In this ultimate guide, we will go through a comprehensive guide on how to redesign a website without losing SEO.
It is said that SEO, also known as search engine optimization, requires to be preserved throughout the lifecycle of your internet site and during a redesign.
So many sections are altered during redesign comprising code and pages. If they are not correctly managed, it could harmfully affect the website’s search engine optimization and impact the long-term growth of the site. If done properly, though, revamping a website could also improve your SEO strength.
Significance Of SEO For Website Redesigns
It all boils down to turn a profit. In many cases, a redesigned website without losing SEO is a marketing investment aimed to boost your revenue by means of improved rankings as well as traffic.
There’s a great opportunity you’re redesigning your website because you like it to be more attractive to your target audience. In theory, a more appealing website will produce more revenue and generate a return on your investment several times over.
Though, your internet site has two key functions:
- Appealing your target audience
- Retaining and converting your target audience once they land at your website
Redesigning your site without thinking about SEO ignores the first function. Doing so is a smart approach to spend years of your previous digital marketing investment. This could decrease your company’s revenue and considerably lengthen the profit period for your site redesign.
Tips To Redesign Website Without Losing SEO
Every redesign is exceptional and involves its own specific procedure. Though, keeping these easy but most effective strategies in your head will always make it simpler for you to redesign a website without losing SEO ranking.
Thoroughly Examine All Website Pages
Always use Google Analytics and Google Search Console to find what pages of your internet site are ranked the maximum and which pages are visited the most. Center the push around them as those pages must get the shortest, typeable URLs that are simple to learn and share.
And perhaps some of these pages must be featured in leading places in the freshly redesigned navigation panel to have an even better grip?
Try to Modify or Merge Pages That Don’t Work Well
Take a glance at the rest of the web pages that didn’t get it to the top. Look at if they could be modified in some way to generate better outcomes. Sometimes it’s just a matter of writing a more appealing copy or switching up the showcased image.
Try to Use 301 Redirects to Forever Redirect Renamed Pages
Merely removing pages will make 404 “Page Not Found” errors that will adversely impact rankings. It’s impacting search engine traffic also because your website would be basically getting lesser and throwing away content.
If the specific content piece is outdated or inappropriate, you would like to tell Google that there’s a fresher version of this content piece and redirect Google to the brand-new page. In that approach, if the page had decent rankings or it was connected to other sites, you wouldn’t lose that value, since you are attempting to maintain your SEO rankings intact.
But even not-so-hot webpages are a section of the internal architecture that provides to increasing link equity. Therefore, use 301 permanent redirects to effortlessly direct visitors to the latest URLs even though also keeping the search engine optimization ranks of the old URLs.
Keep A Vigil Eye Out For 404 Errors
A point in 404 errors is an exceptionally adverse result of an internet site redesign procedure. First, it makes for a terrible user experience ever since site visitors can’t get what they’re searching for despite the fact Google recommended it in the search results.
This can direct to numerous users by clicking off your page and turning to a rival.
You could still reduce your bounce rate by making a custom 404 page featuring your most visited pages and consist of limited words of apology and possibly a good offer to keep the client on your site a little extended.
By the way, search engines will reduce the overall internet site rating if 404 errors happen too often. So always ensure that all older URLs receive proper redirects! After that, frequently examine the Analytics to see if anything has fallen through the gaps.
Test for Redirect Loops and Try to Reduce Them
A redirect loop happens if one URL directs to a new, and then to a new, and then to one more until your browser ends loading the page and sends back to an error message. As with 404 errors, that will instantly adversely impact your bounce rate.
Redirect loops also have severe consequences for SEO. The highest number of redirects followed by Google’s crawlers is frequently around 16, so even everlasting 301 redirects will be unsuccessful in transferring search engine optimization rankings if the loop is too lengthy.
Supervise the Changes
It is vital to pay detailed attention to Analytics once the revamp is completed. Always ensure to submit the latest sitemap of the revamped internet site and check if it gets indexed correctly. Also, give attention to the data as visitors search for altered content and correct the changes.
Revamping a site could be a task for a business. It is a distinctive complicated procedure that depends completely on the business requirements and the primary problems with the original site. Particularly if it’s a huge website with a big bundle of content pieces and assets, the redesign must. It is the needful thing that no damage to the current rankings and increase site SEO long-term. Hire a web design or SEO agency to ensure that the procedure goes efficiently. You don’t miss any of the rankings that took a lot of time as well as effort to build.
The Final Words
Follow above mention steps. On the other side of the coin, launching a contemporary design that is quicker, mobile-friendly, and simple to use. This will most possibly increase your rankings and improve your website’s traffic.
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