Replacing a site map
-
We are in the process of changing our folder/url structure. Currently we have about 5 sitemaps submitted to Google.
How is it best to deal with these site maps in terms of either (a) replacing the old URLs with the new ones in the site map and (b) what affect should we have if we removed the site map submission from the Google Webmaster Tools console.
Basically we have in the region of 20,000 urls to redirect to the new format, and to update in the site map.
-
Another thought might be to place a noindex on the new pages to start with and as we migrate and 301 redirect the old to the new remove the noindex on the new pages ?
That can work but it's not an approach i would use. It seems like a lot of extra work, you run the risk of forgetting to remove the noindex tag on some pages, and also you may wind up not having pages properly indexed for a month.
If you publish a page today, Google may crawl the new page and see the noindex tag. You can then remove the noindex tag but Google may not recrawl the page for some time leaving your site without an indexed page.
As part of the process of publishing the page, I would 301 the old URL to the new URL immediately.
-
Another thought might be to place a noindex on the new pages to start with and as we migrate and 301 redirect the old to the new remove the noindex on the new pages ?
Thoughts ??
-
since the site has over 10,000 pages we need to make sure all redirects etc are set-up before we go live with the new URLs ?
Whether your site has 10 pages or a million pages you should ensure all internal links work without the need for redirection. Any old external links should be redirected to the correct page on your site if one exists. Otherwise you can allow the URL to 404 if there is not a current equivalent page.
Set up your site's 404 page so users are offered a basic "page not found" message along with your site's navigation and a search function. You should set up a log to track which URLs are generating 404 errors.
Prior to launching the site run a crawl diagnostic to help ensure nothing has been missed.
-
Perfect thanks. Just one final question, since the site has over 10,000 pages we need to make sure all redirects etc are set-up before we go live with the new URLs ?
What is the best way to go forward with regards launching the site ?
Should we launch the new pages and then go through the URLs redirecting them ?
Thoughts please ??
-
We are changing our site structure for two main reasons
-
Ease of functionality, and having the ability to target friendly URLs suitable for SEO
-
Plus we've a new CMS, that allows this custom written URLs
The current structure has too many folders that are too deep, and is becoming too un-manageable. The new CMS gives us totally control from one control panel.
I understand that we will loose some PR, but believe it will be for the better of the site and user experience.
-
-
We are changing our site structure for two main reasons
-
Ease of functionality, and having the ability to target friendly URLs suitable for SEO
-
Plus we've a new CMS, that allows this custom written URLs
The current structure has too many folders that are too deep, and is becoming too un-manageable. The new CMS gives us totally control from one control panel.
I understand that we will loose some PR, but below it will be for the better of the site and user experience.
-
-
Big question: are you changing folder/url structure for aesthetics or functionality? Often times it's not worth making such a large change in hopes of getting some SEO-friendly URL's, as the weight on SEO-friendly URL's isn't what it once was. And the headache involved, as well as the inevitable loss in traffic, is quite often not worth it at all.
With that said, refresh your entire sitemap with the new URL's once they are made. Remove all old urls.
IMPORTANT: setup 301 redirects, either using .htaccess or PHP (or whatever language your site uses), to redirect all old urls to the respective new urls. You will lose a fair chunk of PR during this change, but if you feel your site will benefit greatly from a structure change, then you will be willing to take the hit.
Don't leave any redirect un-turned. Then, you'll just have to wait it out while Google re-indexes your entire site trying to figure out your new url structure. Could take a week, could take months. All depends on what Google has valued your site as. For example, if CNN changed their entire URL structure, they probably would miss a beat. Smaller websites tend to take much larger hits in the SERP's.
So, just be sure it's a necessary action, trust me. And don't ever remove those 301's from your .htaccess as you never know what Google still has in their index for your site.
-
A sitemap should be a link representation of your site. It should contain a link to every page you wish to be included in Google's index.
