Redirecting site from html/php to wordpress
-
I've never come across this and haven't been able to really find anything that explains it very well. I want to get opinions before we make a definitive decision.
Here's the scenario...
I am working on a site that was built in HTML/PHP and some of the pages are ranking pretty well. (some page 1, but not number 1)
We are going to start using the Wordpress platform by year's end.
The pages that were built in html have been built a little spammy but they still rank. I just think they are keyword stuffed a little and not very "reader friendly" (I think the last person was spinning content).
So, we've built completely new content on our new pages and we've commissioned really good content writers for them. I will be handling the on-page SEO going forward so I know what to do there. My questions are this....
-
Should I 301 the old pages to the new pages with the better content? (old pages have the .html or .php extensions so www.example.com/keyword.php will become www.example.com/keyword-keyword
-
Is there any negative side to doing this since the content will be completely different then the old pages that are being 301 from. (Keywords are pretty much staying the same with the exception of minor variations. ie, www.example.com/red-cashmere-sweater.php to www.example.com/cashmere-sweater)
I ask this because I've moved sites before where I've just changed the location of the same content. I've never done it where the content is changing and so is the URL extension.
Thank you in advance for your help and guidance.
-
-
If you change the entire Address you'll also use 301. So that's why i think it is possible.
-
If you are talking about Change of Address, I thought that's for moving sites to a new domain. Our domain is staying the same. Thanks for your advice about links. We have a lot of citations pointing to the old extensions (they have 53 locations)
-
I would go with the suggestion of BrewSEO. 301 the pages that are on topic if they are off topic then no 301 redirect.
I would make sure that all incoming links to the old page get redirected to the new as soon as possible. If you know what the page is going to be, maybe ask them kindly already to update their links by the end of the year. This will help Google correct your website much faster. Also use webmaster tools. They also have a moving section I believe so insert your information there.
hope this helps you a bit
just my 2 cents
Kind regards
Jarno
-
Yes, the pages are the same topic but completely different content.
Thank you.
-
If the content is on the same topic (for example, a page about dogs to a page about dogs) than you should 301 it. It sounds like you are still ranking so Google has not penalized your old page and therefore it still has valuable link-juice.
Do not 301 the page If your new page is on an unrelated topic (for example, a page about dogs and a page about real-estate.)
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
-
Subdirectory site / 301 Redirects / Google Search Console
Hi There, I'm a web developer working on an existing WordPress site (Site #1) that has 900 blog posts accessible from this URL structure: www.site-1.com/title-of-the-post We've built a new website for their content (Site #2) and programmatically moved all blog posts to the second website. Here is the URL structure: www.site-1.com/site-2/title-of-the-post Site #1 will remain as a normal company site without a blog, and Site #2 will act as an online content membership platform. The original 900 posts have great link juice that we, of course, would like to maintain. We've already set up 301 redirects that take care of this process. (ie. the original post gets redirected to the same URL slug with '/site-2/' added. My questions: Do you have a recommendation about how to best handle this second website in Google Search Console? Do we submit this second website as an additional property in GSC? (which shares the same top-level-domain as the original) Currently, the sitemap.xml submitted to Google Search Console has all 900 blog posts with the old URLs. Is there any benefit / drawback to submitting another sitemap.xml from the new website which has all the same blog posts at the new URL. Your guidance is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | HimalayanInstitute0 -
Best way to do site seals for clients to have on their sites
I am about to help release a product which also gives people a site seal for them to place on their website. Just like the geotrust, comodo, symantec, rapidssl and other web security providers do.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ssltrustpaul
I have notices all these siteseals by these companies never have nofollow on their seals that link back to their websites. So i am wondering what is the best way to do this. Should i have a nofollow on the site seal that links back to domain or is it safe to not have the nofollow.
It wont be doing any keyword stuffing or anything, it will probly just have our domain in the link and that is all. The problem is too, we wont have any control of where customers place these site seals. From experience i would say they will mostly likely always be placed in the footer on every page of the clients website. I would like to hear any and all thoughts on this. As i can't get a proper answer anywhere i have asked.0 -
Help with https// redirects
Hey there
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Jay328
I have a client who just moved from a self hosted CMS to Adobe Catalyst (don't ask!)
