Keep Google Placement while changing site

*SteveYoung* · 06-18-2009, 12:38 PM

I would appreciate some advice from our friends here running sites at FutureQuest.

We run a Wordpress site as a free local news site.
Londonderry Hometown Online News that site has just about 10,000 different readers a month as reported by Quantcast. Due to the content of the site, we consume the search engines as it relates to "Londonderry "anything"" this performance got me thinking, how could we do better on some of our company sites that sell products.

We have a unique A-Frame product, the site is just a static site running as a IRM. The thought is to convert it to a Wordpress site, and add a "applications page" that would list applications for the product. This should create content for the search engines and get us better placement and more placement.

For example I expect that a "story" on A-Frame signs used by a fire department will be found when someone searches for "Fire Department A-Frame Sign"

The challenge has been to create the site so it looks like the old site, so customers that are coming back do not think we have changed hands or some such thing. We did on another host we use for testing. I researched redirecting since our new page names will be different. For example "www.OnTheStep.com/large.html" will now be "www.OnTheStep.com/large" it is important that no one be greeted by a 404 error especially the search engines.

We were ready to pull the plug and put the new site into production when our sales had a spike. I searched Google for "A-Frame Signs" and found we were now in the number two position.

I still would like to make the change but I do not want to "mess" that advantage up.

Thanks in advance for the conversation on this.

oheso · 06-18-2009, 08:12 PM

What you want is a 301 redirect ("permanently moved"). There's a guide here (and lots of similar guides).

*SteveYoung* · 06-21-2009, 08:55 PM

Thanks, I have set up a 301 redirect, to implement at the switch over.

This is like a FedEx commercial in the 80's I remember. "When it absolutely positively has to be there overnight"

I would like to "Absolutely, positively remain in the number two slot" when I change this over. I think it may be bigger than a 301 redirect.

Looking for guidance from those that have and have not, done it right or wrong in the past.

The reason, we buy food from what we make on the www.OnTheStep.com site. We have gotten used to eating, though not as often with today's economy.

Andilinks · 06-22-2009, 12:23 PM

My experiences with Google's transfer of search results via 301 redirect have been good but nevertheless I always approach it with trepidation.

Andilinks · 06-22-2009, 03:57 PM

Steve, There is currently an active discussion on this subject (and related) here.

I'm not sure if it will be directly helpful or not but it couldn't hurt to look.

oheso · 06-23-2009, 04:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveYoung

I would like to "Absolutely, positively remain in the number two slot" when I change this over. I think it may be bigger than a 301 redirect.

You and a bunch of Fortune 500 companies. I understand your sentiment, but you should realize that at the end of the day, Google does as Google pleases. There are no guarantees.

Note that I'm not trying to discourage you doing as much research as you can and taking the tried-and-true steps.

nancy111 · 07-15-2009, 11:28 PM

thank you, very usefull