To change or not to change site URL structure?

[MrCostello]

I am learning my way around SEO, having always used professionals for it in the past on previous businesses i have decided to do it myself and learn more about it.

Now the dilemma i am up against is i recently changed some of my permalinks on quite a few main pages throughout the site.

The site launched in April this year so we're quite new.  The problem is since my last change i have not seen any increase...a decrease which in fact hasn't recovered at all.

Having now analysed them in more depth and read up more on the whole subject of SEO, (which is endless) i have put together a complete new strategy; with this increased understanding of what i am doing (but by no means conclusive) i want to complete a full overhaul on all SEO (via Wordpress which i use along with YOAST SEO tools), ensuring i have all my keywords, permalinks and descriptions spot on throughout every page, post and picture.

I spent a lot of time mapping these out, ensuring there is no Focus keyword duplication, and that the site is relatively flat in terms of its layout.

What i am unsure about now is whether changing my permalinks again is a bad thing to do? 
Could it permanently damage my rep going forward?
Should i just focus on my content and keywords/descriptions?

I am at a loss as i don't want to do irreparable damage to our reputation.  The site is still reasonable easy to manage so changing now is the best time to do it, but if changing the URLs is a waste of time then i may just forget that and just work on the keywords, descriptions and content.

Advice is 'oh so welcome'

[MrCostello]

Thanks a bunch.  Its really a little daunting when it comes to changing the URL structure.

So changing these is ok as long as i have all the 301 redirects in place. CHECK!
Look at hosting two sitemaps for a week or two before removing the old one. CHECK!

One thing I spotted in your responses was that you said:

• retain the ending /
• also the first URL structure i used was adequate.

Just wanted to know why?

Also in regards to this URL change, my on page SEO tools mentions that i should try to use the focus keyword in the URL.  Is this a big help now?  I know it always was before, so just checking nothing has changed.

Obviously if i go back to using - /Locations/uxbridge/ - that doesnt say a lot about the keyword i want to be recognised for, whereas using - /CBT-course-locations/uxbridge/ - on the other hand does.

The latter however this does keep me pretty much locked to this keyword forever, whereas using the original /locations/uxbridge/ comes down to content right?

Have you any final feedback or guidance on this last point? 
I cannot tell you how much it helps to have you guys to bounce off - It gets all a little overwhelming on your own sometimes.

Thanks again
C

[AndrewClark]

Hey,

My personal preference would have been to stick with the original URLs /locations/uxbridge and use the rest of the website and localised SEO to promote these locations pages and associate them with a particular service.

However, if your set on changing the URLs then take Joseph's advice and spend some time getting this right. As he says make sure that your redirects do not chain together and any previous URLs point directly to the new URL.

If you make sure that any changes are covered by suitable redirects then the negative effects to your site will be minimal in terms of links lost and if your research is thorough then you should put yourself in a situation where more traffic is available.

With regards to submitting a new sitemap to WMT - I would recommend this. Doing so will let Google know that you have made changes and prompt them to process your new URLs.

In the past I have uploaded the new sitemap as a brand new sitemap alongside the existing one - this allows them to continue seeing the redirected URLs and realise what they are doing. I'd then advise removing the original sitemap from WMT after around a week to two weeks.

This process has worked well for me in the past.

I hope this helps.

[joseph.chambers]

I would keep the ending slash there. Not for any reason - just preference. Also, try to keep your URLs short and consistent.

I would say scrape all of your URLs and throw everything into excel have a old and new. Spend some time on this as you don't want to change the URL structure after this.

Sidenote: You don't want to stack 301s. Oldest URL -> Prev URL -> Current URL. Both Oldest and Prev should point to Current.

When you're done submit your updated sitemap to both google and bing webmaster tools.

[MrCostello]

Hi Andrew

Ok so here's an example of the URL's i wish to change.

A more major change would be to the way we showcase locations:
Current URL: motorcycle-training-centre-locations/uxbridge/
Planned revision: CBT-course-locations/uxbridge
The reason for this is CBT course offers higher benefits in regards keyword popularity for our industry.  I can then amend all the related focus keywords and descriptive text.  Plus motorcycle training centre locations seems too long and the choice of keywords i placed within the URL is probably not the best i could have selected.

This URL was changed previously from just: Locations/uxbridge as i wanted to focus more on keywords within the URL structure. Now i am at the point of changing it again...i am just cautious of doing so if it doesn't serve us any favours.  Personally i am confident it is a better structure but do not want to do irreparable damage to our rep.

What are your thoughts to this?

All in all there are currently around 40 URL's so its relatively small and manageable.
Also i am using wordpress but the URLs did not automatically redirect...i have however set up manual 301 redirects for previous changes.

Also, once changed it begs the question should i submit to Google via webmaster tools or just let Google find us?

Soooo many things to consider

[AndrewClark]

Changing the structure of your website URLs can be a pretty large undertaking and if mishandled can easily destroy your website - as you seem to have understood.

It's difficult to provide advice about changing them without seeing an example URL. If you could provide a current URL and an example of what you are considering changing the URL to it would be of help.

However, there are definitely benefits to correcting any issues with URLs and it is one of those issue that is best addressed as soon as possible before your website becomes too large and the job becomes mammoth. I'm assuming that since you are using Wordpress your previous URLs automatically redirect to the new permalink?

I would recommend checking that this is correct and going forward ensue that any URLs that you change have a working 301 redirect from the old URL to the new URL. If you forget the redirects or get them wrong you will effectively duplicate content and run the possibility of causing more issues than you started with.