Will ReDesigning my website negatively affect SEO?
-
I currently have a one page website which lists all the company information on one page [domain name is www. bwd . co . za]. It uses javascript for navigation. My challenge is that the layout is outdated and I would like to update it with a high quality WordPress theme which will not be a one-pager.
Currently on Open Site Explorer the website has a domain authority of 30/100 and page authority of 41/100. I've worked hard to push the numbers to get to where they are hence I'm a bit concerned.
Will re-designing my website negatively affect SEO?
-
Hi Bongani,
Here are some extra resources that could help you understand better what happens when you do layout / website changes. This is a video by Matt Cutts posted a wile ago, it also includes some other things but it also mentions things related to the layout:
Will changing the code and layout of my pages while moving to new URLs affect their rankings?
Also, besides what EGOL said I would also add another thing:
- Be very careful about the Wordpress theme you are going to use. It's a good thing you already mentioned that you want it high quality. Just to be sure - I would check for any embeded / hidden links. I had some unpleasent experiences even with "high quality ones".
-
Here are things that can ruin your rankings if done poorly...
-
changing your on-page optimization - this includes titles h1 h2 etc.
-
changing your URLs and not doing a redirect
-
changing your file/folder names in a way that makes them less relevant
-
changing your internal navigation in a way that reroutes linkjuice
-
using code that prevents spidering of internal links
Not directly related to SEO but still important
-
changing your page layout that obscures navigation, links to related items, access to important pages - these can increase your bounce rate
-
design changes that reduce mind-on-task in ways that kill your conversion rate
When you do a redesign you should not be fearing the loss of rankings. Instead this is the time to do an SEO evaluation as part of the redesign. This is an opportunity to move your rankings UP.
-
-
It has been my experience, no.
But a few things I like to keep in mind:
if you have any SEO "juice" associated with your website, try to keep your page descriptions and key words as close to the previous iteration website as you can. This way when search engines troll your site you should keep your status for those keywords.
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
-
Product Descriptions (SEO)
So I would like a few opinions. How long should a product description be? Enough to get the point across? 100 words? 800 words? Over detailed? Any advice would be appreciated.
On-Page Optimization | | mattl990 -
Your Comments on my Website Please
Please post constructive comments about my website: http://www.thewebhostinghero.com Some of the stuff you may want to look at: Free tools: http://www.thewebhostinghero.com/free-tools Web host lookup: http://www.thewebhostinghero.com/who_is_hosting.php Articles, news, tutorials: http://www.thewebhostinghero.com/blog Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WebHostingHero I'm still weighting the option of building a new website and if I do, I want to make sure I won't do the same mistakes again. Don't be scared to be brutal... but constructive. Thank you Stephane
On-Page Optimization | | sbrault740 -
Is .PW domain is good for SEO?
I want to register .PW domain which has recently got live to register. I am in doubt should it is good for SEO or not.
On-Page Optimization | | semmediapvtltd0 -
Posting content from our books to our website
Hello, I am the newly appointed in-house seo person for a small business. The founders of our company have written several books, which we sell. But book sales are a small part of our business. We are considering posting to our website some or all of the content of the books. This content is directly relevant to the existing content of our website and would be available for free to all visitors. 1. Is it likely that the traffic and links to the new book pages would improve the search engine rankings of our existing pages? 2. We already have pdf versions of each book we could post, which are formatted nicely. Should we convert these to html to make them more friendly to search engines? 3. Of course, we would have to split each book into multiple web pages, perhaps one chapter per page. How much content could each new page optimally accommodate? 4. Would it be more valuable from an SEO perspective to post pieces of the books over time in a blog format? Thank you very much for your thoughts!
On-Page Optimization | | nyc-seo0 -
Latest SEO Factors
What is the most recent report you have for "factors" that impact SEO --- you guys had one a few years ago and I don't see a recent report. This was based on a panel of experts I believe.
On-Page Optimization | | mommybu0 -
Drupal SEO Question
Still trying to get a handle on all this...a lot to figure out! My site is Drupal and a few weeks ago I had my developer install an SEO Module so I could add a meta description and keywords for my pages. I have done that for the majority of the landing pages and the product pages as well. Earlier I posted a question about the use of adding the meta description and keywords to each product. The answers were mixed and pointed out the problem of the duplicate content which I am trying to figure out how to fix. BUT...when I went through my On Page Analysis grading for my campaigns one of the reasons my grades were low were because of the use of meta keywords tag. That the search engines ignore them and competitors can use them against you. So now I am thoroughly confused. I should optimize each product page with the meta description and keywords or i shouldn't? Keywords should show up in the title tag and the content....anywhere else? Help! Thanks much, Shara
On-Page Optimization | | Confections0 -
Advice needed form seo point of view
We have a client whose website is http://www.indigenaskincare.com/ There are frames in the site and will they hurm seo efforts. Also, what metrics are missing so that we can give advice to the client.
On-Page Optimization | | seoug_20050 -
Website posts
How many post a day should i post on my website to look natural ? first website is 1-2 years old second is 7 years old, i bought aged domain third is about 3 weeks old Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | xverticle0
