Best practice to change the URL of all my site pages

[jid]

Hi,

I need to change all my site pages URL as a result of moving the site into another CMS platform that has its own URL structure:

1. Currently the site is highly ranked for all relevant KWs I am targeting.
2. All pages have backlinks
3. Content and meta data should remain exactly the same.
4. The domain should stay the same

The plan is as follow:

1. Set up the new site using a temporary domain name
2. Copy over all content and meta data
3. Set up all redirects (301)
4. Update the domain name and point the live domain to the new one
5. Watch closely for 404 errors and add any missing redirects

Questions:

1. Any comments on the plan?
2. Is there a way (the above plan or any other) to make sure ranking will not be hurt
3. What entries should I add to the sitemap.xml: new pages only or new pages and the pages from the old site?

Thanks,

Guy.

[benjonjeffery]

We have just completed a similar update on our site using pretty much exactly the technique you describe above. As you say keep a real close eye on the 404 pages as they can catch you out. The other thing to watch out for is to make sure you maintain any historical 301 redirects as they are easy to miss when implementing such a big change. We suddenly found loads of old links that we didn't even realise existed!

[RDK]

Some quick thoughts:

1. Take advantage of seomoz site crawler for issues sometime before going live- this will help detect any possible URL (duplicate) problems that are common in transition.  Don't forget about redirecting any PPC campaigns you may have.

2. Based on experience, ranking will suffer in transition, regardless of preparation.  If you spent time tightening your SEO metadata and structured your website exactly the same, you should see overall improvement after a few weeks.  How quickly you are reindexed varies from one site to another.  If you're seeing 20,000+ visitors a month, indexing should be relatively quick (that's just based off of my small statistical sample of personal experience.)

3. XML sitemap should be the current site you want to have indexed... not sure what you mean when you say you'd include the old site pages, which might lead to indexing problems no matter how you might work that out.  With luck, your 301's will feed the wounded patient until Googlebot comes to stitch everything up.

If you could document your experience, it would be really helpful.  Test and measurement = smart SEO

[RyanKent]

As Ben and RDK shared, your transition plan is solid.

Is there a way (the above plan or any other) to make sure ranking will not be hurt

If you have links, there will always be some loss of DA during the transition. Approximately 90% of the link value will transfer with the 301, but there is some degradation. This can be minimized by changing any links you control to the new site. This includes social media pages, signatures, etc.

Another recommendation I make to anyone moving sites is to create a link building campaign 30 days after the site move to generate links to the new site. These links will help offset any minor loss from the move. If the move is done properly, you can be back to your old rankings or better within 60 days after the move.

What entries should I add to the sitemap.xml: new pages only or new pages and the pages from the old site?

A sitemap should include all pages on the new site you wish to be included in the index.

One final note. Since you are changing URLs during this move, think out the new URLs carefully. Try to build URLs which will last 20 years. Try to account for any foreseeable changes. One example is to remove technology extensions from URLS. Instead of mysite.com/products.html use mysite.com/products.