SEO before Replatforming - Good Idea?
-
Hello,
We are in the midst of a major replatforming of our current website, the process will take roughly six to nine more months to complete.
We are completing revamping our site - the new site will be on the same domain, but almost everything is changing - from the category structure, hierarchy, architecture, different regions on separate URLs will not be on the same with a currency converter, URLs - you name it, we're changing it.
There has been internal discussions for some time on whether we should hire an outside firm to help us with our SEO. I have a lot of experience in SEO but my role has changed recently and we have had trouble filling my previous role. We are not looking for help with the replatforming project, we have a great plan in place to preserve link equity, tags, etc. We are looking for general SEO help as if replatforming wasn't on the table.
My question is, is this smart to do before replatforming? In my opinion, it's not. Our new site will have completely different URLs and will be so dramatically different.
We could have someone do some keyword research, but we have already done the bulk of it. We have thought about and researched keywords for every new page we are creating. But from a technical SEO perspective, I don't see the point in getting someone.
In addition, we just had a major SEO audit done last year and we completed the tasks from that audit on the current site; however, most of the changes were technical, not content based.
Thoughts?
-
Agree with both reponces.
What is the imperative to have SEO done now? If you are in a seasonal retail business makes sence, but if you are not, what is the reason for this need now?
Bruce
-
KelG,
I'd say the answer to that depends on your specific immediate goals. There must be a reason you are discussing having SEO done before the replatforming--what is that reason. You may very well have a relatively short term issue that SEO can solve for you within a budget that makes sense. But then again, you may not. In order to answer, I think that objective would need to be made clear.
-
I agree with you KelG. I don't think it would be wise to do since "everything" will be changing. You may end up wasting a lot of time and creating more work once the site launches. You may need to redo a LOT. We like to work SMART, not HARD!
We are working on a similar project here and have been compiling all the data, strategies, ideas, etc. so that once the overhaul is complete we can then begin to implement. This way we are not just going through the motions.
However, as I'm sure you already know, there are other aspects you can focus on during this time like social media and whatnot. But that may get tricky too if you are linking to the site since the URL's may ultimately change.
Good luck tackling this mongoose!!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Negative seo problem
Hello, Someone attacked our website with negative SEO and our website fell drastically. If i use bing webmaster tools link explorer i see dozens and dozens spam links but if open a link i don't find this link in that website. Is it possible that someone added the links and then remove thouse links when we got hit? Or is it possible to hide the links that they don't show up on webpage but they are still there? How can i use Google disavow links tool if there is no links in thouse websites but Bing link explorer shows spam domains pointing to our website. BR, T
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | otsinguturundus0 -
Mentions or citations any SEO benefit?
Hi If my site gets mentioned on a site with the web address written out but not hyper-linked do I still get some SEO value from this or is it not giving any SEO benefit? Thanks Sean
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MotoringSEO1 -
SEO Company that bills on results?
After having bad experiences with a few seo and ppc companies, I would like to find a company that operates on the premise that they should get paid for producing results instead just for signing a contract. I'm not thinking that any payment is contingent results but that a large portion of the billing is. I also know that it can take several months to get to an seo goal so I'm not taking a "you have one month to fix our site or we don't pay" approach. Is there a company out there that has enough confidence in their white-hat processes that they actually back their services with some sort of guarantee?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | IanTheScot0 -
Where to begin (SEO-wise) with my Website?
Hello, We hired a company to design an e-commerce website for us. Along the way they did some initial SEO design, but we are clearly a long way from where we need to be. I'm not a web-designer or a knowledgeable SEO person. I have the website linked to webtools, google analytics and obviously this site as well. I've been toying with the idea of just trying to accomplish some SEO myself, but the more I read about SEO, the more daunting it seems. I'm a full-time military pilot, so this seems like it involves more time than I have to give. Where do I begin? My Website www.phoenixprintingsolutions.com Thanks in advance
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JRodBeMe0 -
Microsite campaign good or bad idea for SERP
I have a group of microsites for renters insurance, mostly geo long-tails. I wrote some content and have a GREAT back-end through Kemper. First 4 weeks they all did great. It looks like Panda went through on June 25 and by the 27'th they got moved totally out of the SERP. I have 67 microsites. All have unique contact (about us, why us, benefits...). I post to them often; not all of them but i put up about 10 new posts / week. Havent done much SEO, no link building or anything that could be spammy or causeing trouble. I have them in webmaster tools and no messages about problems. If i've been penalized or if something is seriously wrong i'd like to know. I know that Google can see 67 websites all on 1 ip but i'm not trying to fool or trick Gbot so not interested in using proxies or specialty hosts with many ip's.If there is no critical flaw, next i'm just going to continue writing content, buy traffic, and build quality backlinks. Your comments are appreciated. Not one site is in top 1000 as far as i can see, and all were in top 30 by week 4. Banned on week 5, today is week 12.http://onlinerentersinsurance.orgIf you want to see the other 66, click on the 'renters insurance' link on the right. Its a random link through the micronetwork.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Lifequotes0 -
# element above Menu - Is there any SEO Value to it
Is there any Value to having the H1 element above the MENU in a Typical Application ? My intention is to tell the "Bot" that the H1 element is more important than the Menu Items . Are there any examples of such sites . The closest that I have seen is (NOT MY SITES) http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/ and http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/cheap-flights/from-dallas-texas/1531/?airport_code=dfw&depsub=1&c2calert=0&deal_alert=0&from_hp=true Here they (second link) they have H1 above the Bread Crumb ( they dont have any menu though).
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Chaits0 -
Local SEO (Rankings) + UK-wide SEO (national rankings) - achieving both
Hi All, For clients wishing to sell online / generate leads nationally, yet still want to have a local online presence to attract town / county-wide customers, I've often placed Town / County locations within both the Title Tag (or just County if space is limited) and Meta Description, plus within the Hx headings, Alt-text and within the footer of every page. My question is, does adding the location of the client within these fields really infringe their attempts to rank nationally, as some nationally ranked pages have no mention of location while others have their location (Town, County or Both) shown within them? Any help, insight or feedback greatly appreciated 🙂 Happy New Year Tony
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Tony-Dimmock0 -
SEO from Godaddy How Good is it?
http://www.godaddy.com/search-engine/seo-services.aspx?ci=44163 it said "Includes Standard Search Engine Visibility to Improve Search Rankings" it begs for question... Search Engine Visibility??? Improve SERP?!?!!? is it really that good? O.o; or have i successfully been eaten my promotional messages? Can anyone with experience with them share some information with me ? 🙂 (The price tag is mighty interesting)
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | IKT0