Major URL changes in new site launch
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Hey Guys - we recently launched a new website for a client. Prior, all of their URLs were dynamic via an old-school Cold Fusion CMS. We basically had to rewrite 90% of the sites URLs (site is like 300 pages). The new URLs are SEO friendly and the on-page SEO is strong; but the page rank/authority is starting from scratch from these pages and placement has decreased more most of the new pages with competitive keywords.
We set up all of the 301 redirects properly and are actively monitoring in Google Webmaster Tools. **Anything else I can do to lessen the pain and get these pages higher page rank/authority sooner rather than later?**Thanks for all of your help.
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It's not uncommon to see some lower traffic as Google re-crawls the site. If your 301 redirects are all done correctly to the correct pages, there's not much else you can do. As James mentioned, you may want to reach out where appropriate and see if you can have the link directed to the new URL.
I don't know how much they've changed, but you will also want to check and make sure that any changes to the internal links or navigation are for the best. Deeper pages can sometimes suffer in site redesigns if the number of internal links or the click-depth has fallen.
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A few things to think about.
1. I usually crawl the old site with screaming frog software, to build by URL list.
2. I map out the URLs to related new pages on the site, any thing non related just 301 too the home page or sub category section.
3. Track your top converting keywords from the old site before and after the move too note changes.
4. Another too look at is internal links to your site from external sites, if you have some highly authority links it could be worth changing them to new URLS.
5. Re crawl the site after the launch to look for any errors pages ect, I wouldn't personally USE GWT for something like this I would use Deep Crawl or Screaming Frog.
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One more - did you update the on page content to reflect the new URL structure? Any content linking to old URLs?
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When did you launch the new site? For all 300 old pages did you redirect to the 300 new pages or did you just redirect everything to the home page? On those redirects, did you redirect to the same/equivalent page on the new site or different pages? Are the new URLs cached in Google SERPs or do you see the old URLs? Are you still seeing old URLs in your GWT reports for impressions and clicks? Did you update your sitemap with new URLs? Are you sure you got all the old pages? Often CMSs will generate all kinds of versions of a URL using parameters and so you will need your 301s to account for that.
Not sure if that is an answer, but I am just curious.
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