Brand Values and the Bottom Line 1 1

Brand Values and the Bottom Line 1 1. Why You Should Read This Guide 3

2. Common Obstacles to Avoid 4

3. Website Structure 7

4. Keyword Research 8

5. Meta Information 9 Contents 6. Body Content 11

7. Internal Site Linking 12

8. URL Equity 13

9. The Elements of URL Equity 14

10. Assessing URL Equity 15

11. The Consequences of Redesigning Without a URL Strategy 16

12. Migrating URL Equity 17

13. Summary 18

14. Appendix 1 19

15. Appendix 2 20

16. About Investis Digital 21

Brand Values and the Bottom Line 2 1. Why You Should Read This Guide

Best Practices: SEO for Website Redesign & Migration outlines organic search optimization best practices for a website redesign, as well as factors to consider in order to maintain the URL equity during a domain or platform migration. This guide illustrates the common pitfalls that you can avoid in the redesign phase of a website, making it possible for a site to gain better visibility within search engines results. Additionally, Best Practices: SEO for Website Redesign & Migration explains the importance of setting up all aspects of a website, To do a deep dive including: directory structure, file names, page content and internal into SEO for website linking. Finally, we illustrate case study examples of successful site redesign and redesigns. migration, contact Reading this guide will set you up Investis Digital. for SEO success when you undergo a website redesign. The guide will We’re here to help. help you avoid costly errors and gain more traffic, leading to valuable conversions. We discuss some required tasks when a migration occurs, such as managing URL equity properly. But because migrations and redesigns often happen at the same time (rarely does one happen without the other), we also discuss some fundamental actions that you need to take with a site redesign. Those include doing effective keyword research and writing compelling body copy.

BrandBest Practices: Values and SEO the for Bottom Website Line Redesign & Migration 3 2. Common Obstacles to Avoid

Before you plan any website redesign, it’s essential that you first understand the obstacles that could sabotage your efforts – especially in making your content findable by search engines.

Today’s web development technology and website platforms take advantage of visually appealing designs that may be attractive to visitors with high-speed connections and fast computers. However, these designs are not compatible with older computers, slower connection speeds, or simplistic search engine spider technology. In addition, robust content management systems and analytical enhancements can severely hinder visibility for core keywords, leaving money on the table. Beware of these “gotchas”:

BrandBest Practices: Values and SEO the for Bottom Website Line Redesign & Migration 4 01 04

Java-Script Navigation: Search Deep Folder Structures: Much engine spiders have a hard time like dynamic URLs, unnecessary executing JavaScript. Website folders provide little to no value content that is accessible only by for the search engines. Directory these forms of navigation is not structures should be kept one- likely to be indexed. Additionally, to-two folders deep (if possible), such links do not contribute to with your most important pages on the site’s overall link popularity. the top level. If additional folders Most JavaScript Navigation can cannot be removed, name them be replaced with CSS or DHTML. accordingly.

02 05

Dynamic URLs: Dynamic URLs are Non-Permanent Redirects: If a a common side effect of most redirect of a page is required and content management systems. is going to be permanent, use a These URLs are problematic permanent 301 server-side redirect. because they provide little to no This not only points search engines information about the page itself. in the right direction, it transfers URLs play an important role in the existing link equity of the older search engine rankings, and should, page to the newer one. Typically, therefore, be rewritten to include all other types of redirects should relevant keywords (See the Website be avoided. This includes 302, Structure section of this document). JavaScript redirect, and META refresh.

03 06

Session IDs: Using session User-Action Requirements: Search IDs in your URL strings will engine spiders are not capable of confuse search engine spiders. completing user actions to access Each time the spider visits information. This would include your page, it receives a new ID information like age verification, (new URL); this will be seen as zip codes, or the use of an internal duplicate content, and those search box. Instead, give search pages will be dropped from their engine spiders direct access to index. In addition, session IDs this information via text-based severely reduce link popularity hyperlinks. If necessary, user-agent filtration. Identify search spiders detection can allow spiders to (Googlebot) via user-agent bypass the user-action. detection and remove these IDs.

