A few weeks ago, I made numerous URLs invalid by switching to a new content management software. Most of the former URLs were indexed by popular search engines. However, the new pages are more search engine friendly.

While I put emphasis into the optimization of my new pages, I don't think I thoroughly considered the possible negative impact of the transition itself. Can anyone recommend a course of action?

Is it too late to set up redirects, or will this be unnecessary if my new pages are better optimized?

Set up 301 redirects from the old URL's that were sending you traffic to the new locations, and you'll minimize the loss of traffic.

Set the 301 redirects to transfer PRV and links to the pages on your new website.

Set the 301 redirects up so that when users click on the old results in the search engine result pages, they actually get the content they're expecting and not an error page.

Also setting up the redirects properly, will minimize the loss in rankings you'll suffer since the spiders will be able to find the new address instantly.

Don't do anything specifically for the search engine spiders, always have your users in mind. When you do, you'll find you're site not included in the index.

I'm keeping a close eye on our keyword search positions in Google. It has been almost a month since I launched our site revision with the new file structure, and roughly two weeks since I set up the pertinent 301 redirects. I'm concerned by our Google performance - as our web site is retail and we really depend on the search engines for sales.

I've been checking a series of keywords that used to rank us on the 2nd or 3rd page. Now this sequence of keywords no longer returns visible results. I'm also using http://www.nichebot.com/ Google Ranking to monitor search position for these keywords, and overnight (last night) it went to #220 to #526. :confused:

I acknowledge that I made a mistake not having the 301 redirects immediately available after our new site launch, but I'm still surprised at how much we seem to have fallen on Google. Is there something else I could do to put us back on the map as quickly as possible?

Your advice is greatly appreciated! :)

Fix the errors and ... wait. While I have seen changes take affect within hours, I have also seen changes take months before results change.

If you're relying on SE traffic for your business, now may be the time to start up a PPC program. You can usually optimize those campaigns to a very managable cost per sale.