Editor’s Notice: That is half two of a two-part sequence on making a 301 redirect technique as a part of the web site redesign course of. Half one, “For Redesigns, Shield search engine marketing with 301 Redirect Technique,” we revealed beforehand.
In a web site redesign the place URLs change, whether or not your search-engine-optimization objective is to guard present pure search efficiency or increase it to a brand new stage, an ironclad 301 redirect technique is important. In “For Redesigns, Shield search engine marketing with 301 Redirect Technique,” my earlier article, I outlined why 301 redirects are necessary to search engine marketing, the right way to work the redirect technique into the redesign timeline, and the right way to create an inventory of URLs to create a 301 redirect map.
Wanting on the lists of present web site URLs and redesigned web site URLs — the previous and the brand new — it’s time now to merge the 2 lists and create a spreadsheet that matches each previous URL with probably the most related new URL potential. That is the 301-redirect map, the core of the redirect technique.
Looking at an inventory of 1000’s of previous URLs, a few of which you had no thought existed, it seems like the duty won’t ever be accomplished. Excel’s filtering talents make it extra bearable, however you might also have to prioritize sure teams of URLs over others.
Prioritizing URLs to Redirect
Each time potential, embody all potential URLs within the 301 redirect map. In the event that they’re listed, and even simply crawlable, they’ve some small quantity of hyperlink authority. It might simply be inner hyperlink authority, nevertheless it’s there. Figuring out that probably the most hyperlink authority and belief I can hope to move (by way of 301 redirects) to the brand new web site is 85 p.c of the previous web site’s authority, I need to wring each drop of authority from the previous web site. Meaning 301 redirecting each potential URL.
Typically the location is simply too giant or too haphazardly constructed to make a whole 301 redirect map potential. In that case, look to internet analytics and Webmaster Instruments to assist prioritize the URLs on which to focus.
In internet analytics, export the report for pure search visits by touchdown web page. If a web page has acquired even one go to from pure search, which means it’s listed by not less than one search engine and has not less than a small quantity of authority to protect.
Naturally, pages that obtain extra pure search visits must be the next precedence to redirect than people who obtain small quantities. People who convert nicely and drive increased numbers of visits are the best precedence. Make sure that to set the timeframe for the report lengthy sufficient to account for any seasonality.
The “Hyperlinks to My Web site” report in Google Webmaster Instruments affords one other method to prioritize pages to incorporate within the 301-redirect map. If a web page has 50,000 hyperlinks to it, it’s possible extra authoritative than a web page that has 500 or 5 hyperlinks to it. This fast methodology solely takes amount of URLs into consideration, however understand that hyperlink high quality is extra necessary in figuring out a web page’s authority.
Finishing the 301 Redirect Map
When the prioritization is full, open the 2 lists of previous and new URLs in Excel. Filtering for a typical key phrase discovered within the previous URLs may also make fast work of matching a batch of previous URLs to a brand new one. For instance, if 4 URLs all comprise “contact” within the URL, it’s potential that they are often all redirected to the brand new Contact Us web page.
To filter in Excel, choose the row that incorporates the headers on your knowledge. The filtered row is highlighted in grey within the instance beneath. Then choose “Filter” from the “Knowledge” menu in Excel. A field with an arrow in it can seem on the proper of each cell in your highlighted row. Click on on the arrow for the column you need to filter, choose “Textual content Filters” and “Accommodates,” after which enter a phrase or phrase. Within the instance beneath we’re filtering the column “Present Web site/OLD URL” for URLs containing the phrase “contact.”
This pattern 301 redirect map filters URLs by widespread key phrases.
On this quite simple instance of 9 URLs, 4 URLs matched the standards, and every was mapped to the brand new URL for the Contact Us web page within the redesigned web site.
Filtering can be utilized to seek out all the URLs in a specific part of the location, or all the URLs containing a selected product ID, or any variety of methods. Typically a whole part might be deleted in a redesign and all the URLs in that part may be redirected to a single new URL like the house web page or a related class web page.
Migrating to a New Platform?
If the redesign entails migrating to a brand new platform, the previous URLs and the brand new could also be in dramatically completely different codecs. The previous platform might use numeric identifiers in URLs, reminiscent of “http://www.oldsite.com/merchandise/element?id=2345”, and the brand new platform might use key phrase URLs reminiscent of “http://www.newsite.com/prod-detail/next-best-product/”. Focus on URLs and 301 redirects along with your builders. They are able to advocate a better method to redirect product and class pages based mostly on identification numbers, even when the URLs displayed within the browser don’t present identification numbers.
