The vast majority of website owners seek to make their sites as visible as possible on the internet. One of the most effective ways to do so is to engage in SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Your website will benefit from increased visibility, reputation, and exposure, among other things, if it ranks well on search engines like Google. However, every webmaster knows that he or she will have to redesign their site at some point.
Websites evolve in tandem with modern technology and industry trends, necessitating a fresh design or enhanced functionality. But, if you invested time and money on SEO to boost your rankings, wouldn't a website makeover undo everything you've accomplished? Fortunately, this isn't the case, and you may rebuild your website without having to start from over with your SEO.
With that in mind, here are a few strategies for redesigning your website without sacrificing your search ranking.
Analyze Your Website
Before you begin the redesign, you'll need to do an inventory of your present website to assess its architecture and current search rankings. This will act as a point of reference during the redesign process, allowing you to confirm that the new website is correctly crawled and that your search rankings do not change.
Here are some ideas for you to think about.
- Analyze your website's current ranking - The Google Analytics tool can help you figure out where your website stands right now.
- Identify banned content – You can use your txt file to check for any blocked content on your website right now so that it stays blocked after the makeover.
- Perform website Crawl - When you crawl your website, you're taking a picture of your current website design and matching features like title tags, meta descriptions, and URLs to the old one.
Maintain Website Content and Architecture
One of the most important aspects of keeping your current search results is to keep as much of your old website content and architecture as possible. Giving your website a new design is great, but your old content and architecture are what got you to where you are now in terms of rankings. In other words, if you presently have a website page that ranks well on Google for a given keyword, it's in your best interest to retain it that way on your new website. Simply, don't change what isn't broken. Keep the information but give it a new design. Any adjustments you make may harm your rankings.
In terms of website architecture, the same rule applies. This contains the original website's linking structure as well as its overall hierarchy. While polishing the appearance is important for the makeover, it's also important to keep the architecture intact if you want to keep your good search rankings.
Audit Your Existing Website
You can quickly learn what search engines like and dislike about your website by doing a website audit. This will enable you to identify areas on the new website that can be improved after the overhaul. During the audit, there are a few items you should pay attention to.
- Repetitive content
- Untitled pages
- External or internal links that are broken
- Multiple or duplicate H1 tags
- Missing, duplicate, or large meta descriptions
- Using canonical tags
- Image alt text
- XML site-map
- Speed tests for websites
- Google indexed pages
- Structure of URLs
The information you get from analyzing your old website will show you what your website does well in terms of search rankings and what you need to do if you want to boost your rankings in the future.
Examine the New Website
Before you launch your freshly rebuilt website, you'll need to thoroughly test it. Even before that, you'll need to prevent search engines from crawling it until everything is in order. The major reason for this is that you don't want search engines to snoop around and penalize your ranks while you're still making the necessary changes. You must set "No index and No follow" on the new website environment until you're ready so that search engines don't see it as duplicate content.
It's time to put everything to the test after you've made the necessary adjustments. Every element must be checked, including H1 and H2 tags that are missing or duplicated, page titles, meta descriptions, identical content, broken links, and so forth. You can accomplish this by hand or with the help of several free internet tools to make the process go more smoothly. Furthermore, you must be patient and perseverant. Anything you overlook during the testing phase could damage your search rankings.
Every website requires a thorough overhaul now and then. A website makeover is required whether there is an opportunity for functionality enhancements or you want new aesthetics that will appeal to your clients. However, if you've spent a lot of time and money ensuring that your website will rank well in search engines, it's just as vital to redesign it properly so that you don't lose any of your ranks and squander your time and money.
To get the best website design services in the USA, contact us today at iBuildsoft and let us take your business to a new level of success.
