If I re-design my website and add/remove sections and content, how will this affect my Search Engine Rankings?
Sincerely,
Debbie
If you move a part of your site that has built up some value in the eyes of a search engine, you can keep that value by redirecting from the old location to the new—usually via htaccess. Over time, Google will start to feature sections of your site in its serach results, and you tend to lose this if you restructure the site—at least in my experience.
So, related to my other thread, what is my best move…
1.) Release v2.0 and leave it the way it is structured, never to change it again??
2.) Release v2.0 with a “workable” temporary solutions while I see how things go, and while I start planning for v3.0??
3.) Postpone the release of v2.0, go back to my drawing board, and try to fix the other issues we have been discussing, and then sometime in 2015 release v2.0/v3.0??
While I have built decent Search Engine Rankings with v1.0, I have virtually NO TRAFFIC, so who cares about SEO?!
Part of me wants to get v2.0 up and try to start building real and respectable traffic, but I also don’t want to invest a whole bunch of time with a v2.0 that is not perfected, and then when v3.0 comes out, I have to start all over again…
Follow me?
Sincerely,
Debbie
Personally, if I knew I were about to make a big change to the site structure, I’d want to do that first, or ASAP. The time a page lives on the web helps with SEO, so I’d be wanting to get the final version to get all the value. As I said, though, you still keep a lot of value if you redirect old pages to new.
Valid point, but the counter-argument to that is suffering from “Analysis-Paralysis” and getting nothing done…
I think I have made some progress over the last few days addressing the issue in my other thread. And now I am wondering if I shouldn’t just “Take my best stab at things” and get v2.0 up with actual content and then kinda see where the cards may fall… :-/
“Seeing is believing”, and one has to be careful about coming up with all kinds of “grand designs” only to find out that when you go to implement things, that things just aren’t the same as they were in your head, you know?!
But in the end, it’s a complicated topic and that why I came here to ask for help in both areas… 
Sincerely,
Debbie
As long as your change is in the best interest of complying with Google’s Best Practices and provides a better layout for your users, Google will reward you (even if it takes a couple of weeks).
Make sure you set up 301 redirects to the new webpages (not the homepage) so that Google does not find any broken links.
I can live with a couple of weeks. I just don’t want it to mess up my website and website ranking for the next 6 months!! 
Make sure you set up 301 redirects to the new webpages (not the homepage) so that Google does not find any broken links.
If I take the article “postage-meters-can-help-save-you-money.html” and I move it from Path-A to Path-B then I would use the 301 Redirect.
However, what if I retire the article “postage-meters-can-help-save-you-money.html”, but want people to be re-directed to a newer version of the same article OR some other article that is a logical replacement?
Would I still use a 301 Redirect?
Sincerely,
Debbie
What do you mean by move it from Path A to Path B? The only reason you would need to use a 301 redirect would be if you changed the url. This will send Google’s spiders and your users to the new page if they attempt to view the old page. If you just rearrange where the pages are being linked from internally, you will not need to make any changes, because Google’s spiders will pick these up as your site is indexed.
If you want to retire a blog post to point to a new version or a different article, a 301 redirect would be a good idea.
That is what I meant…
If you want to retire a blog post to point to a new version or a different article, a 301 redirect would be a good idea.
Okay, thanks for the tips.
Debbie