Giving WordPress Its Own Directory « WordPress Codex


Does what codex says I should do affect the SEO for the homepage (and other pages) of the new site?
#hurt #seo #ths #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author khuram007
    I'd say your website is a niche website. Not my field as i work on authority websites.
    From a SEO point of view- a redirect from old url to new url would work just fine.
    As for as WP and the existing site are concerned, an easy solution would be to keep the site as it used to be and add the blog in a sub directory domain.com/blog then add a menu button "Blog" on your index page.
    I've transfered sites with no redirect and didn't notice any ranking change. Just give google a week.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      As far as the index.html or index.php, that is another animal.

      You probably cannot do this yourself without help, but you set
      priority for the DirectoryIndex. Default is most likely
      index.php index.html etc...

      You make the list with your preference first. You could just make the
      list with one entry only. The first entry would override the others in that
      order.

      You need to change the directory index in dir_module
      (that's found in the configuration of server settings)

      You can change a straight html page to a php page, no problem.
      But you can't put php on a .html page and have it work.
      Not sure if that's your question.

      WP made their own index directory page. I am no WP expert, but unless
      you do some major surgery, WP is going to want to keep their own index.php.

      You could change the DirectoryIndex with
      index.html
      listed first. Then tying in just the domain would send you to the index.html page.

      Changing your page to index.php is probably not going to sit well with WP.

      Ditch your plan, ditch WP. Or keep your old files intact, just deal with WP.

      Paul
      Signature

      If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Wordpress core files is looking for two mandatory files in a theme:
    • index.php
    • style.css

    If the style.css header isn't formatted correctly you'll get an error on the live site.

    I did a quick search, maybe the link below will clear some things up for you to get the HTML site transfered to Wordpress.

    If you have any existing ranked pages make sure you get the URLs redirected correctly to the new Wordpress URLs.

    My advice is find someone with experience to help you do the site migration.
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  • Profile picture of the author elevatingyourbusiness
    Thanks for the advice.

    I think I'll move the WP blog to a sub directory and follow Codex.
    Signature

    Maria Marsala,
    Financial Advisors Coach, Author, Speaker at http://www.ElevatingYourBusiness.com/

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