I’m redoing existing pages and adding new content and tags for an aged affiliate site.
Turning it into an article/review themed site along the same interests.
Is there anything I can do to encourage Google/Yahoo/Msn to reprofile the site?
Would it help to include new site maps in htaccess?
Site map is very important i advice you to use it
Would asking Google to reconsider the site help?
webmaster tools > “Help With” > Site Reconsideration
Site Reconsiderations are normally only used when the site/page is banned/removed altogether from the rankings.
If you are merely repurposing/replacing the site and/or it’s content then your request will almost certainly be ignored.