Site Ranks on Page 1 - Would launching new site hurt that

[Prime85]

Hello,

I currently have a website ranking in the top 7 for my main keyword.

The website was built in 2004 and is definitely outdated, yet still ranks very high and brings in business.

If i launched a new site on this domain, what would happen to my rankings?

Would they drop? would they rise?

If i don't launch the new site, will this site eventually drop due to being old and outdated?

Any advice would be helpful...

[evrijn]

You can hold youre positions and maybe rise, but work with 301 redirects on old pages!

Every old page need to be redirected.

Read al the information here: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=83105

[Copstead]

You should be alright with a new site, just make sure you don't lose your architecture.  If you are going to have a completely new architecture, then you need to make sure you are 301 redirecting everything correctly.  You may see a little dip, but if done well, you will be fine.

[zigojacko]

There is literally tons of factors to consider. Primarily, how much will the website be changing, one would only presume considerate research has been carried out and the changes are for the better (both from a usability and optimisation perspective).

Some questions to ask...

1. Will the URL's / URL structure change at all or will all URL paths be kept intact?
2. Will the actual content on each page be changing at all?
3. Is any content being removed or added?

These three questions will pose the biggest ranking changes...

All three should be addressed for the better which should then see a positive climb in rankings (if anything at all). If any URL's are changed, as Erik points out, 301 redirecting these is essential, however this won't pass 100% weight through to the new destinations so it's possible the authority leakage on these alone could cause a drop in rankings (temporary of otherwise).

Hope that helps for now.

[rayvensoft]

I have actually done this a number of times with some of my businesses.  Sometimes along with launching a new site I even changed servers - so it was a bit more drastic.  The good news is that while I did sometimes see a slight drop for 2-3 days in the site traffic it came back quickly, and as long as the new design is esthetically more pleasing to your users, you will make up for the lost profit for those few days shortly.
   Of course, as everybody says the key is doing the 301 correctly and making sure the main site structure is the same.  In almost all the cases I did this, I kept most the file names the same.  Also, try to keep the keyword density you have on your current site the same in the text on the new site (at least on the most important pages).  This should keep the effect of the change to a minimum.

Good luck.

[KeriMorgret]

We had a great guide posted about this in February that you might want to look at. http://www.seomoz.org/blog/web-site-migration-guide-tips-for-seos

[zigojacko]

Excellent article covering everything that should be taken into consideration when launching a replacement website / website migration. Definitely recommended for the member asking the original question to work through each points contained within the article.

Great resource Keri.