How is it best to deal with these site maps in terms of either (a) replacing the old URLs with the new ones in the site map
Just make the switch. If a page no longer exists on your site, remove the link. If you create a new page on your site, add the link.
what affect should we have if we removed the site map submission from the Google Webmaster Tools console
For the most part, none. During the next crawl Google would look for your sitemap at your root address: www.mydomain.com/sitemap.xml. Google will also check your robots.txt file for a path to your sitemap file. If a sitemap is not located, it will crawl your site normally.
The primary purpose of a sitemap is to allow Google to become aware about new pages on your site it otherwise might not find. If your site offers solid navigation, a site map is not necessary at all.
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
-
Mobile site domain authority
Hello, I think this may be a coding issue, but hoping someone can help me. I am still having issues with our mobile site ranking, even though we created redirects/canonical to identify similar content between desktop version and mobile. I did notice through MOZ analysis of backlinks that we have no domain authority. If the mobile site is automatically detected dependent on the user, shouldn't we also have the same domain authority? How does that work exactly? How can we build up the domain authority for our mobile site? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks
Technical SEO | | lfrazer0 -
Site Migration Questions
Hello everyone, We are in the process of going from a .net to a .com and we have also done a complete site redesign as well as refreshed all of our content. I know it is generally ideal to not do all of this at once but I have no control over that part. I have a few questions and would like any input on avoiding losing rankings and traffic. One of my first concerns is that we have done away with some of our higher ranking pages and combined them into one parallax scrolling page. Basically, instead of having a product page for each product they are now all on one page. This of course has made some difficulty because search terms we were using for the individual pages no longer apply. My next concern is that we are adding keywords to the ends of our urls in attempt to raise rankings. So an example: website.com/product/product-name/keywords-for-product if a customer deletes keywords-for-product they end up being re-directed back to the page again. Since the keywords cannot be removed is a redirect the best way to handle this? Would a canonical tag be better? I'm trying to avoid duplicate content since my request to remove the keywords in urls was denied. Also when a customer deletes everything but website.com/product/ it goes to the home page and the url turns to website.com/product/#. Will those pages with # at the end be indexed separately or does google ignore that? Lastly, how can I determine what kind of loss in traffic we are looking at upon launch? I know some is to be expected but I want to avoid it as much as I can so any advice for this migration would be greatly appreciated.
Technical SEO | | Sika220 -
Deindexed site - is it best to start over?
A potential client's website has been deindexed from Google. We'd be completely redesigning his site with all new content. Would it be best to purchase a new url and redirect the old deindexed site to the new one, or try stick with the old domain?
Technical SEO | | WillWatrous0 -
Site not loading on Firefox
Hello guys, I can't get my website to be loaded on Firefox, why's that?
Technical SEO | | PremioOscar0 -
What is the best way to find missing alt tags on my site (site wide - not page by page)?
I am looking to find all the missing alt tags on my site at once. I have a FF extension that use to do it page by page, but my site is huge and that will take forever. Thanks!!
Technical SEO | | franchisesolutions1 -
Recently revamped site structure - now not even ranking for brand name, but lots of content - what happened? (Yup, the site has been crawled a few times since) Any ideas? Did I make a classic mistake? Any advise appreciated :)
I've completely disappeared off Google - what happened? Even my brand name keyword does not bring up my website - I feel lost, confused and baffled on what my next steps should be. ANY advice would be welcome, since there's no going back to the way the site was set up.
Technical SEO | | JeanieWalker0 -
Site problem
I moved a site earlier on in the year to a better server www.keyrs.co.uk, my main keywords being equity release - equity release calculator and equity release schemes. Since this happened the ranking have gone down and the schemes and calculator terms and have hit positions 7-8 when they were 2-3. basically my question is open to all, i am looking to see what the problem is with these pages as it is driving me nuts. All tools on SEO moz show the pages are doing well, however i must be missing something. Mike
Technical SEO | | TomBarker820