BestBrand Practices: Values and SEO the for Bottom Website Line Redesign & Migration 5 07 10

Broken Links: Broken links send Lack of Body Content: Some form a message to the search engines of relevant content should be on that your website is being all pages. Ideally, each page should updated too infrequently or is have at least one small paragraph badly maintained. It is important of unique content supporting your that check your website for target keyword phrases. If content broken links on a regular basis blocks are not an option, you must using tools such as Screaming ensure that your tier-one and tier- Frog. two level pages utilize text-based headers (

).
08 11
Redirect Chains: A redirect chain Robots.txt File: Search engine occurs when there is more than spiders use this file to understand one redirect between the initial what pages on your website they URL and the destination URL. This can access. Pages with valuable creates crawl limitations while content should not be inadvertently also reducing any chance of equity blocked in this file. To allow all transfer. search engine spiders access to all areas of your website, simply place the following two lines into a text file, put it on the root level of your domain, and name it robots.txt: user-agent: *Disallow
09 12
Content in Images: Search engine Incorrect Robots Meta Tag: The use spiders cannot index valuable of the noindex or nofollow META content embedded within an tags will prevent pages of your image file. In most cases, you website from being indexed. Below can create a similar effect using is an example of the tag: plain text, style sheets, and such as sIFR can also be considered.
BestBrand Practices: Values and SEO the for Bottom Website Line Redesign & Migration 6 3. Website Structure
It’s critical to consider several Best practices for key components when laying out website structure: the structure of your website. The decisions you make about • Folders (or directories) should contain the naming conventions of your relevant keywords based on the theme of folders and files, and the way each section (see Keyword Research section in which you point to specific on next page). Be as descriptive as possible, pages of your website, can have as these naming conventions should mimic a huge impact on overall traffic your site’s navigational structure. and sales. It is important to build various optimization elements Example: Having a “Outerwear” company into the initial structure of the on your website, the navigational website: structure should look something like: https://redkap.com/Products/Category/36
• Each web page file name should include relevant keywords, based on the unique theme of that page. Ideally, the URL structure should mimic your site’s navigational structure.
• Break up keyword phrases with dashes (-) in file and folder names. Search engines will see these as a space between two keywords.
• Create a clean and easy-to-understand global navigational structure. Ensure that your navigational elements are as descriptive as possible, and are text-based. Bread-crumbs also make your page visible to spiders. Enable them on all levels of the website if possible.
• Use canonical tags; decide if you want visitors to see www.domain.com or domain.com. The version you do not want to utilize is a 301 permanent redirect to the other (Usually the “www.” version is best).
• Place all JavaScript and CSS in external files.
BestBrand Practices: Values and SEO the for Bottom Website Line Redesign & Migration 7 4. Keyword Research
Search engines require the Guidelines to selecting presence of keywords in links, effective keywords: copy, and other page elements, including URLs, as mentioned • Start with a general topic and above in order for pages to work on derivatives of related become visible in the search terms and phrases from there. results for a given query. Over time, the increased frequency of • Experiment with popular these phrases throughout the site keyword research tools like will effectively increase webpage Google Adwords, MOZ, or visibility across the major search SEMrush. engines. • Consider the terms you would Prior to development (folder use if searching for this names, navigational elements, information. etc.), determine specific keywords to target within the • Be aware that consumers may various sections and pages of search for information using your website. With a better different terms than those used understanding of your users’ within the organization. search behavior, you’ll be able • Target one-to-three keywords or to incorporate relevant high- phrases per webpage. volume keywords into your site’s structure from the beginning. • If you have access to server log Here are some recommendations files or site analytics, look there to help you understand effective first to determine how people keyword selection. are currently finding your site. • Increase granular targeting, focus on keywords and phrases that reflect the precise theme and content of the page. They are less competitive, and convert at a higher percentage.
BestBrand Practices: Values and SEO the for Bottom Website Line Redesign & Migration 8 5. Meta Information
The webpage header must contain certain META information. Two tags should be included here: the title tag and the META- description tag.
