Timing of Submissions

Should we submit to crawlers now and then submit again after redesign?

[mburgess]

Hello All!

Quick Question...I have a client that knows that they are going to redesign their site and have it ready to go live by the end of May. They are thinking that because of index time, they would like to submit the site now so it will be indexed by the search engines (no directory submissions yet). Is this pointless? I mean, I suggested that they wait until their site is fully and completely redesigned until they submit to the SE's. Is there any good that could happen my having their site submitted to the SE's now and then redesigned two months later?

[4eyes]

I would submit to all the directories for sure.

The crawler engines would probably be OK too.

If the site design involves pages being deleted and/or renamed you will need to take that into account, but I can't see any major down side to submitting now.

Anyone know different?

[Marcia]

What I've done to get a head start on new sites is do only a small temporary optimized index page (with a link to it) and not link to other pages on the site. It's usually enough to get it rolling, and sometimes they do OK from the start. Once the site is done and links put up it's already in motion.

I'm not sure I'd let the whole site get crawled if the navigation changes will be major, could end up a lot of 404's. Maybe "index,nofollow" in that case.

[mburgess]

It's very likely that page paths would change, as well as their internal link structure. I didn't think about the 404 error pages, but won't those pages just be dropped anyways?

I highly doubt that they would want to test submit anything. But that's good advice. (BTW, where would the one link to the optimized page be coming from?) How much does the initial submission weigh on a web site? If I submit the site now, then it would probably take 1-3 months before any crawler updates their index. So we're pretty much into May already. Then their site changes. Now, we have to wait again until their spiders get around to crawling the page again. So, that leaves us with another 1-3 months of the original site sitting out there.

One major recommendation is to do pay for inclusion. So, basically this would negate this whole conversation. But, I would still be left with 404's if paths change.

AGH! What to do?

[ppg]

I'm in what I think may be a kind of a similar situation: I've just been taken on by a company to redesign and run their website. At the moment they have a flash intro page. Although the page has a decent title, keywords and description tags, obviously it has no crawlable text on this page. when the redesign is finished I'll be removing the flash intro and the index page will be a .jsp with crawlable static text (it's a .jsp because there'll be a database lookup showing some current 'specials').

If I just submit the domain name to the open directory, say, will I be ok? the redesign should be going up in couple of weeks to a month. Much of the static content (including page file names) will remain, I'm mainly adding dynamic pages at this stage.

Not sure if this is a really obvious question but I'm very new to search engine ranking stuff and just beginning to pick up how it all works.

Just a little worried about ending up with a 404 on the site index page if the site gets indexed before the redesign goes up

thanks

[backus]

Personally, I'd never submit an unfinished site. It'll only lead to problems.

[mburgess]

Never submit a site that is not complete to a directory. Remember, they have human editors that review your site before it is added to their index. If they notice that the site is still under construction, they will not accept your submission.

In that case, it's best to wait.

[ppg]

thanks backus and mburgess.

Although the site is complete at the moment (just out of date) I think I'll follow your advice and wait until the revision goes up before I submit.

[bufferzone]

I have no problems submitting to crawlerbased engines but directories, IMHO, should not see an unfinished site

[4eyes]

If the site is complete but 'just not that great' then submitting to all the free directories shouldn't cause any problems.

[BikeMan]

In my limited personal experience unfinished sites are a no go. They make it more difficult to get listed. But then I'm just a newbie to site promotion myself.

[4eyes]

As I understand it, the site in question is not unfinished, just 'about to be redesigned'.

If the site is of poor content and quality, then holding off till the redesign might be wise.

If it is largely cosmetic changes, then submitting now is not a problem. Probably not that important either way.

[caine]

mburgess,

as long as the site is complete, it would be worth submitting now to the SE's to see where it actually stands against, its competition, then the redesign can obviously take into account your present redesign, but you can also see whether the site in its present form is doing the company justice in its keyword targetting. Only an idea, plus you won't have to wait when the site is published and you submit to the directories, that alone will pretty much get the SE's to relook at the site. Don't forget loads of quality related links.