Moving
Web Pages - The Risks
Most
webmasters /
website owners put a lot of time, effort, money and worry into
making
sure their web pages feature as highly as possible in the search
engine
results for their main keywords and key phrases in the natural
listings
of Google i.e. the not paid-for results on the left hand side. If and when
you do
manage to get a good position in the search engine results, and
assuming
the conversion rate is good, the thought of moving pages, changing
page
names, and therefore ‘fixing what isn’t necessarily
broke’
can bring a good deal of anxiety. There are risks involved with
moving
and changing pages i.e. combining pages into one, changing page
names,
removing some pages altogether and moving a whole website to
different
domains. • Losing
the
value of the incoming links to pages that have been moved /
removed /
had the URL changed i.e. losing the positive effects of Google
PageRank™. Minimising the Risks What steps should you take when making changes to the structures (rather than the content) of your web pages website? i.e. changing page names / directory structures, combining pages and removing pages... Save a copy, make a map, record your vital stats Before making any major changes to web pages it’s always worth downloading and saving a backup copy of the web site. Also, you need
to
get a good idea of the structure of the website, and find out
exactly
what the size and scope of the job is. If you’re worried about losing valuable incoming links and search engine positions for specific key phrases, you won’t know how big the effects on these will be unless you have a record of you site’s stats at the moment. Your website’s stats package should keep track of things anyway, but at the very least check your rankings (e.g. using IBP’s Ranking Report), check your Google PageRank™, and check your incoming links e.g. use the link: command in the search field at the top of the Yahoo home page followed by your full (http://www...) URL. Have a Clear Plan Study the information shown above, study your web pages, and have a good idea of exactly how you want to change things. Expect a possible 1 to 3 months of lower rankings while the search engines re-crawl the incoming links. Use 301 Re-Directs The web works
using
certain protocols that are understood by software
like
search engines and browsers. HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
uses a
series of response status codes which mean that more action of
some sort
is required (by a user agent) to complete a specific request. A 301 Redirect means that a file e.g. a web page has ‘Moved Permanently’ (the URL or page name has been changed or the page has been removed). The "3" component of the number makes the browser go to another location (identified by you). There are different ways to implement a redirect e.g. server side scripting, using mod_rewrite (e.g. with Apache), JavaScript or Meta Tag redirects. JavaScript and Meta Tag Redirects This refers to
either
using JavaScript in a page, or placing code in the Meta tags of a
web
page to redirect to another page. These methods are the least
search engine
friendly, i.e. the least friendly to page visitors (because they
waste
time), and are unlikely to allow you to retain your valuable
PageRank™. The Meta Refresh code actually goes in the head of a web page could look like this e.g. <HEAD> N.B. In this particular example the search engine robots have been told not to read the page (to avoid the search engine ‘slap’). JavaScript and Meta Tag Redirects have a history of being used by spammers, and therefore the search engines are very wary of them. Pages can easily optimised for certain key phrases and therefore attract visitors to click on them, only to be redirected to a page they didn’t want to visit. For these and more reasons, it’s worth avoiding these methods of re-directing if at all possible. Server Side Scripting Whenever a
search
engine spider or web page visitor requests a page, the web server
checks
the .htaccess file for any particular
instructions e.g.
how to deal with errors, security issues etc. Search engine
spiders follow
the instructions that they find in this file, and will recognise
as valid
a response from the server in this way. Therfore the .htaccess
file is
a much safer and much more preferable place to
put a
301 redirect i.e. a response that lets the search engine know that
the
page has moved permanently, and gives instructions of where the
search
engine can find the new / intended page. .htaccess file redirect – example for ‘static’ pages (e.g. html) For example, download the .htaccess file (that’s generally stored in the root directory of your web pages), scroll down past the existing code (leaving a line space) then write a line of code like the following: Redirect 301 /old/directory/youroldpage.htm http://www.yoursite/thenewpage.htm The first half of the code gives the old page location (and doesn’t need the http://www part) and the second half gives the new page location. N.B. If there is no .htaccess file you will need to create one using soemthing like notepad. By saving this, uploading it to the web, and typing the old URL into the browser you’ll be able to see if it’s worked. Redirect example for ‘dynamic’ pages A dynamic page could be database generated e.g. a forum, ecommerce-shop etc. This will have a query string on the end of it e.g. http://www.yourdynamicsite/page?id=15 The following code could provide a 301 redirect in the case of these dynamic pages: RewriteEngine
on Using mod_rewrite Apache web servers have a mod_rewrite engine (which should first be made active on the web server) that allows all manner of URL manipulation e.g. for the server (httpd.conf) and in directories (using a .htaccess file). This is powerful and flexible way for administrators to e.g. to provide 301 re-directs. The Reality Although the
server
side .htaccess file method is the safest and generally best way to
use
301 redirects and ensure that your website doesn’t lose
precious
ranking, momentum and PageRank™, it’s only natural to
expect
some temporary disruption bearing in mind the complicated and
interconnected
nature of the web. 'till Next
Time, |