The tag is the most heavily weighted header element by search engines. Without proper implementation, it can lower the ranking of a particular page. A well-constructed <title> will not only be listed highly in the search engine results pages, it will also increase the click-through rate of a website.BrandBest Practices: Values and SEO the for Bottom Website Line Redesign & Migration 9 Best practices for title elements:• A unique <title> tag should be present on every page. • Include the most targeted and relevant keyword first. • The readable title length should be less than 67 characters (including spaces) to ensure uniform readability across all major engines. • Create a <title> that is appealing and enticing to search visitors. Along with the META description, the <title> tag is often the first impression a searcher will have about a website. • Use a call-to-action whenever possible. • Avoid redundancy in the frequency of keywords and phrases. • Do not use irrelevant keywords. • Target one-to-three keywords depending on the competitive set (long titles will dilute keyword effectiveness).<meta-description>: The META description tag delivers important messaging about a site’s page to search engine users, though it carries little weight in how engines rank pages. If written effectively, search engines will trigger the META description when copy matches a search query. This puts some control back into the hands of the content producer, as opposed to the search engine. When META descriptions lack valuable matching keywords, search engines are forced to grab snippets of text from the page, wherever there may be a match.Best practices for meta description copywriting:• Write unique descriptions for every page to avoid being placed in supplemental results. • Include keywords relevant to the page so search engines will see the META description, as opposed to grabbing snippets of page text. • Write a clear, concise, two to three sentence paragraph incorporating targeted keywords for each page. • The first two sentences of well-written page copy often serve as the framework for effective META description tags. They offer a simple means for including all best practices shown here. • Different search queries and devices have different length META descriptions. If most of your users are navigating to the site on a mobile device, optimize your META description length for mobile. Keep mobile META descriptions to 100-120 characters in length, including spaces. Check the results and see how your META description looks and optimize accordingly. Desktop META descriptions can be longer, typically up to 158 characters. But lengths can vary with different search queries so check the results and adjust accordingly. • Remember, while the META description is not weighted heavily in search algorithms, it offers searchers an important glimpse into the content of your website.BrandBest Practices: Values and SEO the for Bottom Website Line Redesign & Migration 10 6. Body ContentGood copy is just as important to the effectiveness and credibility of your website as it is to search engines. Keyword choice, frequency, placement, spacing, and titles are all attributes that search algorithms may include in their ranking calculation. Even minor content modifications can have a major impact on keyword rankings. Additionally, it is important you publish content that people want to read about and link to. Great content will also be viewed as quality content by visitors, building confidence in your prospects.• Use relevant keywords and phrases in the first paragraph that match your page <title> theme. • Use relevant keywords in page headings and subheadings. • Modify broad words to match frequently searched phrases, as long as they are relevant to the theme of the page. • When possible, use 200 words or more. This is your chance to get descriptive and provide the consumer with detailed information. • Past tense, present tense, singular and plural versions of a keyword all contribute to increased visibility for the term or phrase. • Provide decent spacing of your keywords. Identical keywords shouldn’t be used more than once every few sentences. • Break up large blocks of content with bullets and subheadings, ideally using <h2> or <h3> tags. • If applicable, link to other relevant pages within your site from your main body content. This will help reinforce the theme of each page while promoting crawlability. • Don’t duplicate content on multiple pages. If you have a standard tag line or disclaimer make sure there is plenty of other unique content on the page. Also, consider placing standard page text, like disclaimer information, in an image. • Under no circumstances should you use hidden text or text that closely matches your page background.BrandBest Practices: Values and SEO the for Bottom Website Line Redesign & Migration 11 7. Internal Site LinkingInternal linkage between a website’s pages plays an important role in how search engines perceive relevancy for specific keyword phrases. The way in which you point (or link) to any given page helps the search engines understand that page before they even get there. Best practices for creating site links:• Use descriptive text-based links in your main navigation. If this is not possible, place descriptive text links in your footer. • Navigational elements should coincide with the theme of the page you are pointing to. • Limit the number of links on any given page to 100. • Do not stuff keywords or use excessive text in <a href="/tags/Anchor_text/" rel="tag">anchor text</a>. • In general, it’s best to use absolute path links rather than relative path links, especially when linking to your