After spending hours, days, or weeks perfecting your WordPress website’s design, the last thing you want to deal with is a drop in rankings. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what can happen if you don’t take the proper precautions during and after your redesign. This article will share tips on retaining your SEO ranking after a WordPress redesign.
The Benefits of a WordPress Redesign
If you’re thinking about redesigning your WordPress website, there are a few things you should know in order to maintain your SEO ranking. First, it’s important to realize that a WordPress redesign can have many benefits for your website. A well-designed website can help improve your brand image, attract new visitors, and boost your search engine ranking.
When it comes to SEO, the most important thing to keep in mind is that you need to maintain your existing content. That means if you have pages and posts currently ranking well in the search engines, you’ll want to ensure they retain their ranking after the redesign. One way to do this is by using 301 redirects from your old URLs to your new ones. This will tell the search engines that your content has moved and will help preserve your current rankings.
Use a Staging Site
If you’re planning on redesigning your WordPress website, one of the best ways to ensure that your SEO ranking doesn’t take a hit is to use a staging site. A staging site is a temporary copy of your website that you can use to test out changes before making them live. This way, you can ensure that your new design won’t negatively impact your SEO before making it permanent.
There are a few different ways to set up a staging site. One popular option is to use a WordPress plugin like WP Staging or Duplicator. These plugins will create a copy of your website that you can work on without affecting the live version.
Once you’ve set up your staging site, you can start testing out your new design. Make sure to pay attention to how your pages are performing in search engines. If you see any drop in traffic or rankings, you may need to make some adjustments to your design.
When you’re happy with your new design, you can then migrate it over to your live site. Be sure to do a full backup of your website first so that you can revert back if anything goes wrong during the migration process.
Add Redirects
If you’re redesigning your WordPress website, you’ll want to take steps to ensure that your SEO ranking doesn’t suffer. One way to do this is to add redirects from your old website to your new one. This will help search engines find your new site and maintain your ranking.
There are two types of 300 redirects that web designers must consider:
- 301 redirects are permanent ones designed for use by website visitors and search engines. They’re better for SEO because they transfer inbound links. Most of your work will be dealing with 301 redirects.
- 302 redirects are temporary. You generally want to avoid these for the sake of SEO, though they can be useful if you’re currently updating the website and want a seamless experience for your visitors in the meantime.
One way to help retain your SEO ranking after redesigning your WordPress website is to add a WordPress redirect plugin. This will help to redirect any old URLs to your new ones, which can help to keep your SEO ranking. There are a few different plugins you can choose from, so be sure to do some research to find the one that best suits your needs.
You need to take into account what pages are being redirected and where they are being redirected to. You also need to ensure that your redirects do not cause 404 errors, as this can negatively impact your SEO ranking.
Backup WordPress Regularly
One of the most important things you should do before a redesign is to backup your WordPress site regularly. This will ensure that you can always restore your site to its previous state if something goes wrong during the redesign process.
There are a few different ways you can backup your WordPress site. One way is to use a plugin like BackupBuddy or WP Database Backup. These plugins will create a complete backup of your WordPress database, which you can then download and store safely on your computer.
Another way to backup your WordPress site is to manually export your database. This can be done directly from your cPanel or via phpMyAdmin. Once you have exported your database, you should store it safely on your computer.
Regardless of how you choose to backup your WordPress site, it is important that you do it regularly. This will give you peace of mind knowing that if anything does go wrong during your redesign, you can always restore your site to its previous state.
SEO Monitoring
SEOmoz’s MozCast is a great way to keep track of changes in the Google algorithm. If you see a dip in your website’s ranking after a redesign, it’s important to check MozCast to see if there were any major algorithm changes that could have caused it. You can also use Google Webmaster Tools to monitor your website’s search traffic and see if there were any sudden drops. If you notice a drop in traffic, it’s important to check your website to see if any potential issues could be causing it.
User Feedback
If you’re seeing a drop in traffic after a redesign, it’s important to ask your users what they think of the new design. You can do this by surveying your users or by asking for feedback in your customer support channels. If you find that your users are unhappy with the new design, it’s important to make changes to improve their experience.
Monitoring your website’s traffic and user feedback is essential to ensure that your redesign is successful. By doing this, you can identify any potential issues and make changes to improve your website’s ranking and user experience.
Set Up 404 Pages
If your website is going through a redesign, there are some steps you can take to make sure that your SEO ranking doesn’t take a hit. One of the most important things you can do is set up 404 pages.
404 pages are pages that are displayed when a user tries to access a page that doesn’t exist. This can happen if a page has been removed or renamed during the redesign process.
Having a 404 page lets users know that they’ve reached a dead end, but it also gives them the option to find what they’re looking for on your new website. To set up a 404 page, you’ll need to edit your .htaccess file.
Final Checks
- Check your .htaccess file
- Check for redirects
- Check your sitemap
- Check your robots.txt file
- Check your Google Analytics code
- Resubmit your sitemap to Google
- Use the Fetch as Google tool
- Monitor your rankings
Conclusion
We hope these tips have helped you understand how to retain your SEO ranking after redesigning your WordPress website. As long as you follow the advice in this article, you should be able to keep your website ranking high in search engines, regardless of any changes you make to the design. Do you have any other tips for preserving SEO after a redesign? Share them with us in the comments below!