Navigational Changes

[seo32]

Need some advice on when to use canonical vs. redirects for navigation changes to a website. However, if there are other options i am open to them as well.

• We are consolidating some navigational paths and moving others
• We are renaming product pages (therefore creating new product pages, CMS platform requirements)
• Keep in mind we have desktop domain and a mobile domain

Questions

• Do we redirect old URL's to the new product page URL's?
• Do we redirect old mobile URL's to new mobile URL's or to the desktop equivalent?
• Do we redirect all old product page URL's containing navigation elements to the new product page URL?
• If we have a category page being added to two different sections how do we determine the right canonical URL? (the URL will be different because the customer paths will be different)
• Do we need to make sure and redirect all old URL's to a new URL? If so, what is the best way to find all of the URL's?

[DmitriiK]

So, do I just put in a redirect from the old t-shirt page to the new (demoted) t-shirt page? The old one has built up value so I wasnt sure.

Yes, you do redirect. It doesn't matter that page has built up value. If people come to it and it's not what they expect - they gonna be bouncing like crazy. If you think that it's the same or very similar, then you can leave without redirect, but I wouldn't do it.

But more importantly do I need to redirect every single navigational URL for the old URL's and redirect them to a new page?It seems a bit unnecessary.

So, how would you handle it? Leave them be as 404s?

[seo32]

To clarify

Example situation

Current Site Taxonomy

1. Section: Men's
2. Category: T-Shirt
3. Sub-Category: Long Sleeve

New Site taxonomy:

1. Section: Men's
2. Category: Shirts
3. Sub-Category: T-Shirts

In new taxonomy the following is happening:

• T-Shirts is being demoted to a sub-category
• Long Sleeve is going away
• Shirts is becoming a brand new category

So, do I just put in a redirect from the old t-shirt page to the new (demoted) t-shirt page? The old one has built up value so I wasnt sure. But more importantly do I need to redirect every single navigational URL for the old URL's and redirect them to a new page? It seems a bit unnecessary.

[MattRoney]

Hi seo32!

Did Dimitrii's answer help? Or do you have more information for us?

[DmitriiK]

Hello, my friend.

Do we redirect old URL's to the new product page URL's?

If you keep the product and just changing URL - yes.

Do we redirect old mobile URL's to new mobile URL's or to the desktop equivalent?

So, the whole mobile URL is different? you actually have domain.com/mobile-version-url and domain.com/desktop-version-url, not m.domain.com/all-version-url and domain.com/all-version-url? if first option, then yes, mobile to mobile, desktop to desktop, if second option - then redirect everything to desktop version. However, it does depend on how exactly you're handling mobile version requests. Basically, if it's completely two different static, physically existing pages for mobile and desktop versions, then they need separate redirects.

Do we redirect all old product page URL's containing navigation elements to the new product page URL?

I'm not understanding the question completely. Are you saying if you have a link on page to old url, then should you redirect to new url? If so, then yes, you should change the link.

If we have a category page being added to two different sections how do we determine the right canonical URL? (the URL will be different because the customer paths will be different)

Again, not understanding the question. The same category page will be in two different places? Anyway, canonicalize it to the page, which you prefer to rank.

Do we need to make sure and redirect all old URL's to a new URL? If so, what is the best way to find all of the URL's?

Yes, you do. Otherwise it's not gonna be working (or you gonna have 404s). To determine which pages are not being redirected - use 404 checker - there are whole bunch free ones on the mighty internet.

P.S. I'm a little confused about the way you're doing redirects etc. At least from what I understand from your questions. It seems that in some questions you're actually talking about changing links from pages, not doing redirects. If so, please, clarify. If not, then I need more details (or clearer questions).

Hope this make sense and helps.