Lee Hogan If you have been considering a web website redesign, consider it an opportunity to improve your web page’s optimization (search engine marketing). Many web admins with websites that rank even exceedingly nicely within the seek engine result pages (SERPs) fear that redesigning their site might break their keyword scores and, consequently, their website online’s unfastened, natural website visitors. However, a redesign can virtually be a golden opportunity to enhance the search engine marketing of your website and increase its natural search site visitors dramatically.
Search Engine Optimization Site Review
Before embarking on a site redecorate undertaking, you should take stock of what you’re doing correctly and what you’re doing wrong along with your present website from a search engine optimization angle. Perform a thorough SEO web page evaluation of all on-web page and on-page search engine ranking elements and record your findings. This document will be used later to set SEO desires for your newly redesigned website.
SEO Rankings and Traffic Baselines
Before starting any remodeling work, you will want baseline measurements of your existing site’s keyword ratings and organic visitors. These baselines can then be used after your newly redesigned site goes live to determine whether or no longer the search engine marketing goals on your assignment have been met.
You must consider getting one if you aren’t already using an internet analytics package. Google Analytics is unfastened and is top-notch for gaining perception into your website’s online traffic. Pay special attention to which URLs on your site are getting natural visitors from the serps and the search phrases used to locate those URLs within the SERPs. These statistics may be beneficial when optimizing the pages of your newly redesigned website.
It would help if you additionally pulled weekly ranking reports for the simplest keyword terms you are concentrating on and the keyword terms found while reviewing your current organic traffic using your internet analytics software. It’s advocated that you pull the rating reports weekly for at least numerous weeks before beginning your website redecorate venture.
The Web Site Redesign
Once you are armed with your search engine optimization website evaluation, have reviewed your natural site visitors via your web analytics bundle, and feature keyword ratings for your web page’s most critical keyword terms, you can begin planning and working on your website online remodel. The first step in the process is figuring out what you would love to change about your present website.
Document all your website redecorate and search engine optimization dreams very well. This needs to consist of the most effective aesthetic and value changes and SEO-associated changes to matters like the organization of your web page, navigation systems and interlinking of pages, SEO-friendly URLs, coding standards, etc. If there is something you need to trade about the website from a search engine marketing perspective, it is first-rate to do it all of a sudden as part of your remodel.
Work out your website’s online design on paper before an unmarried line of code is written. Use cord frames to design your web page layouts. Create mockups of every type of page because it will appear on the redesigned website online. Include the probable search engine optimization factors in the mockups – top navigation, left navigation (if applicable), footer links (if relevant), the h1 element, h2 factors, and so on. Use the mockups to locate and solve usability and search engine optimization problems before you begin coding. If you rename or delete any URLs on your website as a part of the redesign, then implement 301 redirects so that the new URLs will get credit for inbound links to the antique URLs.
Once you’re happy with your new website design, let the developer(s) loose to implement your adjustments.
Testing Your Site Redesign
It is essential to check your redesigned web page thoroughly. Test all pages on the website from proper usability and search engine optimization angles. Review the HTML source code for every one of the pages on your website online. Check all on-web page ranking factors like the title, meta description, h1, and h2 elements. Ensure all hyperlinks are SEO-pleasant textual content hyperlinks or photo links. Check that every photograph link has the alt characteristic set properly in that it’s miles considered the hyperlink text for a photo hyperlink.
Do no more prolonged neglect to record and, if possible, look at the procedure of upgrading your web page. If you have an improved environment, install a duplicate of the general site and undergo the method of upgrading. If you stumble upon any troubles while testing the improvement, adjust the system and documentation to regulator the problem, and strive for it again. Repeat the technique till you’re relaxed and you have a sound plan.
Once you are glad that your redesigned website online is operating correctly and meets all of your search engine marketing goals, you’ll be ready to move to the brand-new site layout. Suppose a viable schedule improves for a non-top time of day. If your website has seasonal traffic, plan to improve it for the low season.
After Your Site Redesign is Live
Once your website redecorates live, you’ll want to monitor it closely. Continue to pull weekly keyword ranking reviews and screen your web analytics. Pay specific attention to pages that received lots of organic traffic before the redesign went live. Use Google’s Webmaster Tools to monitor things like 404 Not Found errors.
Expect a temporary drop in rankings and site visitors because search engines like Google soak up all the changes you made as part of the redecoration. However, if you planned, tested, and carried out your web page redecoration nicely, ratings and traffic need to return more vital than ever after some days, weeks, or probably even a month, depending on the volume of changes made to the site.