Website change and positioning – is fear a big deal?
A company website has important functions – it presents the offer, attracts customers, serves as a company's showcase, etc. It is therefore natural that such a website will undergo evolution, and sometimes even revolution in the form of a completely new website. This is absolutely normal, and an SEO specialist must be prepared for it. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean that such changes don't result in drops in rankings. An undesirable "side effect" of such changes can be position drops, which we openly inform our clients about. The role of an SEO specialist is to propose effective corrective actions and implement them. Note: sometimes a new website is worse in terms of SEO than its old predecessor, and making up for the drops is not so easy. This is an interesting fact from the life of an SEO specialist. In a contract for
positioningThe agreement our clients sign with Verseo includes a provision requiring notification of changes made to the website. What does this mean in practice when it comes to notification of changes made to the website?
Some useful tips
1)
We inform the SEO specialist about changes to the website before they are implemented., not after the fact. Often, a sign that a website has undergone major changes is a sudden and significant drop in rankings. In such cases, the SEO specialist quickly tries to rectify the situation to regain the positions they have earned. A much better solution is to provide advance notice and present the new version of the website before its official debut. The SEO specialist can always offer their knowledge and support by suggesting SEO improvements at this stage. 2) It's better to say too much than too little. Not everyone can assess whether the changes they are making to a website are important from an SEO perspective or whether they will impact SEO. Therefore, it's better to bombard the SEO specialist with information about changes than to remain completely silent. A hint might be that adding is safer than subtracting. If we want to add (rather than change) new information, subpages, text, etc. to our website, then this is a change we don't necessarily need to inform the SEO specialist about, as it doesn't threaten the results we've achieved so far. While it's not necessary to disclose such changes, it's still worth doing so. The SEO specialist can utilize these new features for SEO purposes – if they are suitable for this purpose. If we want to remove something from the website, we should definitely inform the SEO specialist. If we plan to replace the existing content with something new, we should also let them know about these plans. 3) If CMS or FTP access changes, we should let them know immediately. Current, working access to the website is very important. Without access, effective SEO is practically impossible. New access should be provided to the SEO specialist immediately. This is in the interest of both parties. 4) Website changes – this is essential to inform the SEO specialist. If we are planning a major website refresh, a redesign, a CMS change, etc., we should definitely inform the SEO specialist in advance. Sending them access to a working version of the website is also a very good idea. An SEO specialist will advise on content, friendly links, language versions, the need for redirects, and URLs that support SEO. All for the good of the website.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- The impact of website redesign on SEO results
