The reasons
why a webpage might need redesigning could be rather varied. The page might be
part of a rebranding process; it might need to be more user friendly; maybe the
focus of the business has changed or the website might simply be outdated.
In any of
these cases, the idea is to change the website without losing SEO. It’s a big
project and as a web design company, it is probably something that you are
asked to do frequently.
So how to
handle this is the most efficient way is a question that should be on your
mind.
The whole
process will go through several stages and we highly recommend the use of a
good Project Management Software Tool to help you streamline it all. It spares
you from communication breakdown both with customers and team members ; it
allows for accurate time tracking of the project, it ensures accurate budgeting
and last but not least it just takes all the hard work out of a complex
project. You can focus on getting it done rather than throwing your hands up in
frustration while trying to manage it all. On top of that, it will save you a
good amount of money in the long run.
Because we
suspect redesigning a website is something you do on a regular basis, we
recommend setting up a template with all the required steps. All that’s needed
when the time comes, is fine-tune the specifics (budget, time needed) and
customize any steps as required. The point is that there’s no need to do the
same work over and over again.
What are the steps that you might like to see
in your template?
1. Pre-launch-Prepare
a. Set-up a temporary URL for
developing and testing.
b. Create a new password protected Robots.txt
file.
2. Per-Launch-Analyse and Clean up the
old site
a. Analyse website and bench mark
current metrics such as bounce rate, traffic, ranking for post-launch
comparison.
b. Crawl the old site and audit it.
Check for missing image alt tags, titles, meta descriptions etc.
c. Make a list of all the backlinks. (This
will be very useful later on.)
d. Map all the keywords. Review the
keyword strategy. Replace where necessary.
e. Fix broken internal and external
links.
f.
Remove
meta keywords
3. Pre-Launch-Design new webpage
a. Check if the server supports the new
site.
b. Review all the titles. Are they SEO
friendly? Unique?
c. Write content and proofread
d. Make sure all URL’s are as short as
possible.
e. Check for blank pages
f.
Map
301 URL, make a redirect list and redirect.
i.
Check
static content URLs such as images and videos. Redirect if needed.
ii.
Redirect
deleted pages
iii.
Prioritize
URLs. Use Analytics to decide on the most important pages.
g. Plan a CMS.
h. Check all HTML annotations for all
pages. Add or update as needed.
i.
Check
that each page has a self-directing canonical tag.
j.
Prepare
a site map
k. Check mobile compatibility
l.
Check
page speed
m. Check the sizes of the images
n. Check all terms and conditions,
contact details and about pages for accuracy.
o. Create a good 404 page that suits
the company’s style.
p. Introduce share buttons and
Subscribe buttons where needed.
4. Launch
a. Do a visual inspection of the site
b. Have a warning message ready in case
something goes wrong
c. Start tracking the website ranking.
Insert Google Analytics tracking tags
etc. Set Analytics goals
d. Launch the new website during a low
traffic time of the day (after midnight for instance)
e. Remove any passwords that were set
previously. Also check the Robots.txt file.
f.
Set-up all 301 redirects from the old website
to the new one.
g. Submit site map to Google and Bing
h. Check orphan pages 404
i.
Check
for broken links
5. Post-Launch
a. Check and fix search console errors
b. Crawl the site and audit it
c. Check server logs for 404 pages
d. Update Social Media URLs
e. Update backlinks
f.
Compare
traffic, SEO ranking with previous website
g. Just keep monitoring
Here's a few more tips that may be helpful when redesigning a website:
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