AVOID THE GOTCHAS!
Here’s a helpful “checklist” of sorts for anyone who is building a new website after a previous design was in place. Using this checklist can resolve a million hot issues (just a few issues listed below) so keep reading…
Death by a hundred 404s
IF the domain name points to a whole new website, all of the old site’s indexed pages will generate 404s – that’s hundreds of tiny anchors bringing the boat down. The rankings for the organization will drop like a rock within 30 days, unless every page and post on the current site reaches a 301 redirect on the new site. That takes weeks, as you can well imagine. So, it follows that ranking will sink to the bottom of the SEO ocean when an original website is scuttled.
How to Fix Missing Page 404s
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Analyze old site structure:
Thoroughly review the old website’s page hierarchy and URL structure to identify which pages need to be redirected to new locations on the new site. Insider Tip: Use your Google Sitemap (from a plugin)
- Create redirect rules:
Using your website’s CMS or .htaccess file, set up 301 redirect rules for each old URL to the appropriate new URL on the new website. Insider Tip: Use the plugin Redirection (carefully) to set up each redirect!
- Consider URL mapping tools:
Sad, sad clients...
You probably have some customers or readers that have become accustomed to your old site navigation and flow. In fact, they may even bookmark some of it, especially if there was invoice payment options or shopping cart items. Or a favorite recipe, like this woman!
How to Keep Customers Happy
All of that would have to be mentioned in multiple contacts with your customers, BEFORE swapping out the site. Otherwise, there could be angst at best, and frustration at worst, if all those with bookmarked links must regroup.
Just a Reminder:
The “About” page on any website worldwide is overall the second most visited page, after the home page. It is vital to have an About Page that talks about the people, the mission, and a bit of history.
You will also want to assure the full Privacy Policy is on the new site as well – an extremely important item to avoid problems with privacy and potential legal issues. Inside Tip: Generate a tailored high-quality Privacy Policy at Termly.io.
Last But Not Least
- A graphic with words on it is BLANK to Google.
It cannot be automatically translated into other languages and it doesn’t allow for indexing.
- In addition, graphics are just to enhance a page.
Eye candy and UX are both important. A graphic with a lot of words on it will not help SEO at all. In fact, a graphic-heavy page can tank SEO. Because it can allow for misdirection, fake campaigns, etc. and often is impossible to read on mobile devices (half of the viewers!).
- Words need to be viewable as text.
- In an optimized website, the text will automatically resize for mobile.
- Speaking of words, assure all meta tags and alt tags are in place.
Those who use screen readers, due to blindness, must rely on those elements.
- And finally, try to always include Alt Tags on photos.
This enables greater accessibility and to give better ranking results in SEO.