Have you changed 100's of links on your site? Tell me the why's, the how's and what's!

[Dan-Louis]

Hello there.

If you've changed 100's of links, then I'd like for you to contribute to this thread.

I've created a new URL structure for a website with 500+ posts in an effort to make it more user friendly, and more accessible to crawlers. I was just about to pull the trigger, when I started reading up on the subject and found that I might have a few surprises waiting for me around the corner.

The status of my site.

• 500 posts
• 10 different categories
• 50+ tags
• No Backlinks
• No recent hits (according to Google Analytics)
• No rankings.

I'm going to keep roughly 75% of the posts, and put them in different (new) categories to strengthen SEO for the topic which I'd like to rank multiple categories for, and also sorted a list with content which I'd like to 410.

• Created new structure
• created new categories
• Compiled list of old URLs, and new URLs
• New H1, Meta Title & Descriptions
• New tags

It looks simple on paper, but I've got problems executing it.

**Question 1. **What do I need to keep in mind when deleting posts, categories, and tags - besides 410, Google URL removal?

Question 2. What do I do with all the old posts that I am going to re-direct? Each post has between 10-15 internal links. I've started manually removing each link in old posts before 301'ing them.

The reason I'm doing this is control the UX, as well as internal link juice to strengthen main categories. Am I on the right path?

On a side note, I've prepared for the 301'ing by changing the H1's, meta data and adding alt text to images. But I can't help but to think that just deleting the old posts, and copying over the content to the new url (with the original dates set) would be a better alternative.

Any contribution to this thread would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[Asif.Dilshad]

Hello Dan,

Playing with URl structure is considered as a risky business. It’s highly rewarding or disappointing. I personally do not want to change URL structure but as you said, No recent hits & ranking so its worth a try as there is nothing to lose.

There are many things to consider before you implement the changes which cannot be explained here (you can read on internet, which we SEO mostly do). As far as your questions are concerned:

**What do I need to keep in mind when deleting posts, categories, and tags - besides 410, Google URL removal? **

When you make a link 404,410 make sure, every internal anchor (pointed to 404) should be replaced with suitable link or removed.  There should be no reference of 404 link on website including sitemap, old navigation or images.

**What do I do with all the old posts that I am going to re-direct? Each post has between 10-15 internal links. I've started manually removing each link in old posts before 301'ing them. **

There is no need to replace the internal links of article which need to be redirected as they will be null and void (uncrawlable/ inaccessible) after redirection. But make sure every instance of internal link pointed to old url should point to new redirected Url (to keep things less messy and quick).

Best of luck