Discover what can go wrong during a website redesign and the resolution to recover traffic

Your new website looks great after the redesign, but you’re losing traffic. What’s the deal?

Your website looks fantastic, but there’s one problem; your traffic seems to have taken a dive. You planned everything to a T, what could have gone wrong and how do you recover traffic?

Google Analytics

If your traffic has completely flatlined after a redesign, don’t panic yet. Usually, this is an indicator that your Analytics code hasn’t made it on to the new website. One of the quickest ways to check is by viewing the source code on your index page and look for the Analytics script. If it’s missing, then there’s your culprit. If you do see the code, then you’ll need to ask yourself the following three questions:

1. Is my Analytics code placed correctly? 

The script should be placed in the head section of your .html, right before the closing /head tag.

2. Is my UA number the same one that’s on my account?

Compare your UA number to the one that’s in your account. It’s possible that your web developer added a brand new Analytics code to the website, instead of your current one.

3. Is the Analytics code on all pages of my website?

If you still see some traffic after a redesign, just at a decreased rate, it may indicate that your Analytics code wasn’t placed on all of your pages. Check all pages on your website to see if the script is on there.

Robots.txt

It’s not uncommon for webmasters and developers to use nofollow and noindex tags on a development site while they are testing it. This ensures that the website will not be indexed before it’s ready to launch. The issue occurs when these tags are not changed prior to launch. If Analytics is functioning properly, then you could be dealing with a robots.txt issue. Here’s what you need to look for:

1. Check your robots.txt file to see if crawlers are being blocked from web pages that you actually want them to crawl. For example, disallow: / would indicate that the search engines are blocked from crawling your index page.

2. Check the head of your source code on your web pages to see if any of the meta robots tags have noindex enabled, which means your pages will not be indexed.

301 Redirects

If some of your URLs changed during the redesign, it’s important to make sure the old pages are redirected to the new ones. Redirecting old URLs helps to pass the ranking authority that they have earned over time. Check your Webmaster Tools account for 404 errors and if any significant pages have errors, you need to redirect them to the closest corresponding page with a 301 redirect.

Server & Hosting Issues

Did you migrate servers or change hosting during your redesign? That could potentially be your problem. If there are communication errors with your server, the search engines won’t be able to see your content properly. Head again to your Webmaster Tools account and look at DNS errors and server connectivity to see if there is a problem there.

Resolution

Even with a well-executed site launch strategy, you may experience a few hiccups, so it’s really important to monitor your site closely after a redesign for any changes. Check your Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools accounts frequently in the hours/days following your launch, so if any issues do arise you can proactively manage them.

Are you losing traffic after a redesign and still aren’t sure why? Or are you considering an upcoming redesign? We’re happy to help! Contact us for a free consultation of your website today.

Submitted by Erica Machin, Titan Growth

If you want SEO results that last, then cutting corners is not an option. See how to create sustainable SEO results with sustainable SEO strategies.

Let’s face it, any SEO strategy that can get you rankings quickly is most likely not sustainable. It’s only a matter of time until an update comes around that will squash the latest trend and could result in serious penalties for your website. So instead of focusing on short-term solutions and immediate results, think long-term SEO strategy and sustainability.

1. Focus on branding – An authoritative and credible brand will withstand the tests of time. Focus on building your brand and enhancing your earned media to set your website up for long-term SEO success. Spend time creating value both on and off of your website. That consists of creating valuable and well-optimized brand content on-site and building your online communities off-site. Building a great brand and an authoritative site does not happen overnight; but when you compare it to the implications of what a penalty can do to your website overnight, it’s time well spent.
2. Forget link building – The days of link spamming are officially over. At one point you may have been able to cut some corners by purchasing links or saturating your articles and press releases with backlinks, but we’ve learned that doesn’t fly after Penguin. That doesn’t mean some companies won’t still try it, but it won’t be long before their website is suffering the consequences. Links are still an important part of the SEO landscape; but, what has changed are the methods used to obtain them. Instead of focusing on aggressive link building campaigns, create and provide quality content that users would want to link to. This link strategy is much more natural and can provide more valuable links. Plus, you can avoid penalties and delight your users at the same time.
3. Create for your users, not the engines – If you’re trying to get savvy with your web design and content for the sole purpose of increasing your search rankings, you could be asking for trouble. Google is consistently getting better at identifying manipulative strategies and devaluing them with algorithm updates. Avoid penalties by thinking of your users first, not the search engines. From design to content, have your users in mind. Is your website easy to navigate? Does your content make sense? Are you providing value in your pages? If you create a credible site that users find valuable or interesting, they will be more likely to stay on longer and possibly share with their friends. Not only does this help build your website’s authority and connect with your audience, but also helps you to avoid penalties.

