Changing the internal pages....

[Carlos Chacón]

Hello guys:
When you re-design an entire site, what happens with the pages that already are indexed in the Search engines?
I mean, do I have to change the file name or not? (www.mysite.com/photos.htm)
:confused:

[Daria_Goetsch]

Hello guys:
When you re-design an entire site, what happens with the pages that already are indexed in the Search engines?
I mean, do I have to change the file name or not? (www.mysite.com/photos.htm)
:confused:

If keeping the name (url) of the pages "makes sense" with your new content, then keeping them is helpful, since those urls are probably already indexed in the search engine databases. If not, typically what you do is set up a 301 redirect (server side) to go from the old pages to the new pages. If there are any programmers out there who can be more specific on the "how to" of this, please feel free to jump in and add your information.

[Terry Plank]

...do I have to change the file name or not?
Not quite sure what you mean.

There are several strategies one might adopt with a re-design, depending on how extensive it is and other factors. As you know, if a file is not on the server, then a SE result will not be a valid link to a page and you loose the traffic.

If the re-design is extensive, and you have files that are indexed and have some ranking that will drive traffic, you definitely want to have 404 page for each file that will clearly points to your new pages.

That doesn't help with the traffic loss of a good ranking page being reindexed and changed because of the different content. But, you're new pages will start to get picked up quickly and if you have optimized well they should replace your old ones.

[Terry Plank]

Yep, 301's are great! 404's are more for those without someone to help with implementing 301's.

[Carlos Chacón]

Thank you Daria and Terry!
I am re-designing my own site, but the old site including internal pages have PR3. That's why I was wondering if I have to keep the path names as well in the new internal pages.
I do not want to lose ranking just for re-design my site. I am looking for more information necessary for the crawlers.
I really do not know much about the 301-redirect pages, but surely I will look for more information.
I really appreciate your comments. :)

[Webmaster T]

More important is the fact that changing a file name also breaks the links pointing at pages. A 301 will maintain any PR/webrank assigned whereas if you just change the file name you loose PR/webrank and those IBL are broken and traffic is lost. I'd suggest having a really good reason to change the file name and if you do contact the IBL and let them know the new url.

[Terry Plank]

Let me clarify something on PageRank. PageRank is file specific, in this case probably your home page. Then there is some spillover to other pages from the home page.

That is, links to your home page that are helping PageRank have some spillover value to some other pages. But, PageRank doesn't have a strong corrolation with your ranking positions. That's determined more by your organic optimization of your site and your pages.

Here is a nice discussion going on. http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/forum/showthread.php?t=338&highlight=pagerank

You can also do a Forum Search for more threads about PageRank: http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/forum/search.php?

[Carlos Chacón]

So, that's why I have different PR in my site (the home and internal pages). It will depend of how many links are going to my home page.
Thanks for the info guys!
I appreciate :D

[Terry Plank]

One more thing, to affect other files PageRank, have good same-theme other domain company links going to each of them and you can affect PageRank and also some of the ranking.

[David Wallace]

I do not want to lose ranking just for re-design my site. I am looking for more information necessary for the crawlers.
Anytime you make significant changes to your site or even embark on a redesign, you risk either dropping or rising in rankings. Initially you will probably see a drop until the search engines have had the chance to index and analyze the new content. So whenever redesigning a site, I always prepare clients for the drop they will see for a month or so.

[Carlos Chacón]

Thanks for the quick response!
I will take care of these internal pages, trying at least to do not lose any ranking.
Probably I will use the same path name I used first. So, I am assuming that the crawler will take the new page and I won't lose my currently ranking.

Thank you! ;)

[David Wallace]

You do help yourself by not changing all your page names but again, anytime you make significant changes to a page, you may see it improve rankings or hurt them. That is part of the "tweaking" that is involved oftentimes in organic SEO.

Usually if someone has good rankings, the old adage "If it ain't broke, why fix it" is a good rule to follow. But if you are completely redesigning, try to keep the same title tags you had before as well as your html copy if it is already good. Those two things will help you to avoid "dropping out of site".

[Terry Plank]

Carlos, some discussion going on over here about 301's:
http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69

Also here might be of interest:
http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/forum/showthread.php?t=355