Thread: Switching websites - what happens to my ranking?

Yet another website related question (it must be the time of the year for them)...

I'm thinking of overhauling my website, using a completely different software package and different host. I will still include all of my current content and then add more. But what will this do to my google (or other) ranking?

Right now, I'm very high up in local search rankings, and it's my number one marketing tool. I absolutely do not want to mess with that. Can I re-launch my website without affecting this?

I'd leave the old one up until you get your new one up if you can and keep the same url and you should be fine.

Where you host your site does not matter. What matters is that you keep the same website name (jewelbellydance.com.au), keep the same file structure and file names (especially for pages that other folks may be linking to directly from their websites, like articles), and that you give the Big Name Servers In The Sky time to catch up with your move by keeping your old site and your new one running concurrently for a week. Here's a nice step-by-step explanation Moving to a new web host . In short: When you move your site, it's your job to move your WHOLE site (keeping web site name, directory structure and file names the same) and the Name Servers' job to figure out where you moved your site to ;) PS I made the move myself a couple of years ago doing as described without fallout.

So long as your domain name stays the same and the words that appear on your home page stay the same, you should be fine.

My ranking did not suffer when I re-designed the look and feel of Shira.net. I wanted to make changes to the text on the home page, so I needed to play around a little with the new text to make sure it wouldn't harm my ranking, but that was reasonably easy to do.

Thank you for the link, and thank you for the info! Getting a new website has been on my to do list for a loooong time. Hope I get around to it eventually!

I can foresee one problem - I want to alter the structure somewhat. I want to change page headers and add extra ones in. I've not got too much info on my site and it needs better sorting. Hmmm, conundrum.

Not sure what you mean by change page headers. If you are changing stuff displayed ON a page then change can be very good. If you are talking about changing file names (performances.php, links.php, etc) or adding to the directory structure then you risk having links from the outside get broken. BUT - people are selective about what they link to . Your class schedule -- probably not. But your article on Blunders, maybe so. There's ways to count incoming links, I'm not sure any of them are comprehensive. Google's WebMaster tools is the one I use. If you find out you have a high-content page that others are linking to, you might consider leaving it where it is in the structure OR - if you must move it -- inform the sites linking to you that you are moving the page. Or, revise the original page so that it does nothing more than explain that your page has been improved and moved and give them the new link to click on.

Thanks for that extra detail. Yes, I was thinking of changing 'Articles.php' and 'Performances.php' etc because I want to have more prominant terms that people search for, such as 'hen's parties'. And I've never been sure if 'Articles' was self explanatory enough. But I'll look at other solutions to the problem now - for example, putting a display-ad-style click-through for 'Hen's Parties' on the home page (something that looks like the Bhuz ads down the side of the page).

My website stats do give me some idea of where I'm getting my hits from. I can probably find pages that link to me from that.

Mostly, the people that buy my services find me directly through their search engine, rather than linking through from other people's sites. So good 'searchable' page content willbe top priority. However, those links from other websites still do help with overall ranking, so I shouldn't ignore them.

If you are launching a brand new site with a different directory structure that will give it a new url address then you will need to do 301 url redirects on the high ranking pages.

Originally Posted by HubicRuzz

If you are launching a brand new site with a different directory structure that will give it a new url address then you will need to do 301 url redirects on the high ranking pages.

url address = www . jewelbellydance . com .au, is that correct? I'll definitely be keeping it!

Originally Posted by HubicRuzz

If you are launching a brand new site with a different directory structure that will give it a new url address then you will need to do 301 url redirects on the high ranking pages.

301 redirects is what Google recommends but it might be beyond the skill set of the folks posting for help here. Any less-technical insights into the situation? or a link to the most user-friendly tutorial for implementing redirects?

Originally Posted by maurazebra

301 redirects is what Google recommends but it might be beyond the skill set of the folks posting for help here. Any less-technical insights into the situation? or a link to the most user-friendly tutorial for implementing redirects?

I think the only real options are:

A) Keep the url structure intact, -or-

B) Use 301 redirects

Both are relatively easy and not terribly complicated. In truth, depending on what you are doing, 301 redirects are probably easier. It's substantially easier than tracking down all the people that link to you.

Your hosting company may be able to help you with this. It's generally something you can do in your hosting panel.

Originally Posted by jewelbellydance

url address = www . jewelbellydance . com .au, is that correct? I'll definitely be keeping it!

No I meant for example if Jewel Bellydance - Belly dance classes melbourne Australia ::: Performances suddenly changes to http://jewelbellydance.com.au/hire-a-dancer.php the only way that Google would know it is the "same" page is if you did a 301 URL redirect. Otherwise it will see it as a brand new brand with no links going to it.

You will have to ask your web developer or hosting company to set this up for you. If the site is just going to be reskined with new additional pages then don't worry about it.