A Guide to Redesigning a Website Without Affecting SEO

One of the biggest misconceptions among website owners is that SEO should only be done once. This is unfortunately not the case.

Many fractions are changed during the redesign, including code and pages. If not properly managed, it can have a negative impact on website SEO and the long-term growth of the site. If done correctly, however, a website redesign can also increase your SEO strength.

In today 's article, we are going to walk through a step-by-step guide on how to redesign your website without affecting SEO .

Step 1: List all the pages of the old website

The first step is to download the URL structure of your website . The redesign means a lotchanges that will also affect the restructuring of the URL. So, it is important to save it, otherwise you may have an impact on your website ranking.

You can use plugins to get the URL structure. If you are using the Yoast SEO plugin , you can explore the website and then download the updated sitemap.

Step 2: the redesign should be done on a temporary URL

Never redesign your existing website. This can cause problems for visitors and cause you problems in the long run. The best approach is to copy your site and set it up in a temporary URL. Once done; you can start making changes to it. An alternative would be to change the domain once all the necessary changes have been made to the overhaul.

If there is a risk for you to struggle withthis you can always get h elp from your developer. Another option would be for a hosting company to do this for you. It is important that you ask your web host to do the setup for you, as this step will protect you from unforeseen problems in the future.

Step 3: test the new website

Great, you have copied your existing website to the new website.

However, before starting your redesign project, it is a good idea to do an end-to-end check of your website. During this check you need to look at several aspects of your website including broken links, functionality, CSS, etc.

You can also use the XENU , a free tool that will find all broken links on your website.

Step 4: Perform 301 redirects correctly

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The step Next is to perform 301 redirects between the old and new URLs. For example, if you have an "About Us " s pageur the old website and its URL was "www.yourwebsite.com/aboutus.html ".

If during redesign your designer changed the URL to "www.yourwebsite.com/about-us.html " - it is better to implement proper 301 redirects to make sure both URLs work and you don't lose the SEO benefits you got from your previous URL.

If you do not do it correctly, the search engine will get 404 web pages that cannot be found. By doing 301 redirects, the old URL will be redirected to the new one. This is the technical way to tell the search engine that the URL has changed. Google will not downgrade your previous SEO efforts.

You can add redirects using the .htaccess file. It would look like the following code.

Redirection 301 / oldwebsite http://yoursite.com/new-url

If you are confused and don't know how to do it manuallyIn WordPress, you can also try redirect plugins that allow you to do this by filling out a form.

Note: This step five is important, and you should do it no matter what.

Step 5: make the jump to the new website

Once everything is finalized, both and the redirect, it's time for you to switch to the new website. You can also make a gradual change in stages if your website is large .

Step 6: run the Google tools for webmasters

The next step is to make sure everything has been successful so far.

To do this, you can use tools like Google Webmaster. This tool will allow you to check that there are no broken links. If you find any broken links, to avoid any penalty, it is advisable to repair them quickly.

Step 7: check the verification status and resubmit it

It is common for developers or designers to stop the engine search to explore the website. If so, you will need to re-enable the crawler on your website. To check the status you have to use the option " Explore like Google " under the crawler. When finished, click on the " Extract and render " option. If both tests are positive, your website is fully crawlable.

Additionally, it is advisable to check if the revamped website is verified. You can do this by logging into the webmaster tool provided by Bing and Google . S 'there is no verification, just do it again and claim your website.

And finally, re-submit your website url in the Goog indexby clicking on the " submit to index " button.

Step 8: Robot.tx t

While redesigning, your robot.txt file may be corrupted. To check if this is the case, you can use the option "robot.txt " under the exploration.

Step 9: s submitting the itemap

As your website now has a new and modified structure, submit the website XML to Bing and Google. Once submitted, your new website will be crawled in the coming hours.

Step 10: Watch for changes

Finally, it is important to watch for changes and look for any potential growth. Keep a close eye on the ranking of your most important keywords . There are many SEO tools available that allow you to track these keywords . If there is a significant change in your SEO,try to understand why this is happening and look for a solution if your website traffic is slowing down quickly.

You should monitor your website for at least two to three months.

Author: Pawan Sahu is a digital marketer and blogger at MarkupTrend .

Learn more about:

• Website redesign