{"id":12802,"date":"2017-02-22T12:29:50","date_gmt":"2017-02-22T10:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/?p=12802"},"modified":"2020-08-18T18:11:26","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T15:11:26","slug":"website-redesign-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/12802\/website-redesign-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"SEO Website Redesign – A Guaranteed Checklist on How to Not Lose Your Rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"

An SEO website redesign is not a walk in the park, and it could easily become an SEO disaster if you don\u2019t do it right. Any change you make to your website\u2019s redesign can cause traffic loss and make your current site not so very “search engine ranking” friendly.<\/p>\n

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Maybe you want to switch to https, you want to go international, or maybe you just want to start a rebranding strategy. Whatever you do, you want your link juice, rankings and traffic to remain the same. And, when you\u2019ve put a lot of SEO effort into your site, you wouldn\u2019t want all that hard work to be in vain, would you?<\/p>\n

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And because we know how much our beloved cognitivies<\/em> treasure their work, we came up with a list of the exact steps you should follow for a successful SEO website redesign. To get the full SEO website redesign checklist, click on the button below. You will get a Step-by-Step Checklist Spreadsheet you can fill up for successful rankings and traffic and why not, for great SEO strategies.<\/p>\n

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You might be tempted to say: “Do I really need to worry that much about my site redesign? Will it really affect my rankings and traffic? As long as I have great web developers, awesome onpage optimization, I did lots of SEO audits and I have a shipshape content marketing; what can go wrong within a simple website relaunch?”<\/p>\n

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If this kind of thoughts crosses your mind, I invite you to take a look at the screenshots below, documented<\/a> by Glenn Gabes in a related post.<\/p>\n

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\"website<\/p>\n

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Makes you wonder, right? We don’t want to scare you and make you run away from any form of online marketing; we just want to make you aware of the attention you need to treat the website redesign\u00a0SEO process. Below you can find the full list of steps you need to take for a successful redesign or migration.<\/p>\n

Download The Website Redesign SEO Checklist<\/a><\/p>\n

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PRE-LAUNCH<\/a><\/h3>\n
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  1. Have a Temporary Dev URL<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Create a New Robots.txt File<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Benchmark Current Search Engine Metrics<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Check If Your Server Supports the New Design<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Crawl the Old Site and Audit It<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  6. Make a List of Your Backlinks<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  7. Check for Blank \/ Doorway Pages<\/strong> <\/a><\/li>\n
  8. Check for Remaining Template Pages<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  9. Avoid Deleting Old Content<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  10. Keyword Mapping\/Remapping<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  11. One Topic\/Keyword per Page<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  12. Proofread Your Content<\/strong> <\/a><\/li>\n
  13. Search Engine Friendly URLs<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  14. Verify Previously Owned Domain<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  15. 301 URL Mapping (Prepare a Redirect List)<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  16. Add\/Update All HTML Annotations<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  17. Check External\/Internal Linking<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  18. Prepare an Old and a New Sitemap<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  19. Check Mobile Compatibility<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  20. Check Pagespeed Insights<\/strong> <\/a><\/li>\n
  21. Check Image Size<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  22. Consider AMP and Instant Articles<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  23. Check Microdata Implementation (or Consider Adding It)<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  24. Check Cookie Law<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  25. Check Legal Compliance Pages<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  26. Check Contact and About Pages<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  27. Check the 404 Page<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  28. Remove Meta Keywords<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  29. Share Buttons<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  30. Subscribe Buttons<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    LAUNCH<\/a><\/h3>\n
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    1. Visually Inspect (Test) Your New Site<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
    2. Get a Warning Message Ready<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
    3. Set Up a Monitoring Plan<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
    4. Tracking Codes Placement\/Remplacement<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
    5. Set Analytics Goals<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
    6. The Time You Launch<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
    7. Post the New Version<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
    8. Remove Password<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
    9. Check Robots.txt<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
    10. Set Up the 301 Redirects (Without Domain Change)<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
    11. Set Up the 301 Redirects (with Domain Change)<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
    12. Review Search Console Settings<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
    13. Disavow Files<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
    14. Reindex Site from Search Console<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
    15. Annotate the Site Launch in Google Analytics<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      POST LAUNCH<\/a><\/h3>\n
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      1. Check Search Console Errors<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
      2. Crawl the New Site and Audit It<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
      3. Compare the Results <\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
      4. Check Your Server Logs<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
      5. Update Social Media Website URL<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
      6. Match Social Media Designs with the Website<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
      7. Monitor Your Website Thoroughly<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
      8. Check Number of Pages Indexed<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
      9. Make Sure All Wanted Pages Are Indexable<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
      10. Monitor the Cache Date of Indexed URLs<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
      11. Clean Up New Domain<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
      12. Update Backlinks<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
      13. Check and Compare Search Traffic<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
      14. Compare Your SEO Visibility<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Conclusion <\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
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        PRE LAUNCH<\/strong><\/h3>\n

        1. Have a Temporary Dev URL<\/strong><\/h3>\n

        First thing on the SEO redesign checklist is to create a temporary development URL. A temporary development URL can save you in the pre-launch phase. If you don\u2019t want to risk getting your site indexed, you should develop a site on a different URL, like a subdomain. Make sure you protect it by using a password. If your site already got indexed, there\u2019s no reason to block it anymore. When it\u2019s ready, change the domain to the “real” URL and go live.<\/p>\n

        \"Temporary<\/p>\n

        You can set a subdomain to work on. In the cPanel of your Web Host Manager find Subdomains, and add a subdomain. A new folder will be created, and you will be able to upload your work via FTP or the cPanel built in File Manager. To password protect it, find the option Password Protect Directories, select your Subdomain folder and add a password. When trying to access the URL, a login popup will show up in your browser.<\/p>\n

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        2. Create a New Robots.txt File<\/strong><\/h3>\n

        Secondly on the pre-launch SEO checklist, you need to create a new robots.txt file.<\/p>\n

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        A robots.txt file is essential in the pre-launch phase because it\u00a0gives instructions to web robots about your site. You have to place this code in the top-level directory of your web server to block the robots from getting information: User-agent: * Disallow: \/<\/code> The \u201cUser-agent: *\u201d means it is applied to all robots and \u201cDisallow: \/\u201d means they cannot visit any pages on the site. There are cases when the robots can ignore the robots.txt file. They could scan your website for security vulnerabilities. So don’t try to hide information. Other examples for creating your robots.txt file based on how much access you offer:<\/p>\n