The problem: Their url indexed with google is https://domain.com, Adobe Catalyst does not support third party SSL certificates or https domains. Now when people google them https://domain.com shows up in search, HOWEVER it does not have a trusted certificate and a pop up window blocks the site. They are a mortgage company so SSL is really not needed. What can I do to get google to recognize the site at http: vs. https? Would this be something in GWMT? Thanks!0 -
Redirection not working
http://elmanarah.com/ to http://www.elmanarah.com/ I have mistakenly created 5 databases for one wordpress installation.In order to get rid of them I mistakenly even deleted the right one.Now created the new one but the URL is showing with www Even now if It type in http://elmanarah.com/ it sends me to http://www.elmanarah.com/ I also check in URL D.A and P.A in OSE it shows like I have redirected it fine.Can anyone Check in and guide me either I have done it right and It pass on my previous work effort or it was total loss for me?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | csfarnsworth0 -
Site Interlinking - footer and menu - whether to nofollow/remove
Hello, We've got a bunch of interlinking going on between the following sites: nlpca(dot)com thewealthymind(dot)com shop.nlpca(dot)com dynamicspinrelease(dot)com These are all owned and operated by the same people. Some linking is in the footer and some is in the menu or header. Could you take a look and tell me which interlinks you'd recommend nofollowing and which you'd recommend deleting entirely? We can always place a home page single link to replace those sitewides we delete or nofollow. I'm thinking we should delete everything in the footers and nofollow those in the menu or headers, placing a single dofollow link on the home page when deleting/nofollowing a sitewide link.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BobGW0 -
Doubt of multi country/language site
Hi ! We are building a site that is going to be available in some countrys with the same language (spanish), and we have some doubts about whih is the best way to do it. Option 1) Subdomains: Example; españa.mydomain.com , mexico.mydomain.com (the problem here is that there are some problems with linkbuilding with subdomains) Option 2) Language folders: Example; mydomain.com/es/es mydomain.com/es/mx (the problem here is that the prestige of the category in the url is going to be in 3rd position, example: mydomain.com/es/es/category and is not recommended for SEO) Option 3) Country domains Example; mydomain.es<a></a> mydomain.mx (the link building is going to be much more, cause we have to multipliate the links that we need ffor being in a good position with the diferent domains of each country) I am not sure of which one is the best option, what do you think? The only thing I am sure is to use te TAG: rel="alternate" hreflang="x" for not having duplicate content, because index and categories are going to be the same, the only thing that is going to change is the products of each country. Looking forward to your suggestions! Thanks, Regards Exequiel
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SeoExpertos0 -
Sitelinks in 7-pack / blended / local results
I have a client who has been ranking well in the 7-pack for local searches, for 1.5+ years. I recently noticed a competitor's Google Places link has little sitelinks attached, but my client's link doesn't have them. This makes me sad. To provide a concise question: what can I do to help my client get sitelinks along with his Google Places listing in the 7-pack / blended / local results? Some example data: My client's business is called Ambiance Dental and his website is www.mycalgarydentist.com. An example search to see what I'm talking about is "calgary family dentist". The competitor that's showing sitelinks is www.aestheticdentalstudio.ca which has a title of "Dentist in Calgary | Cosmetic Treatment in Calgary". The sitelinks you'll see are "Dr. Gordon Chee", "Links", "Dr. Alexa Geminiano". Notice that my client doesn't have the same sitelinks. Some further data: If you do a a search for "calgary aesthetic dentist" you'll see the competitor's 1-box local result (is that what it's called?) with his Google Places data and sitelinks. If you search for "calgary ambiance dentist" you'll get a similar layout SERP for my client, again with no sitelinks. My client's sitelinks: If you search for "ambiance dental calgary" you'll see that Google does offer sitelinks for his site, just not in Google Places it seems. My client's website: My client's website has the navigation coded as a list (UL) without any javascript or complicated code messing things up. The competitor's navigation is built similarly, though he has about 40 more pages in his main navigation. My client's page names are concise, which I've read helps with sitelinks, the website is coded very cleanly, the URLs of his site are clear and concise without a complicated folder structure, so it seems like we're doing everything right. I appreciate any input other mozzers can provide, and discussion on the topic. I'm sure there are others who would benefit from local sitelinks as well!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Kenoshi0 -
Domain w/ Identical Content to Site we are Optimizing
Hi Guys, We've been optimizing a client's site for about a year or so now and on a call the other day the client brought up that he owns and operates another site that's marketing the same product, but to a difference audience (we work on the direct to consumer side, this is a distributior focused site),with the same exact content as the site we are optimizing. Obviously this is a major duplcant content issue and we need to get it resolved very quickjly. We have already reccomendt to the client that we re-write content, but this is where my questions comes in - Which site should we rewrite the content on? The site we are optimizing is the more impoorant of the two, while we still want the other site to hold rankings we dont want to end up accidently optimizing the other site wherein the site we are working on full time suffers a lost when a "compeiting" site creates compeltely new content and may, accidentally, end up ranking higher than the site we are focusing on full time. As links also play a role, would that be a KPI to look at here in determining which site gets new content and which does not? In this scenairo, would would you guys recommend? Just want to make sure I'm dotting all my I's, and crossing T's here. Many thanks to all in advance, Mike
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Havas_Disco0