Best practise for updating software guide
-
Heya!
I write a guide for a specific piece of Internet-based software which is about to undergo a major patch release. No-one's going to be using the old version, so my old-version articles are essentially going to be useless, as are keywords related to the old version number.
Given that, I'm intending to update all my guides to be current with the new version. However, obviously I want to keep the Google juice for the old guides, as they rank pretty well.
The three options I'm considering:
-
Simply retitle the old guides to the latest version number - "How to use Blue Widget 2.0" becomes "How to use Blue Widget 3.0". Disadvantage - my URLs still include the old version number, 2.0.
-
Write updated guides as seperate articles and 301 redirect the old articles to them. I've done this before with some success. So, I'd 301 the URL for "How to use Blue Widget 2.0" to the url for "How to use Blue Widget 3.0", my new article. Disadvantages - possible loss of link juice? Also, I believe redirects can be kinda tricksy.
-
Just leave both the old and new versions up there, with a link from the old version saying "outdated, check the new version". My belief is that this would be the worst idea.
Should I do one of them, or something else? And why?
-
-
Thanks, that's very interesting.
One question - if most of the incoming searches use the version number in the search term ("blue widget guide 3.0") would you still advise just changing the title? Obviously the URL will still have the old version number in it.
-
Hi,
our experience with updating page-titles is the following: Minor changes like switching 2.0 to 3.0 will not have negative impact.
301 should keep link-juice but there is a potential risk to loose some rankings.
To avoid duplicate content problems I cannot recommend your last option.
Due to the last google-freshness update I believe updating the document, title and keep old URL without redirecting will be the best soultion.
Best regards
Steffen
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
What IS SEO FRIENDLY BEST PRACTICE FOR URLS FILTERED 'TAGGED'
EX: https://www.STORENAME.com/collections/all-deals/alcatel– Tagged "Alcatel", when I run audits, I come across these URLS that give me duplicate content and missing H1. This is Canonical: https://www.STORENAMEcom/collections/all-deals/alcatel Any advice on how to tackle these I have about4k in my store! Thank you
Technical SEO | | Sscha0030 -
Best use of an old domain?
I've discovered that my clients website used to have another domain name, which they still own but don't use. It's doing OK considering its not been used for a few years - almost 6,000 backlinks showing on Majestic. So what's the best way of using this for SEO? I'm presuming some kind of redirecting? A simple redirect of everything on the domain to the new domain index page? Or going trough all the old pages and redirecting them one by one?
Technical SEO | | abisti20 -
How can you tell if you were hit by the Pay Day Loan update in 2013?
Hi All, I have a feeling that our site was hit by the Pay Day Loan update in 2013. We have a website offering serviced apartments - I have seen lots of talk in forums about porn, apartment rentals and finances being among the websites hit by this update. Can anyone offer any advice on whether this is the case and what action might be needed in order to get this penalty taken off our site? Thanks guys! Laura
Technical SEO | | Citybase0 -
Any penguin or panda is updating today?
Hey Friends, Please help i have a question .. could you please tell me with the answer about google updates . is there any google algo is changed. because my website has loss the position. Please help me. i checked today removalinmelbourne.com.au it was on first page and suddenly today i lost this. Please guys help me and give me some good ideas to make me back .............. 😞
Technical SEO | | Tufail0 -
Best URL format for pagination
We're currently changing the URL format of our website search, we have been discussing a lot and cannot decide the past way to pass the pagination parameter for SEO. We narrowed down to the options. www.website.com/apples/p2 - www.website.com/apples?page=2 - www.website.com/apples/page/2 What would give us best ranking returns? What do you think?
Technical SEO | | HelpSaude0 -
Best practices for repetitive job postings
I have a client who is a recruiter for skilled trades jobs. They post quite a few jobs on their job board on a regular basis. They frequently have job postings that are very similar to older jobs or multiple current job postings that are similar to each other. Looking at their webmaster tools and site: command search in google, it does appear they have some duplicate content issues. We're thinking it's because of the similar job posts. What is the best practice for dealing with this? And is there any way to correct the situation so that the number of "omitted due to similarity" results declines? Thanks for you help!
Technical SEO | | PlusROI0 -
Found a Typo in URL, what's the best practice to fix it?
Wordpress 3.4, Yoast, Multisite The URL is supposed to be "www.myexample.com/great-site" but I just found that it's "www.myexample.com/gre-atsite" It is a relatively new site but we already pointed several internal links to "www.myexample.com/gre-atsite" What's the best practice to correct this? Which option is more desirable? 1.Creating a new page I found that Yoast has "301 redirect" option in the Advanced tap Can I just create a new page(exact same page) and put noindex, nofollow and redirect it to http://www.myexample.com/great-site OR 2. htacess redirect rule simply change the URL to http://www.myexample.com/great-site and update it, and add Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On
Technical SEO | | joony2008
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^http://www.myexample.com/gre-atsite$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.myexample.com/great-site$1 [R=301,L]0 -
Backlink: External blog Vs. Internal blog. Which is the best?
Hi, some weeks ago a created a blog: mykeyword.wordpress.com Some one told me that it has got more trust that a "normal" www.mykeyword.com
Technical SEO | | Greenman
Is it true? So, i wrote some articles and dropped a guide (linking inside to mysite.com) to blog. My question is:
Right now i'm writing a lot of article ad i'm looking for the best channel where publish my content (post with link inside). My focus is improving quantity and quality of backlinks. Which way must i use? 1. Use my mykeyword.wordpress.com (give freshness to blog and new backlink)
2. Create ad internal blog mysite.com/blog and add article (without link?)
3. "Don't lose time" - Put new article only in external blog that will link to my site. I must manage a lot of new sites and i should increase SERP position. So, i have to choose the right way right now. Thanks 😉0