homepage. www.domain.com, www.domain.com/, www.domain.com/index. xxx and domain.com can all be seen as unique pages. It is important you are consistent. www.domain.com is recommended for use site-wide. • Create a text-based sitemap that includes, at minimum, the most important pages on your website. The sitemap should contain all pages on your website when possible. • Outbound links are important as well. Find great content to link to from many different pages on your website to help reinforce the relevance of your content.Best Practices: SEO for Website Redesign & Migration 12 8. URL EquityOne major element of any redesign is the treatment of URL equity, which is the sum of several important values tied into URL structure. The lack of URL strategy in a site redesign is a great threat to your ability to be visible to search engines. Being indifferent about URLs means that a single variable implemented in the development or planning process has the potential to erase years of positive gains. The impact of ignoring URL structures is felt in years of lost links, search engine traffic, indexed pages, sales and conversions, and search investments. This is not to suggest that sites should never be redesigned, or that URLs should not be renamed. There are many legitimate reasons to alter URLs, including revamping of the user path and experience, changing technical platforms, or removing content. A redesign should be treated as an opportunity to bridge current equity and to maintain a sustainable URL structure that will position a site for a long-term positive organic search presence. Understanding the inherent value of URLs will not only help bridge accrued organic search gains, but also bridge a site’s search engine reputation for years to come.BestBrand Practices: Values and SEO the for Bottom Website Line Redesign & Migration 13 9. The Elements of URL EquityUniform Resource Locators (also known as Uniform Resource Identifiers or URIs) are the axis point for all traffic that runs throughout a site. A site’s URL equity is composed of the following elements:Link Equity: This is the positive buildup of links over time, both to the homepage and the internal URL structure of a site. Links may come from many places such as blogs, news sites, authority sites, directories, or internal site pages. It is not uncommon for many major brands to have hundreds of thousands, or even millions of quality links pointing to a domain and deep internal site structures. Links and other “off-page” factors are now the most crucial element in how search engines retrieve their results. Preservation of existing links alone is a strong enough reason to maintain URL equity and organic search engine presence. Where there is link equity, there can also be link liability. If a domain or URL has been banned in an engine due to bad linking practices, then another URL should be considered.Positive Search Engine Equity: Positive search engine equity is gained from the history of search engine crawling, indexing, and retrieving over time. URLs are like a serial number for a document, and search engines use domains and internal URLs as the reference point for these processes. For sites that do not spam and have a positive history with the search engines, URLs become more trusted over time. Using new URLs or domains in a redesign means that engines must start the crawling, indexing, and retrieval processes over again. Search optimizers share the common knowledge that legacy domains and trusted URLs are like gold; if a domain or trusted URL structure is several years old or older, there is a distinct advantage over sites built on newer domains and structures. As mentioned above, a current or previous ban in the engines indicates a liability. In that case, renaming may still be a positive step for a redesign.Bookmark Equity: One additional (and often overlooked) factor in assessing URL equity is bookmark traffic. A bookmark represents a site conversion for visitors who have found useful content and will return later. Failure to bridge the gap for converted visitors is a poor usability experience because these visitors are left hanging with their intentions unfulfilled.Search Investment: Costs are incurred whether organic search is performed in-house, by an agency or by a consultant. When URLs change without a plan, there is a risk of completely wiping out search investments. This could include previous link development campaigns, general site promotion designed to drive traffic to deep site URLs, or implementation of general search engine-based web design practices.BrandBest Practices: Values and SEO the for Bottom Website Line Redesign & Migration 14 10. Assessing URL EquityOnce website stakeholders understand the value in preserving URL structures in a redesign, there are many considerations for assessing the quality of existing link structures. To assess the value of URLs prior to redesign, consider the following:• Quality of Inbound Home Page and Deep Site Links: does the site contain links from authority sites? Are there any .gov or .edu links (engines give higher weight to these links)? Time should be spent reviewing hundreds, or even thousands of links via manual backlink check in a major search engine. Identify and prioritize these links. • Age and History of Domain and URLs: the age of a domain and internal URL structure can also have a positive impact on a site’s search visibility. Asking the following questions will help assess this value: • When was the domain