Remodeling old site

Complete make over

[otnot]

I am getting ready to completely remodel my site. It's not very large compared to what I read about here but it has a page rank of 5 and is in the top 5 SERPs for my KWs. What I was wondering is how to post it without loosing position and pagerank? I was going to keep all the KWs the same as well as the Meta Tags and context until after I update. Is there anything else I should look at? I have a killer key word domain unused but my current domain is more brandable. Should I just switch domains while I'm at it and do a redirect from my old domain? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

[Birdman]

I would keep the brandable domain. If you are changing the link structure and filenames, be sure to put 301 RedirectPermanent [httpd.apache.org] on all the old filenames.

[otnot]

Thanks for the info Birdman

[lorax]

Don't be surprized if your PR changes though. A major overhaul will cause some fluctuation but after a few months things should settle down again.

[Birdman]

>>Don't be surprized if your PR changes

I believe if you handle your redirects correctly, there will be no change in pr or position. I just overhauled a site(300 pg.) and renamed all directories and filenames with no negative effects. I also switched the whole site from HTML to PHP. I was worried but everything went smooth. I also moved the site to a new host at the same time.

[lorax]

Birdman I'd say you are an exception - and I'm not saying it will change but it is likely.

Anytime you change content and/or filenames the search bots will need to reindex your pages. It stands to reason that if otnot is overhauling the site and redoing the content - though keeping the same keywords/phrases - then a change can be expected.

If the same KW density and distribution remain then I would expect the rankings to return pretty close to thier former position but alot can happen in the next index update. Just as a quick example - the SEs might change their algo and what positioned the site at #1 nolonger counts and the site falls to #3. Probability is it will change some. IMHO of course. ;)

[Birdman]

I agree Lorax, if the content changes. I was assuming otnot was keeping the same content. I would if I had top 5 spots. In my case, I kept the content pretty much unchanged because it performed well. I just wasn't happy with the structure and wanted to go dynamic.

[otnot]

Hi:
Yes I will be keeping the content and sub directory links the same. All that I really will be changing is the navigation bar. Right now it's on the top and text links on the bottom but I want to place it on the left side so I have more room to grow. I was wondering also if I should leave the top bar and bottom text links?

[Birdman]

I would have just one main menu on the first screenshot and then the footer links. If all you are doing is moving the menu, you should have no problems at all. I thought you said complete make over ;)

[otnot]

Hi Birdman:
I will be changing more on the site later on, but I want to do it a little at a time so I don't loose my place in the SERPS.