Would a mass data update have a negative effect on SEO?

[frankandmaven]

We have a large eCommerce site with the ability to do an export, change data, and import new data in mass. Over the 15 years that this site has been growing, it has accumulated several inconsistencies in product titles, descriptions, title tags, etc.

The question is: If we were to update thousands of product titles (

's on those pages) and some of the descriptions, would it have a negative SEO impact because of the groundbreaking number of products effected? Or would it only be for the better if they were all technically improvements (both in SEO and UX)?

Thanks!

[webtheoria.com]

I totally agree that is scary, but then again safe.

But if I were in your shoes, I would make the change over a period of some time. As you are actually making the changes, which am guessing takes some time, you can at the same time uploading them so that Google views this effort as it is, an effort, and not a one day thing.

but on the other hand, you are not doing something wrong, just remember not to over-optimise!

[hectordlux]

I think it should not be a problem if what is intended is to fix and improve the descriptions and labels for your products. It is true that these things take a little scary.

[LSIversen]

I fully agree with Andy on this one.

If it fixes some mistakes and adds SEO-value I'd rather expect you to get positive results - not negative. As long as the URL's stay the same and that you're not making any groundbreaking changes (completely changing the product or something like that) I don't see any harm in getting stuff cleaned up at the same time.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Hi Christopher,

If all you are talking about is a few thousand pages, I wouldn't worry about it. Google handles enormous sites that have hundreds of thousands of pages added and removed with huge frequency. I can't think of any reason why this would be a negative hit if all you are doing is correcting your content.

-Andy