SEO recommendations for not losing rank during a site rebuild

[Guest]

Thanks in advance

[Joshua]

Don’t change urls, also if it’s a different platform or theme, make sure the headers, anchor text, image text, etc is the same.

[Joshua]

Gradually evolve the site, don’t just change everything

[Yasir]

As u already have so many suggestion, just try to work on test URL with no-index tag and after completion and making sure that everyone is in line then go for getting it lived.

[Alex]

Just keep the urls and content the same. Design doesn't influence ranking - and if the performance is better that is only a boost. Where people go wrong is changing the urls in any capacity, or massively changing the content or interlinking. If it is exactly the same site but presented in a different design package then it won't affect anything. Whatever you do don't change the urls at all - https:// before should not be https://www. after. If a page had 15 incoming links before it shouldn't have 2 after etc.

[Dorron]

Start with a backup or clone just in case
#1 scan all your old urls (screaming frog if you don't have, ask someone)
#2 Make sure your new website has awesome navigation and filters if applicable
#3 make sure your new website theme is SEO friendly (wp)
#4 if it's WP don't overuse plug-ins
#5 if it's WP the optimize all the database tables wp optimize
#6 Make sure all your images are optimized
#7 301 redirect if relevant any pages you removed to parent categories or pages
#8 301 redirect old url structure to the new using your screaming frog old URL
# Check the new site for any broken internal links including anchor links and images. I use screaming frog for this but you can also use a chrome extension called link checker
You might see a dip at first this is par for the course.

[Nathan]

Always take a back up. Either keep the permalinks exactly the same or ensure you redirect each and every permalink.

[Shane]

Im still learning but from what I’ve seen, make sure the old URLs stay the same, or redirect them properly.
Make sure you tell Google which version of the site to follow.. www or non www.
Or you risk being de-indexed

[Batman]

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