After blog URL structure change, should you wait to optimize old posts?
-
Hi all,
I'm changing the URL structure on my site's blog (getting rid of dates) soon, but I'm also working on updating/optimizing a bunch of old posts. Some of these old posts have a good amount of traffic, which I don't want to lose when I redirect the old URLs to the new URLs after restructure. I know that you are more likely to maintain your rank and traffic after a redirect if you keep the page content the exact same.
So my question is -- should I leave the old posts alone (not making any changes) for a couple of weeks after the URL restructure/redirects for Google to index the new URLs and see that the content is the exact same so the pages don't lose any traffic, OR does it not really matter because I am optimizing these posts, meaning that the content will be better and hopefully get ranked higher?
I haven't been able to find a consensus on this, so I'd really appreciate the advice!
Many thanks,
Rebecca
-
Hi Rebecca,
I would say it doesn't matter. The optimised posts will most likely get higher rankings. I very regularly edit and extend posts with up to date info and this is only resulting in better rankings because of the "fresh" content I provide. Best wishes to you too!
Regards, Tymen
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
-
Question regarding Site and URL structure + Faceted Navigation (Endeca)
We are currently implementing the SEO module for Endeca faceted navigation. Our development team has proposed URLs to be structured in this way: Main category example: https://www.pens.com/c/pens-and-writing/ As soon as a facet is selected, for example "blue ink" - The URL path would change to https://www.pens.com/m/pens-and-writing/blue-ink/_/Nvalue (the "N" value is a unique identifier generated by Endeca that determines what products from the catalog are served as a match for the selected facet and is the same every time that facet is selected, it is not unique per user). My gut instinct says that this change from "/c/" to "/m/" might be very problematic in terms of search engines understanding that /m/pens-and-writing/blue-ink/ as part of the /c/pens-and-writing/ category. Wouldn't this also potentially pose a problem for the flow of internal link equity? Has anyone ever seen a successful implementation using this methodology?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | danatanseo0 -
What is the fastest way disassociate an old URL with a new domain name?
We have a client with an old domain which was spammy (bad links). Until two months ago, it was forwarding to his current domain and (I believe) causing a penalty. Two months ago we transferred ownership of the spammy URL to a third party and setup an unrelated blog for Google to pick up on. Google did pick up on the URL. After two months Google Webmaster Tools is still showing 200 links from the old domain, to the new domain (from the spammy domain). Also, when you search the company name, the spammy domain still appears in the results (page two). Is there a faster way disassociate the old domain entirely from the business? I.e., just delete the domain, forward the domain to another website, etc.? If you have experience in this, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mgordon0 -
How careful do you need to be about changes to readable URLs?
We are moving to Sitecore where the standard out the box is that if you change page title it amends the URL as well. I am worried that this will lead to SEO issues and am considering whether we need to get it locked down so that if the page title is amended (only in a minor way) it does not also change the URL. I have never worked with readable URLs before - what are the implications of the URL not exactly matching the wording of the page title?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | alzheimerssoc0 -
Https://www.mywebsite.com/blog/tag/wolf/ setting tag pages as blog corner stone article?
We do not have enough content rich page to target all of our keywords. Because of that My SEO guy wants to set some corner stone blog articles in order to rank them for certain key words on Google. He is asking me to use the following rule in our article writing(We have blog on our website):
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AlirezaHamidian
For example in our articles when we use keyword "wolf", link them to the blog page:
https://www.mywebsite.com/blog/tag/wolf/
It seems like a good idea because in the tag page there are lots of material with the Keyword "wolf" . But the problem is when I search for keyword "wolf" for example on the Google, some other blog pages are ranked higher than this tag page. But he tells me in long run it is a better strategy. Any idea on this?0 -
Hash URLs
Hi Mozzers, Happy Friday! I have a client that has created some really nice pages from their old content and we want to redirect the old ones to the new pages. The way the web developers have built these new pages is to use hashbang url's for example www.website.co.uk/product#newpage My question is can I redirect urls to these kind of pages? Would it be using the .htaccess file to do it? Thanks in advance, Karl
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | KarlBantleman0 -
What is Considered Over-Optimization?
Apart from keyword stuffing, what is considered by Google as over-optimization? For instance, if I link from a subdomain to a page on my main domain with a keyword-rich anchor text, does it qualify as over-optimization?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | sbrault740 -
Using AggregateReview markup to generate star sinppets for wordpress blog posts? OK or Spam?
Do you believe using a plugin that allows visitors to rate your blog posts and then generating AggregateReview markup code for each blog post is in accordance with google guidelines? I saw there are a couple of wordpress plugins that offer this functionality. Anybody who had any negative experience? Star icons will certainly increase visibility in SERP.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | lcourse0 -
Request a 3rd party to change the URL to your site or 302 redirect it?
Hi, My new site design for small hope went live about 3 months ago and I changed the URL structure. I'm kind of new to the SEO game, but I've done quite a bit of research, successfully implemented all the 301s I need and tested them and everything is working fine. But I'm having a little trouble with this propagating through Google et al. Most of the advice is to sit tight and wait but I want to be a little more proactive. So even though the 301s are in place, can I ALSO send emails to our partners and request link changes? Would Google find this suspicious behaviour and penalise us? Thanks, Adam
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | NaescentAdam0
