What's the best way to switch over to a new site with a different CMS?
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Is it better to 301 or to closely duplicate each page URL when switching over to a new website from an established site with good ranking and a different CMS ( Drupal switching to Wordpress)?
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I would base this on the number of pages and your ability to get into the database of the CMS environments. Depending on how deep your link structure is, this may be a quick process. If you are able to map the fields correctly, you can duplicate the aliases with a little elbow grease. Simply export the main drupal content table and reconstruct it as a wordpress table, then upload.
If you don't feel like handling the MySQL for this, I would still recommend duplicating the aliases... 301's are very useful, but it does seem like their is a small bit of decline as the SE's reset your info.
Do keep in mind the your page code will also need attention. Drupal vs Wordpress in its rendering will produce different code. Your SEO capabilities are also going to be effected by the plugins that you are using in WP
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Is it better to 301 or to closely duplicate each page URL when switching over to a new website
You will either duplicate the URL or you wont. There is not any "closeness" factor.
If you can duplicate the URL, you will retain 100% of your backlink value. Otherwise using a 301 is the next best option.
If you do need to change URLs, I would highly recommend taking some time to ensure your new URLs will be stable. Plan to keep your new URL for the next 10+ years even if you change CMS.
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use tech free URLs (i.e. don't end your pages with .html or .php)
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take some time to really think out your URL structure. The deepest pages should ideally be within 4 clicks maximum of your landing page. If your URL is /cars/ford/sports/mustang/gt/2011 and if each folder represents a click users need to make, then your URL should be adjusted. Perhaps /ford-mustang-gt/2011 would work.
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avoid adding anything which may change in your URL. Your company name, a department name, etc. Mergers and other changes are frequent in today's world.
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I believe they say you lose some link juice through a 301 redirect so ideally make the URL's the same. WordPress has a lot of easy to handle options with it's permalink structure to mimic most URL set ups. If your old URL's weren't very "seo friendly" then you should make better URL's on your new WP site and 301 the old to the new.
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We recently had to do this too. URL's changed completely and it was a bit of a pain. It wasn't wordpress/drupal but 301's are the best way. Took a little while to clean up the stragglers too. But if you ensure you point all you can to the new pages your SERPs should carry over fine without penalty I've found. Get those new site maps submitted asap too.
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Are you going to be on the same host? If you have 1000's of URLs, then 301 and old URLs you don't want to use to category pages. If you have a small site, just make the same URLs and don't 301.
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