You are evaluating your online marketing efforts and the first thing that becomes obvious is that your website is outdated. It was designed three, five, maybe ten years ago – which is a long time when you consider how quickly the Internet evolves.
Your website needs a redesign. But you’ve worked hard to move your company’s site up on the search engine rankings, and you’re worried that a redesign will cause you to plummet.
While large-scale website changes never go off without a hitch, you can minimize the search engine effects by following some simple SEO tips. If you do it right, your newly up-to-date website will surpass your old one for search rankings, lead generation, credibility, etc.
3 Key SEO Tips for a Website Redesign
1. Do Your Research
Do a website audit and determine what you must do to make your website SEO friendly when you redesign it. It’s the perfect time, as you will already be changing the look and structure of your site.
Review (or have SEO experts review) your current site to find any problems that impede your organic search rankings.
If you have access to this data, use keyword research, analytics, and insight from Pay per Click (PPC) campaigns to determine important keywords or keyword phrases for your industry. Based on your company and your industry, use this insight when approaching your website redesign. Specifically, use it to build your new website pages, headlines, content, and so on.
Not only can you fix issues, but you can structure your redesign based on best practices.
2. Implement 301 Redirects
If you are changing your website’s URL structure (which is often necessary), you will need to put 301 redirects in place.
A 301 redirect permanently redirects one URL to another. Any pages from your pre-redesign website that will not have the same URL post-redesign should be permanently redirected to the new page. Likewise, any old pages that disappear completely should be redirected to a page with similar content on the new site.
301 redirects are essential for two reasons:
Firstly, they are important for users. Visitors to your site may attempt to access old pages, or click on an old link somewhere online to reach your website. If they reach a dead or broken page, you will most likely lose that lead. They will simply bounce to another website – maybe to your competitors’.
The second reason is for SEO. A 301 redirect tells search engines that a page has permanently moved. Most of the authority and credibility built up by the old page will be transferred to the new page. 301 redirects also keep inbound links intact, which help SEO rankings.
3. Optimize All Your Pages
Do a thorough assessment of your redesigned site to double-check that all pages are optimized for search. In order to generate a return on investment, searchers must find your site so that you get a chance to compete for their business.
Ensure you maximize your chances of getting found by adhering to the basics of SEO on each page:
- Optimized page titles
- Optimized meta descriptions
- Optimized image alt tags
- Eliminate broken links
- Create HTML and XML sitemaps
The Bottom Line
As always, you must analyze the results of your efforts. You must collect data about your redesigned website and continue to improve it based on what is working and what isn’t.
Although you may suffer a slight dip in rankings after a redesign, with these tips you should see your website rising back up through the results over time!
>> Core Online Marketing can assess your current website to determine the right online marketing strategy for you. To discover the essential elements of an effective online marketing strategy, attend our free seminar!
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