What is the risk of changing underscores to hyphens in URLs that are ranking
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Client wants to change URL structure from underscores to hyphens - reason for doing this is a cosmetic move. What is the risk of changing underscores to hyphens for URLs that that have been around since 2012 and have a lot of keywords ranking in the top 5 in the SERPS?
When the created the site - they structured the URL using dashes and underscores. Here is an example of what an URL looks like:
/programs-degrees**/clinical-psychology/clinical_phd_kansas****-city****/**
*This page ranks for many high volume keywords in the top 5 of the SERPS.
I have started to compile a list on why the URL should not be changed...
- Building trust and authority from scratch
- 301 redirects do not pass 100% of the link juice
- 301 redirecting from underscored to hyphenated versions of the same content is an unnecessary risk to some of that link equity.
- Good chance rankings/traffic will drop because of the URL change
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You pretty much nailed it. If the only reason is cosmetic (which I doubt has any influence on anything), there is absolutely no reason to risk losing top 5 rankings. Good luck!
Side note.. Google's official stance is that 301s pass 100% authority but not worth testing. You are guaranteed to see a dip in rankings/organic traffic after you set up the 301s.
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