When builders can’t discover a extra environment friendly answer, the crawl knowledge used to create the listing of previous URLs may also assist establish the content material discovered on URLs that doesn’t comprise key phrase clues. For instance, simply wanting on the URL “http://www.oldsite.com/merchandise/element?id=2345” you’d do not know which product it housed. The crawl knowledge from Hyperlink Sleuth or search engine marketing Spider contains title tags for each URL crawled, nevertheless, so you possibly can see that “http://www.oldsite.com/merchandise/element?id=2345” incorporates the Subsequent Finest Product, as within the instance above. This allows you a method to match key phrases from the title tag for the previous URL to the brand new key phrase URL. When matching on a big scale, attempt utilizing Excel’s VLOOKUP method to seek out matches shortly so that you can scan for accuracy.
When the 301 redirect map is completed and each previous URL is matched to a brand new URL, search for patterns to advocate basing the redirects on. Handing the builders an inventory of 1000’s of one-to-one redirects is assured to satisfy with resistance. That many redirects would take a really very long time to write down and take a look at, and would have the next potential for error. As an alternative, attempt to establish patterns within the mapping that handle multiple redirect at a time.
Handing the builders an inventory of 1000’s of one-to-one redirects is assured to satisfy with resistance.
For instance, possibly you possibly can establish that the one URLs that comprise the phrase “contact” will 301 redirect to the brand new Contact Us web page. In that case, you might advocate that any URL on “http://www.oldsite.com/” containing “contact” 301 redirect to “http://www.newsite.com/about/contact-us/”. Watch out, nevertheless, as a result of if another URLs by accident occur to match a sample they are going to be redirected as nicely. For instance, a product URL that incorporates the product title “contact adhesive” would match the phrase “contact” and can be erroneously redirected to the Contact Us web page. Test rigorously to ensure that the patterns you advocate will pertain solely to the URLs you propose.
Redirect Testing and Measurement Plans
Testing the 301-redirect map is easy, actually. Simply crawl the redesigned web site utilizing Hyperlink Sleuth or search engine marketing Spider — I tackle these and different helpful search engine marketing instruments, in “My Favourite search engine marketing Instruments,” a earlier article — to provide a report of the server header standing returned for every URL and examine the output to the 301 redirect map. If every previous URL is 301 redirecting to the supposed new URL, the take a look at is profitable.
It’s necessary to crawl the location each in staging earlier than launch and in manufacturing after launch, as a result of there may be a lot potential for error with 301 redirects. Even probably the most skilled developer can miss a single character in one in all 100 redirects and by accident redirect a batch of URLs to the improper place. It’s additionally potential that the mapping or patterns have been flawed earlier than the redirects have been written. Crawling to check the redirects is the one manner to make certain that the redirects are passing each prospects and hyperlink authority to the best pages.
The right way to Measure
The final piece of the redirect technique is the measurement plan. The objective of the technique is to protect each pure search efficiency and hyperlink authority. Efficiency must be measured primarily by internet analytics with rankings used as a secondary measure. Are the excessive precedence pages receiving constant or extra visits from pure search after the redesign? If that’s the case, the redirect technique was profitable. If visits fell and stay constantly low, recheck the redirects as you’re on the lookout for different culprits. If conversions fell, 301 redirects are usually not the problem. The redirect preserves authority, which preserves rating capability, which drives visits to a web site. What prospects do as soon as they get there may be past the affect of a redirect.
It’s more durable to measure hyperlink authority, however it may be approximated with Google Webmaster Instruments’ “Hyperlinks to My Web site” report. The variety of hyperlinks attributed to the previous URLs ought to steadily lower and an analogous variety of hyperlinks must be attributed to the brand new URLs ought to. The transition is extraordinarily fuzzy, nevertheless, and may take months to replace. Relaxation assured that if natural-search-referred visits are sturdy, the authority is has handed as supposed no matter what the “Hyperlinks to My Web site” report says.
In a redesign when builders have too many issues to fret about as it’s, the redirect technique typically encounters resistance. To pave the best way, make sure that everybody on the crew understands from the start what the redirect technique is, why it’s important to search engine marketing efficiency, and when it must be labored into the redesign timeline.
