SEO Help

[mrvillicus]

I changed from weebly to opencart a month ago and now my google ranking is terrible, when with weebly I was number 1. I have been told that the poor ranking is because when I changed sites I did not complete the 301 redirects, if I can get instruction how and where to do this I'am quite capable of doing it myself. I have managed to grab some of my old weebly urls as google it still using them, my question is....considering I sell over 50 items, do I really need to complete redirects for every item? I can't redirect each previous item google lists as that individually unique item may have sold.

So would it make sense foe me to redirect the old main pages, such as home, about us, contact us, and then whatever content pages that are left?

Thanks Ben

 

[DesignerNick]

Redirect any page indexed in Google, it will tell the crawler where the New pages are

 

[mrvillicus]

even pages that are no longer being used which were products now sold?

 

[Shirlyn]

Yes it is important. You can set the rules in .htaccess file to make things easier.

 

[redacris]

Use Redirect to your new website

 

[branddesignexperts]

In Google Webmaster change the address. Use the new URL. Create and submit xml sitemap with new URLs in Webmaster. Also use pinging services to ping the new URLs

 

[fisicx]

I have been told that the poor ranking is because when I changed sites I did not complete the 301 redirects, if I can get instruction how and where to do this I'am quite capable of doing it myself.

You won't be able to do a 301 from the weebly site as you don't have the right access.

You just need to be patient and wait for google to catch up.

Ignore the XML and pinging advice - both are pointless in this case.

PS: I'm getting a security certificate warning on your website

 

[branddesignexperts]

Ignore the XML and pinging advice - both are pointless in this case.

XML sitemap is one of the important ranking factor. There are many ways to use xml sitemap and robot.txt files to let Google know about the redirection of the certain pages. Google on own can index the redirects, but to make it fast one can use the XML sitemap. One can avoid the pinging services, but I delivered good results for some of my clients with pinging services.

 

[fisicx]

Have you read the Google standards on XML sitemaps? It is not an important ranking factor, it's just a signpost to Google that there is new or changed content. The OPs site is already indexed so there is no point is submitting a sitemap. And please explain how you use a sitemap for redirections?

Note however a badly built XML sitemap can harm your ranking.

 

[branddesignexperts]

Have you read the Google standards on XML sitemaps? It is not an important ranking factor, it's just a signpost to Google that there is new or changed content. The OPs site is already indexed so there is no point is submitting a sitemap. And please explain how you use a sitemap for redirections?

Note however a badly built XML sitemap can harm your ranking.

Google never ever disclose its ranking factors. Matt Cutt, however sent some signals that helps ranking. Google only support their tools with their suggestions and updates.

As per Google - "Submitting sitemaps can be an important part of optimizing websites. Sitemaps enable search engines to discover all pages on a site and to download them quickly when they change"

XML sitemap is a less weighted summary of the website which is easy to read and websites that are in PHP and ASPX are helped a lot by xml as Google loves HTML and XML is just an extension.

 

[fisicx]

They are not a ranking signal. Google tells you this on their sitemap page.

And as I said, if the site has already been indexed (and it has) a sitemap is now pointless.

 

[branddesignexperts]

I am not saying xml sitemap is a ranking signal or not. All I want to say that Google hardly reveals out the factor that can help in getting the rank fast.

XML sitemap just helps in updating search engines about the new page and content update in any page. The new content may compromise referral keywords to any particular keyword that can help in ranking.

 

[fisicx]

I am not saying xml sitemap is a ranking signal or not.

Yes you did:

XML sitemap is one of the important ranking factor

 

[FreeRangeWeb]

Hi Ben
Yes, redirect every page using 301 redirects. Resubmit your site map (it certainly wont do any harm). Keep checking in Google Webmaster Tools to ensure there are no 404 errors etc.
I would also suggest adding some keyword rich informative text/blogs to the site to give Google something new to chew on.
You could also run your site through seositecheckup dot com - it is by no means a perfect tool but it does cover quite a few important areas.

 

[antropy]

You won't be able to do a 301 from the weebly site as you don't have the right access.

But if the domain has been moved over to a new OpenCart site you could implement the redirects easily enough in .htaccess.