There are many reasons and needs of redesigning a website. A lot of aspects are being taken into account while redesigning a website. Redesigning a website is necessary to bring back the fresh look. Sometimes it is also done for the companies that have undergone large rebranding efforts. Changes can bring the new spark to your website. But there is one important thing that should be kept in mind from SEO perspective is “301 Redirect.”
A 301-redirect help users and search engines to find sections of the content that have moved to a new URL. Redirection is a procedure of forwarding one URL to a different URL. Adding a 301-redirect to your website means that the content of the page has permanently moved to somewhere else.
The 301-redirect also sends a website visitor to the new page automatically. A 301-redirect may not pass a webpage’s entire link.
The most important factor in getting a high search engine ranking is trust. Search engines favor the websites that have been in existence for a long time and have relevant inbound links. If search engines find a URL with a 301-redirect, they will follow the new URL and will de-index the old URL. Search engines remove the old pages from their index, so that users can’t find those pages. Removing the pages can take time and 301-redirects work great at diverting the traffic to a new URL.
When you are changing the URL, you need to inform Google Webmasters Tool about your redirect. Firstly set up and login to Google Webmaster tool. On the left side of the page you will find Site Configuration, click on it and then click on Change the Address. You will need to go through a few steps to add 301-redirect.
Website owners usually think that redesigning the website can be very helpful in increasing the traffic and sales. But sometimes it is seen that website traffic drops off drastically after launching the new website as they didn’t use 301-redirect. All of the internal pages of the website are new and no one find them. Don’t make such type of mistakes. If you are redesigning a website you should change the URL and make sure that you use 301-redirect. Initially you will find slip in traffic but it won’t be severe and in some months you will regain the traffic.
