Huge drop after redesign

[autolock]

Please could I get some advice from any of you guys that have had experience with website redesigns.

I have just done a complete site redesign and 301 redirected old url's.

Just noticed a keyword has dropped, massively! it has taken Google a week to list the new url, and now it has, the key term for that page has dropped from position 4 page 1 to page 10!!!!

Ive read that a temporary slight ranking drop with redesigns is normal and to be expected. Obviously im very anxious and would love some reassurance that this is all ok and normal. Page 1 to page 10 is not what I would call a slight drop!

How long should I expect it to take to regain ranking? Is there anything I can do to bring the ranking back up quicker?

With this particular keyword on page 10 its going to be a quiet day in the office :-(

Cheers for any advice.

[grgmathew]

Please could I get some advice from any of you guys that have had experience with website redesigns.

I have just done a complete site redesign and 301 redirected old url's.

Just noticed a keyword has dropped, massively! it has taken Google a week to list the new url, and now it has, the key term for that page has dropped from position 4 page 1 to page 10!!!!

Ive read that a temporary slight ranking drop with redesigns is normal and to be expected. Obviously im very anxious and would love some reassurance that this is all ok and normal. Page 1 to page 10 is not what I would call a slight drop!

How long should I expect it to take to regain ranking? Is there anything I can do to bring the ranking back up quicker?

With this particular keyword on page 10 its going to be a quiet day in the office :-(

Cheers for any advice.

In my opinion redesigning does not affect any ranking. If you have developed new site and doing 301 redirect then it shouldn't be much of a worry. It might take time a bit to gain ranking back to normal.

Do check if all your url has been correctly redirected using 301. This is only where the link juice will pass and any mistake on this part would lead to loss of ranking. So check twice.

[thegodfather]

Drops can happen after a redesign - I've experienced it on numerous occasions... Personally, I don't feel it's the problem of the code changing itself too much, I feel it's the potential upheaval of the site's content.

Along with the redesign of the site structure, did you make big changes to the actual content of the page in question?

[autolock]

Drops can happen after a redesign - I've experienced it on numerous occasions... Personally, I don't feel it's the problem of the code changing itself too much, I feel it's the potential upheaval of the site's content.

Along with the redesign of the site structure, did you make big changes to the actual content of the page in question?

Yep all new content along with new design. Content is written better than before IMHO

[thegodfather]

Yep all new content along with new design. Content is written better than before IMHO

OK, it may well be Google getting to grips with the new content - assessing it and trying to get a picture of the relevancy to the subject matter.

Time-frame wise, how long has it been since the redesign and new content implemented?

[autolock]

Ok cheers, that's what I'm hoping, but I have not been in this situation before so just looking for reassurance. New design went live 7 days ago. Lots if the old urls are still in googles index. In some cases the old and new are listed side by side for some queries. The one I'm concerned about has just been indexed with the new URL and dropped off to pg 10. I'm hoping this is temporary until google assesses it properly?

[thegodfather]

Ok cheers, that's what I'm hoping, but I have not been in this situation before so just looking for reassurance. New design went live 7 days ago. Lots if the old urls are still in googles index. In some cases the old and new are listed side by side for some queries. The one I'm concerned about has just been indexed with the new URL and dropped off to pg 10. I'm hoping this is temporary until google assesses it properly?

To be honest, a week isn't a long time and I am fairly certain Google is still in the midst of analysing the new structure and assessing the relevancy of your new content.

I would sit tight for now and wait to see what happens over the next week or so before making any judgements.

[grgmathew]

did you make big changes to the actual content of the page in question?

I am amazed with the prediction of yours. Its always like you are a medical doctor and can check the a patient checking the nerves.

[thegodfather]

I am amazed with the prediction of yours. Its always like you are a medical doctor and can check the a patient checking the nerves.

No predictions. When you work in this industry long enough, you develop checklists in your brain and on paper that you go through meticulously until you come up with a either a solution or a strategic plan

[Darrin Ward]

All new content + all new design at the same time is a pretty dramatic change. An important part of the equation now is going to be does this new design and content get links, because essentially it's an entirely new site.

[KernelPanic]

Did you keep the same title elements?

[autolock]

Did you keep the same title elements?

No changed all content, titles, h1's and descriptions. You commented in my last post about the titles if you remember,
http://forums.seochat.com/google-optimization-7/new-site-design-to-combat-the-panda-463422.html

Should I change them back?

[Test-ok]

If I recall you were ranking for a few phrases on your old site, they weren't #1 but a few were on page 1, that was back in Feb. though.
If you were still ranking in the same positions, I would make everything the same on the new site, meaning all seo options (as you described above) so you can see if you have any issues with the change over or design, once you know the new design is fine, then start tweaking the seo elements. With all the changes you've done..it's impossible to know what the problem is...and in your case I'm sure there's more than one.

[KernelPanic]

No changed all content, titles, h1's and descriptions. You commented in my last post about the titles if you remember,
http://forums.seochat.com/google-optimization-7/new-site-design-to-combat-the-panda-463422.html

Should I change them back?

Well that's sort of the problem with asking questions without giving all the facts. You didnt say in this thread that your site has been fuxx00rd by penguin. Why didn't you continue the original thread?

Why would you 301 filtered pages to a new page? Best advice I could give is start over with a new domain, hire someone to get you headed in the right direction before you do any more damage.

With even a little knowledge of SEO you should be able to rank within a few months with such low competitive key phrases.

[DarrenHaye]

Just a brief history recap, hopefully I get all the facts right here.

His site may of had penguin issues, and it may of had panda issues, according to Dr.Marie who did a analysis for him.

His homepage was still on the first page for his main keyword though which I thought was strange if it had been hit by penguin.. my guess was maybe the low quality sites linking to him were the ones hit directly.

Now he changed his sites content to help with the possible panda issue..

I've never overhauled a site before so I can't say how they tend to react. drop/bounce back.. hopefully it will.

I know you were going to set up a second site a while ago and start afresh, did you ever get on that? .