301 redirecting old file names to new and back to old

Can this be done? Should it be done?

[Lorel]

I'm evaluating a website where it was ranking on first page for a plethora of keywords until the owner moved to a new Host about 1.5 months ago.

The old file names were all .htm. The Host's so-called SEO person changed all the file names to _001.htm and did not set up 301 redirects so now the site is dying on the vine and all traffic has stopped.

Google still has all the old .htm pages listed in the site command and they all look healthy (all unique titles and descriptions, no new file names and no supplemental results yet). However it must have indexed the new pages even though it doesn't record them as the rank is dropping all over the place.

The 301 redirects need to be set up however I'm not sure if we should go from .htm to _001.htm or revert to the old which I assume would entail .htm to _001.htm back to .htm

Also this site is designed in Front Page and I'm aware this will be expecially tricky but wanted to post this in this forum first to figure out the .htm to _.001.htm and possibly back to .htm probem first.

Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated

[jdMorgan]

Change all the links back to .htm, and rewrite, not redirect, all .htm URL requests to the new _001.html files. Or alternately, rename all the files back to .htm.

Don't change or delete any URL unless it is absolutely necessary, ever. You can change the entire file structure of a site, and never change a URL. Mod_rewrite can then be used to re-establish the association between URLs and filenames. That's how it should be done.

Jim

[Lorel]

Hi JD,

The problem is the search engines may take a while to index all 800+ pages to the new _001.htm. The owner doesn't want the _.001.htm extension and doesn't know why the previous "SEO" person made the change.

We want to go back to the .htm but also I assume we need to record the _.001.htm for any new page that has been indexed already.

I assume I need to use this rule but I'm not sure how to do 3 rewrites. Also with their being 800+ pages I'm hoping there is a rule that will move any page with .htm to _.001.htm and back to .htm so we don't have to do this for every page.

Can you correct the following for me please?

RewriteRule ^oldpage\.htm$ [DOMAIN.com...] [R=301,L]

Thanks

[jdMorgan]

If you redirect to _001.htm, then that is what will show in google and the other SEs.

Start with the on-page links: Are your pages linking to _001.htm-type URLs? If so, fix that first, and do it quickly, before G picks up these URLs and starts listing them in SERPs.
Next, are the files named with _001.htm? If so, either mass-rename them, or use use mod_rewite to rewrite, not redirect from a .htm URL to a _001.htm file.

You've got to decide on whether you can/will rename the files from _001.htm back to .htm and fix the links before you can do anything else, and it's necessary to get that done and get your links resolving to .htm files before even discussing a 'clean up' redirect from _001.htm to .htm.

If this distinction I'm making between URLs and files is confusing, just remember that the links on your pages determine the 'true URLs' (which will show up in search engine results) and the names of your files obviously determine the 'true filenames.' WIth those two solid points to stand on, then the rest is easier to discuss.

Jim

[Lorel]

thanks JD.