New layout same content

[rajraj]

I m going to change web layout of the site keeping the content of all the pages same as before. Will search engine take it as a newly done pages?

[stapel]

Are you changing only the format, or also the filenames?

Eliz.

[celgins]

Stapel's question is a good one.

Also, are you doing something like removing your table-based layout and changing it to a CSS-based (divs, spans, etc.)

[rajraj]

hello,

Along with the new layout, I will be chnging titles, meta tags and file names too.

Thanks

[stapel]

If you're changing the filenames, then the search engines will view your pages as being new. As far as I know, you'll be starting all over again with respect to page rank and such..

Eliz.

[steve]

Don't change the filenames, you will loose ranking!

You should get away with new content and layout. But if you depend on your website for a living, change the layout, let things settle, then start changing the content a few pages at a time.

[Demaestro]

If you are talking about changing the skin of the site you should be fine, as long as you maintain all the same URLs. If you are changing filenames the you want to set up the proper response code for the bots.

Repsonse code
301 Moved
Browsers with link editing capabilities should automatically link to the new reference.
The response contains one or more header lines of the form URI:
<url> string CrLf which specify alternative addresses for the object in question. The string is an optional comment field.

This will at least tell the bots where this page has been moved to. Alot of work but if you are changing filenames it is worth it.

Otherwise you should be fine, wheather you change main content of the page the bot is fine. If you change the payout around it, the bot doesn't even know the difference, it just knows this page has different content it doesn't care if the changes are text or otherwise.