Final Thoughts

If you want to avoid search penalties and achieve long-term SEO results, you must use sustainable SEO strategies. If you’ve cut corners in the past, now is the time to focus on long-term commitments for lasting results. It takes time to produce excellence, but in the end, it will pay off.
Want to know more about sustainable SEO strategies and Omnichannel Marketing Strategies, or how to adopt integrate sustainable tactics into your current strategy? Please contact us.

Submitted by Erica Machin, Titan Growth

Whether you’re launching an entirely new website or are considering a redesign, you’re in a great position to start implementing on-page SEO. When it comes to SEO, it’s never too early to get started on your strategy to ensure long-term success.

Pre-Launch

Integrating your SEO strategy into your initial design plan will save you time in the long-run. The earlier you can begin planning your SEO, the better. These are the essential ingredients to set up your new website for success.

SEO Blueprint – Shotgun firing keywords you want to rank for all over your new web pages will not help your initiatives, we promise. Like any good strategy, you need an initial plan. Spend some time thinking about how your prospective clients would search for you online. Compile a list of keywords and use Google’s Keyword Tool to assess competition and traffic. The higher the traffic and competition, the more difficult it will be to rank for those terms, so try using more specific keywords that relate to your business. Also, if your company is local, consider using location-based keywords to be even more specific. Understanding what you want to go after is the first step to success.

Title Tags and Meta Descriptions – Once you have your overall theme developed, you’ll want to incorporate these keywords into your title tags. Title tags do have some bearing on rankings, so it’s especially important to use good, relevant keywords. Make unique tags for every page on your website, and make sure they pertain to the page, while still relating to the overall theme. While meta descriptions do not have an effect on rankings, it’s really important to also create relevant, catchy descriptions with a call to action, since that is what searchers will see in the search results.

Content – Write original content for each page that describes what the page is about and incorporates keywords from your theme. Use keywords naturally and sparingly for on-page SEO success! Overuse of keywords is considered keyword stuffing and can actually result in penalties for your website. Great content doesn’t directly impact your rankings, but it does affect your traffic, bounce rate and overall user satisfaction; so strive to write great content on all of your web pages that your readers will enjoy and find informative.

Internal Linking – Search engine spiders crawl websites via links, so if you forget to link to a page on your website, guess what? It won’t be indexed. Create a ‘flat’ link structure on your website, meaning that you can navigate to almost any page within three clicks. This type of linking makes it easy for users to navigate your website, and search engines to crawl your pages. Most importantly, make sure your robots.txt is set to ‘follow’, or it won’t matter how great your link structure is, search engines will not be able to crawl your pages.

301 Redirects- If you are doing a website redesign, this applies to you. It’s very important to redirect the pages from your old website to similar pages on your new website. Why? You want any link credit from outside links to be applied to your new pages. Also, if you are re-using any content from your old website, this can create duplicate content if the old pages aren’t redirected properly.

Post-Launch

The work isn’t over yet! The weeks following the launch are just as crucial. The most important thing you’ll need to do post-launch is making sure there aren’t any issues with your site’s functionality. Google Webmaster Tools is a great way to identify any broken links or other crawl errors that you may have missed. For a few weeks after launch, you’ll also want to keep an eye on your Google Analytics account, looking for any pages with extremely high bounce rates or drop-off rates. It could be an indicator that there is an error with the page, or the page needs some cosmetic/content changes to keep users interest. Viewing your Google accounts can give you a lot of insight into how users are interacting with sight, as well as revealing any errors.

Have a new website that you need help optimizing for SEO? Contact us, and we’d be happy to help or answer any questions!

Submitted by Erica Machin, Titan Growth