Launching new static template

[ShuttleFinder]

My site, ShuttleFinder.net, has been online since 2002. Over the past ten years I have ranked pretty well for "Airport Shuttle" related keywords. Last October (2011), my traffic took a major nose dive (down 60 - 70%).

I have been working hard to build up my traffic. First thing I did was hire a graphic designer to build a modern looking template. I decided to stick with a static site (as opposed to a CMS). I've been busy adding content, creating a blog, building social network links, and using tools like SEOmoz to fix title and meta descriptions.

I also created a YouTube channel and added two professional commercials promoting ShuttleFinder.net. I haven't migrated my content to the new template yet (that's the next step). See attached screenshot of my newly designed site (this is a screenshot of my new home page). I know I still need to add a lot of fresh content, but will the new templates boost my rankings?

watch?v=pW76Heqs5qo shuttlefinder-screenshot.png watch?v=pW76Heqs5qo shuttlefinder-screenshot.png watch?v=pW76Heqs5qo

[Vizergy]

In going over your site really quickly I would have to say that you are a victim of Panda.  I would suggest tightening up your page focus and not being so broad in your titles.  Also, you do have some duplicate content issues that Google may take as an attempt to manipulate the search results.  here's an example: - http://copyscape.com/?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shuttlefinder.net%2F

I would suggest an on-page overhaul.  I am not, in any way, saying anything bad about your site, it just needs a Panda compliant clean up

Good Luck!

[ShuttleFinder]

Thanks for your advice. I figured it was caused by the Fall 2011 Panda update. Some of the content on my site is almost 10 years old. Of course, I've added fresh content over the years, but I was one of the first airport shuttle directory/ reservation sites on the web. Other sites have plagiarized my text over the years. Can you offer anything specific I can do to recover from the Panda disaster? Do you think the new template will make a difference? The current site is built using Dreamweaver (lots of tables and cells... redundant code). The new template is very clean (built using CSS).

I'm thinking of changing the the names of my directories (e.g. a lot of my content is in the "airport_shuttles" directory). Would it help to create new directories? I've read that some SEO experts suggest completely rebuilding the site from the ground up is the only way to recover from the Panda update.

[Vizergy]

Sometimes a rebuild is the only way but that isn't always the case.  I would start by cleaning up your titles etc... you can hold off on the dup content - if yours was there first it may not be affecting you, it could just be affecting those who stole your content (that is what is supposed to happen...)