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I don't think its exhaustive but I remember stumbling across this post which covers a lot a while back:
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/200-parameters-in-google-algorithm/15457/
I think it may now underestimate how many factors are taken into account with social media.
Although I am still learning a lot from everyone here I usually start off on competitor research by asking my client who they think their competitors are. Then I perform searches for a range of their keywords and identify online competitors (who are often a different bunch to the clients).
Things that I look at include:
This isnt an exhaustive list by any means and each time I run audits and competitive research I find new things that are (probably) affecting rankings.
The thing is, there is no way to cookie cut research as search engines themselves are evolving.
Personally I am with you on 301'ing the old pages to the new ones. I would submit the new sitemap to Google and wait.
It can take a month or two for old pages to shift completely.
Hi Ben,
You probably want to redirect a single page if it is going to a 404. In which case you probably just want add code into the header of the problem page. Whilst you are at it, it might be worth checking that your non-www. pages are forwarding to the www versions. (http://exampledomain.com -> http://www.exampledomain.com)
PHP Redirect
Header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" );
Header( "Location: http://www.exampledomain.com" );
?>
Htaccess 301 Redirect (non-www. to www.)
Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.exampledomain.com$ [NC] RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.exampledomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]
Custom 404 Page
I would also suggest a custom 404 page with links to your most popular pages, search and a back button.
Hope this helps.
C
Although I am still learning a lot from everyone here I usually start off on competitor research by asking my client who they think their competitors are. Then I perform searches for a range of their keywords and identify online competitors (who are often a different bunch to the clients).
Things that I look at include:
This isnt an exhaustive list by any means and each time I run audits and competitive research I find new things that are (probably) affecting rankings.
The thing is, there is no way to cookie cut research as search engines themselves are evolving.
Hi Ben,
You probably want to redirect a single page if it is going to a 404. In which case you probably just want add code into the header of the problem page. Whilst you are at it, it might be worth checking that your non-www. pages are forwarding to the www versions. (http://exampledomain.com -> http://www.exampledomain.com)
PHP Redirect
Header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" );
Header( "Location: http://www.exampledomain.com" );
?>
Htaccess 301 Redirect (non-www. to www.)
Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.exampledomain.com$ [NC] RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.exampledomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]
Custom 404 Page
I would also suggest a custom 404 page with links to your most popular pages, search and a back button.
Hope this helps.
C