301ing entire E-Com website - Using TopPages Report as a Guide
-
Hi Folks,
My company is in discussions with an ERP provider to migrate our existing website to a new backend system, new url structures..the whole 9 yards.
We have over 15,000 products, and a lot of "odd" url structures created by an outdated system that we were unable to adjust. All and all, if you're talking about a raw url count, it's in the 100s of thousands.
During discussions, we were told that bulk 301 redirects would be a problem. They could be performed manually though (greaaattt).
Due to this, I ran an OpenSite Explorer report, and isolated our top pages. After exporting the CSV, I was able to breakout "all" urls that have links from other domains.
My question is, has anyone used the OpenSite Explorer on a website of similar size, to form the basis of a migration? Do you have enough confidence in the tool to use it in this way, or should we re-negotiate our agreement until a way can be found to mass 301 ALL urls. I'm at least a little concerned that OpenSite Explorer isn't indexing all of the links out there. Gasp..or would there be a better tool to accomplish what I'm trying to do?
Thanks!
-
As much as we love OSE here, it is not a good bet for doing a complete inventory of your entire current site. I'd probably recommend a desktop crawler, like Xenu or Screaming Frog. See my comparison post here:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/crawler-faceoff-xenu-vs-screaming-frog
I've got to believe that there's some logic that could connect the old and new URLs, though, even if it has to go through a database look-up. Creating 15,000 manual redirect rules isn't only going to be a huge pain, it may cause a huge processing bottleneck. I'd really push back on what "can't" means and why it can't be done. Too often, "can't" is code for "don't want to", in my experience.
-
OK...that makes it more difficult.
I was hoping that you might have some files whose filenames would be retained and would only need to move from one directory location to another within your new site structure.
Since it is possible to redirect the entire contents of a directory to another directory with a single line of code, this would have made it easier.
Sha
-
Hi Sha, thanks for your response.
1. Yes, we will use the same domain but structure will be completely changed.
2. Unfortunately, our current CMS is so backward, that it will be a complete file name and, directory change.
Thanks!
-
Thanks..great answer..and yeah, that's pretty much how I feel with that last sentence..ugghhh..
-
Just to clarify what you are doing here, a couple of questions:
- ... am I correct in assuming that you are wanting to use the same domain, but the site structure will be changed?
- Also, will there be ANY pages within the new structure that might simply be moved to a different location within the same domain (for example move from root directory to /sub directory), but retain the same file name?
These things will make a difference as to how you can approach the issue.
Sha
-
As far as I can tell, Open Site Explorer doesn't show all the links - in fact it shows only a very tiny proportion of the links to your site. Yahoo site Explorer, while it's still available, is a more accurate list of links to your site. For example on our little site, OSE shows 30 in bound links, but Yahoo shows almost 300!! As painful as it may be, I would 301 every page, but do them in SE Rank order, it only has to be done once, and when it's done it's done. That said, I'm surprised your web company can't find a way to automate it?!
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
-
How to deal with fake review posted on ripoffreport.com by a competitor.
In 2010 we launched a product update (physical product) that was really good for us in sales and we were taking a lot of business from our main competitor. To stop the bleeding they posted a fake ripoffreport (completely made up pretending to be a former employee, we are a family business and employ few people with almost no turn over in the last 10 years). They also posted fake reviews on Google's local product at the time for any store that used to use their product but that had switched to ours. We were able to get google to remove the fake reviews as there was no way one user visited over 100 stores and purchased the same service on the same day in all these locations around the US. But they would do nothing about delisting the report page without a court order. So the fake google reviews went away, but the ripoffreport has become immortal. The reviews were originally posted anonymously and then commented on by another anonymous user. These same two anonymous users then filed ripoffreports against a couple of our mutual customers as well. Since they are anonymous we cannot sue anyone to get them to remove it, since it is passed the statutes of limitations we cannot do a john doe law suit to get a judgment by default. So the report is there to stay. We have worked to get more content up about us, we have great product reviews on facebook and other outlets that have sold and spotlighted our products, and we are partnering with industry specific bloggers and traditional media content sites to get links and reviews (all white hat stuff, great public relations stuff), but we cannot get our interior pages, facebook pages, or the other reviews to rank higher than this report when searching for our brand name and even worse when you search for our "brand name reviews" it is the first result on google. Can anyone help me understand how I can use MOZ to help me identify how to outrank this page with interior pages so that it falls off the front page of google? Sorry if that is a newbie question but I have done a lot of things and it has worked some but not as much as I need it to. And it seems that in the last few weeks the report has become stronger in the rankings again. Any suggestions you could offer would be greatly appreciated.
Moz Pro | | erickcalderon0 -
Automated Reports
I just set up automated reports for the first time for my campaigns. They've just run and some are missing alot of data. For instance, one shows zero keywords. When there are in fact lots of keywords in the campaign. Another shows no changes in rankings, when there were changes in ranking. Is there a way to re-run the reports? I've set them up monthly and don't want to wait another month to see if they worked?
Moz Pro | | Pablostevens710 -
No follow links also been reported in SEOmoz crawl diagnostics
Hi, Why does SEOmoz reports links which has been marked as 'nofollow'. I am getting 'Overly-Dynamic URL' reports on links which I have designated as nofollow which means Google will discount them. So why does SEOmoz still report them. Thanks.
Moz Pro | | malpani0 -
Rank Tracker report truble
Hello, I am new at SEOmoz, and I am having some troubles setting up my rank tracking report. Last week I set up e-mail notifications, but it hasn’t been delivered to this day. Can anybody tell me when do you usually receive the report via e-mail? Thank you.
Moz Pro | | Spletnafuzija0 -
No Info on My On-page Optimization Scan Reports
I'm not getting any information on On-page Optimization reports. I.E. All the Grade A - F reports are empty. How do I get On-page Optimization reports?
Moz Pro | | lbohen0 -
Does SEOMOZ use Google Search?
I run a Joomla site and have noticed users having a hard time finding what they are looking for. The default Joomla search is lacking and the latest Joomla search component I added is better but still not great. I've always been able to find what I'm looking for on SeoMoz, do you guys use Google Site Search?
Moz Pro | | mr_w0 -
How can I recognize spammy links that harm my website
Hello, Can someone tell me how I can recognize links that can harm my website? I have OpenSiteExplorer and CognitiveSEO as tools to create nice backlinking reports for me. But my problem is, how do I know if a link shown on these reports can harm my website so I can remove them? Is it linktypes, low auth. links etc? Thank you for your answers in advance! Regards, Thomas
Moz Pro | | ThomasH0 -
Are there errors in your PRO reports lately?
Working with a new client with large websites. On the competitive domain analysis the numbers for my client and 3 competitors was 48 | 52, 51, 55 For 2 whole weeks it jumped to 68 | 48, 43, 51 and there were some really odd supporting numbers such as total links moving from 107K originally to 806K. Just today, the numbers have reverted to the previous numbers. I am relatively new to moz and like the reports, but this is very unnerving. Is there an explanation? Anyone else seeing this? Added: Aargh. The numbers just jumped back to the previous high numbers. Help.
Moz Pro | | mikescotty0