Wordpress - redirects and changing URL's with ease

[Whitey]

Our developers just set up an .htaccess redirect over 15k+ pages.

Then I asked for a URL change to add in some keywords, to make them more SEO friendly.

The developer says it will take a week to change the structures and say half the site will need to be re created. Is there an easier way, relying on some re write rules or something?

[lorax]

Hi Whitey,
It's hard to know. Did they create a single redirect for 15k+ pages or break it up or even go so far as to create redirects for every page? Rewrite rules can be created but it depends upon what they're starting with.

[Whitey]

They built the 15k pages and put redirects in place from old site to new site. That site has not gone live yet. They then received a recommendation to alter the url's, because we don't want multiple redirects occurring in the future for the sake of seo stability.

It looks like it's down to a couple of days work, but they weren't happy that it wasn't communicated at the beginning of the project.

[lorax]

It sounds like you have it handled but for future reference, I often use the Redirection plugin for a few months after major IA changes to help the SEs get acclimated to the new structure.

[wordpress.org...]

[Whitey]

Good tip Lorax - thanks - I'll pass it on.