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I have to redesign a site for a company with good SERPS for the company name and select choice of keywords. The question is how should I plan to redesign the site without causing the site to lose it SE status?
Should I try and keep the file index/names/content the same? (within reason). The domain will remain unaltered but will I have to resubmit it? What are your experiences of redesigning a site with relatively good SE placement? and what, if any, are the "no no's"?
Ta
Limbo
Should I try and keep the file index/names/content the same? (within reason). The domain will remain unaltered but will I have to resubmit it? What are your experiences of redesigning a site with relatively good SE placement? and what, if any, are the "no no's"?
If the domain is the same, no need to resubmit. However, there are a few golden rules which apply to redesigns, not all of which are purely technical in nature.
First thing, as you mentioned, is that it is important to try to keep the same file names and directory structure wherever possible. When you are absolutely forced to change the structure, then you need to use mod_rewrite (On Apache) or isapi-rewrite (on IIS) to remap the old pages to the new with a 301 Permanent Redirect. This is not just for the bots (although it is mainly for them), but also for any users who have bookmarked older pages. Even if you are switching technologies (eg. ASP to PHP), you should still try and keep the old filenames by, in my example, mapping pages with the extension .asp to be parsed by PHP.
Second thing is less technical - it all boils down to the respect for the existing userbase: when you do the redesign, try to keep a reasonale resemblance with the old site, in terms of overall look and in the way it functions. Nothing is worse for a regular visitor to suddenly find a completely new and unfamiliar user experience in the place of the site he was so used to. That means identifying focal points in the old design and working to retain them in the new look - for example, the old site used a strong red color in the masthead or menu - then try to reuse that color (unless it was really atrocious) in the new design. If it is a large site, or if it has a particularly complex method of interaction, then go slowly with changes. Large sites don't ever change completely overnight - you can redesign one section at a time, easing through the transition. Finally, don't leave out the existing users - try to get feedback before, during and after the changes.
You have confirmed some of my fears.
encyclo: I don't think I will need to delve into the degree of detail/technical work you describe, as the site does not have a huge number of return visitors. In fact it doesn't have that many visitors at all (relatively speaking). But it does have good SEO.
One of my bigger concerns is that I have to change the content now, and continue to change on a regular basis through staff with MMcontribute - should this worry me?
I hope not to have to change the site structure too much, however the navigation method will be switched from Javascript popout menus (I'm getting rid of them! - we had a discussion about SE spiders and they saw the light). So I guess I should not worry to much about that as they would not have been viewed by SE anyway.
The site is below 50 pages built with DW templates. I have mirrored the site locally and tinkered with the templates and this should (fingeres crossed) be all the design I need to do outside of the very dodgy CSS.
Cheers for the advice
Limbo
Leo, I'm still in 'Limbo' - the new job carries with it many uncharted areas of work + I kinda like Limbo :)
