301ing entire E-Com website - Using TopPages Report as a Guide
-
Hi Folks,
My company is in discussions with an ERP provider to migrate our existing website to a new backend system, new url structures..the whole 9 yards.
We have over 15,000 products, and a lot of "odd" url structures created by an outdated system that we were unable to adjust. All and all, if you're talking about a raw url count, it's in the 100s of thousands.
During discussions, we were told that bulk 301 redirects would be a problem. They could be performed manually though (greaaattt).
Due to this, I ran an OpenSite Explorer report, and isolated our top pages. After exporting the CSV, I was able to breakout "all" urls that have links from other domains.
My question is, has anyone used the OpenSite Explorer on a website of similar size, to form the basis of a migration? Do you have enough confidence in the tool to use it in this way, or should we re-negotiate our agreement until a way can be found to mass 301 ALL urls. I'm at least a little concerned that OpenSite Explorer isn't indexing all of the links out there. Gasp..or would there be a better tool to accomplish what I'm trying to do?
Thanks!
-
As much as we love OSE here, it is not a good bet for doing a complete inventory of your entire current site. I'd probably recommend a desktop crawler, like Xenu or Screaming Frog. See my comparison post here:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/crawler-faceoff-xenu-vs-screaming-frog
I've got to believe that there's some logic that could connect the old and new URLs, though, even if it has to go through a database look-up. Creating 15,000 manual redirect rules isn't only going to be a huge pain, it may cause a huge processing bottleneck. I'd really push back on what "can't" means and why it can't be done. Too often, "can't" is code for "don't want to", in my experience.
-
OK...that makes it more difficult.
I was hoping that you might have some files whose filenames would be retained and would only need to move from one directory location to another within your new site structure.
Since it is possible to redirect the entire contents of a directory to another directory with a single line of code, this would have made it easier.
Sha
-
Hi Sha, thanks for your response.
1. Yes, we will use the same domain but structure will be completely changed.
2. Unfortunately, our current CMS is so backward, that it will be a complete file name and, directory change.
Thanks!
-
Thanks..great answer..and yeah, that's pretty much how I feel with that last sentence..ugghhh..
-
Just to clarify what you are doing here, a couple of questions:
- ... am I correct in assuming that you are wanting to use the same domain, but the site structure will be changed?
- Also, will there be ANY pages within the new structure that might simply be moved to a different location within the same domain (for example move from root directory to /sub directory), but retain the same file name?
These things will make a difference as to how you can approach the issue.
Sha
-
As far as I can tell, Open Site Explorer doesn't show all the links - in fact it shows only a very tiny proportion of the links to your site. Yahoo site Explorer, while it's still available, is a more accurate list of links to your site. For example on our little site, OSE shows 30 in bound links, but Yahoo shows almost 300!! As painful as it may be, I would 301 every page, but do them in SE Rank order, it only has to be done once, and when it's done it's done. That said, I'm surprised your web company can't find a way to automate it?!
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
-
Exact Keyword is Used in Page Title & Exact Keyword Used in Document Text at Least Once
Hi Folks, I have a page https://purplegriffon.com/courses/itil-training/itil-foundation-training/itil-foundation that grades with the 'On-Page Grader' as a B grade for the keyword 'itil foundation' but reports that there is no 'Exact Keyword is Used in Page Title' and 'Exact Keyword Used in Document Text at Least Once'. The thing is, it actually is but because of IP (intellectual property) rights we have to include a '®' (®) symbol when we mention the course title 'ITIL® Foundation'. Now I believe Google is smart enough to recognise that this symbol should not be included but it seems that for the specific criteria mentioned above, the MOZ bot isn't smart enough to recognise this, even though it recognises the keyword usage elsewhere. So my question is this. Would this constitute an issue in terms of ranking? Another question I have, is how significant are the gains with shorter URL's? For example, the URL to the page in question is: https://purplegriffon.com/courses/itil-training/itil-foundation-training/itil-foundation Would a URL such as below have a significant effect on SEO?: https://purplegriffon.com/courses/itil-foundation Thanks for your feedback.
Moz Pro | | PurpleGriffon0 -
Looking to pull a report from MOZ with global search volume
I'm in need of a monthly report on campaign keywords with rank AND global search volume (not "just" traffic.) Is this doable from MOZ? More generally, what does monthly SEO reporting to the C-Suite look like for most SEO's? Would be a good "#WhiteboardFriday" topic. We are a mid sized ecommerce retailer.
Moz Pro | | TEMurray0 -
Keyword Difficulty Tool - How to use it the best way?
Hi, I am freshman, both, here on SEOmoz and in SEO generally and have a question concerning the assessment of KW difficulty. I did browse through the Q&A-Section (great content!!) but could not find a relevant answer to my problem. So I am currently building my initial keyword list, our website is only 2 months old, so we are still in the very early stage. Fashion is a very competitive area, so the KW Diff. Tool indicates high difficulty for a lot of words and phrases. however, I identified some with percentages <50 or even lower than that. Then I compared the results of the SEOmoz tool to Google Adwards and the Google results for competitiveness differed significantly. For example: for the KW Personal Shopping I got KWD from Seomoz 33% (in Germany) and from Google 0,5 for broad and 0,64 for exact search. I am quite confused how to make the right choices for my KWs now. Which metrics should I consider most? What else apart from the competition factor is behind the metric KW diff.? Does it matter in any way that I search from Germany for Germany in German? Do you have any further recommendations for the process of identifying the best Kws? Thanks a lot in advance, best from Berlin Tani
Moz Pro | | TaniBogi0 -
Will Social be Incorporated into the New Reports Interface
Just wondering if there are plans to integrate the social media reporting section with the new "Reports" section. Having a social section in the new Reports interface that could show weekly/monthly/yearly Facebook and Twitter interactions would be awesome to have all in one PDF report with the rest of the reporting options.
Moz Pro | | noBulMedia0 -
Inbound Links Report Problem
While looking over my competitors inbound link report, they have a reported 5K inbound links. The first 20 listed inbound domains are things like UPS, and other sites that when I look at them, and the source file has no link to their domain at all??? So are they using some kind of Black Hat technique, or is SEOMoz not reporting properly? Help please.
Moz Pro | | WBConsulting0 -
Pro Dashboard Rankings Report not accurate for the UK?
We rank in the top 5 consistently for our keywords on www.google.co.uk However, the ranking report (set to Google UK) shows that we don't appear in the top 50. When looking in more detail at the keyword in question, it shows the top ranking sites to be all US sites with .com domains that don't rank at all on google.co.uk. Can anyone shed some light on this or tell me if there is any way of getting accurate ranking reports via SEOmoz tools for UK sites, so I don't have to do it manually? Thanks in advance
Moz Pro | | heatherrobinson0 -
Best Keyword Ranking Report Tool
What's the best keyword ranking report tool that anyone is using currently? I have used CuteRank (booo), Rank Tracker, SEOBook.com Rank Tracker, etc. Cost isn't an issue - I'm looking for a free or a paid tool. I need to be able to export resutls in PDF and Excel format. Thanks for the feedback!
Moz Pro | | ezclickmedia0