registered? • How long has it been online? • Has the web host always been reliable? • How long has the existing URL structure been in place, and does the current structure perform well in the engines? • URL Liabilities: URLs can also have a negative history that could reduce the search performance of a website. If a site has ever engaged in tactics looked down upon by the search engines, or has been banned at any time, a change of domain may be considered. • URLs and Their Existing Search Traffic: GA, Omniture, or other analytics applications should provide a good indicator of which internal site pages are performing well, looking primarily at search engine referrals and traffic. If any pages stand above the rest, take extra care with the transition of these pages and URLs in a site redesign, and ask the following questions: • Are internal pages pulling high volume search traffic? • Why are these pages performing well (link traffic, search engine traffic, etc.)? • Does the sum of all non-homepage pages refer substantial traffic? • Deep Link Ratio: calculate the deep link ratio to determine the aggregate percentage of internal site links compared against the homepage. This number is a great indicator into how search engines value internal site content. This ratio can be calculated by adding the total number of internal links (minus the homepage backlinks), divided by the total number of inbound site links. BrandBest Practices: Values and SEO the for Bottom Website Line Redesign & Migration 15 11. The Consequences of Redesigning Without a URL StrategyRedesigning a site without paying attention to these values can have a tremendous negative impact on search visibility. This negative impact may create the following issues for search engine visibility:• Indexed pages drop out of the search engines. • New site pages cannot be found by crawlers. • Backlink history is lost. • Navigation becomes difficult, and visitors cannot find what they are looking for. • Bookmarks are rendered useless, leading to “not found” error pages. • Server bandwidth is wasted. • Valuable site traffic is lost. • Lost conversions and sales happen.With the value of URL structure established, here are three key questions every marketer or web designer should ask before planning and redesigning a web site:How is URL architecture included into business and technical requirements? • Simply put, getting URL structure and SEO established in the business and technical requirement prior to redesign goes 90% of the way to maintaining positive search equity. Design and development teams are experts at solving problems, and knowing the pitfalls will help them solve these problems. Trying to tackle complex search issues in the middle or end of a redesign is a losing battle that nobody wins. How much URL equity is established in the current site structure? • URL equity should be assessed based on a number of factors, including number of backlinks, quality of backlinks, prior investment in search, the age of the domain and URL structure, and positive search engine equity. Conversely, URL liabilities may be a cause to change domains and URL structures entirely. How can the existing URL structure be preserved? • It is a best practice for search to maintain a sustainable structure from redesign to redesign in order to preserve positive equity. While changes in URL structure are not always avoidable due to user experience changes and technical issues, making every attempt to maintain consistent structure will provide greater long term benefits for search. Sir Tim Berners-Lee is a strong proponent of sustainable URL structures. Visit this link to read his arguments for maintaining URLs in a redesign: http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI.html.Best Practices: SEO for Website Redesign & Migration 16 12. Migrating URL EquityNo matter how much preparation is made for a smooth transition, inevitably some URLs will have to change, and some documents will be removed. In this event, proper redirection techniques are essential in preserving positive search engine visibility. In most cases, the 301 permanent redirect is the best solution for using multiple domains, and for pages that have moved to a new location.• 301 Redirects vs. 302’s: One common mistake made by server administrators is the use of 302 status redirects for moved pages. When a page is permanently moved to a new location, a 301 status will tell the search engine to remove the previous page from the index, and start crawling the new location from that point forward. • Pointing Multiple Domains: Pointing multiple domains is acceptable to search engines so long as 301 redirects are used. When 302 or 200 status redirects are utilized, duplicate content issues will arise. Duplicate content issues can result in a deprioritizing of a site or pages, and will often decrease the overall search engine performance of a website (though most duplicate content is removed without any site penalty). • URL Rewriting: If URLs must change, one solution is to rewrite the new URLs to the format to the old structure, or create a new search-friendly structure entirely. URL rewriting allows more freedom to change platforms and file names, while maintaining a consistent naming convention. A separate POV on URL rewriting is available and addresses rewriting on different server platforms. • Redirection Planning: once valuable URLs are identified, a plan for mapping old URLs to new URLs should be created. • Pages That are Removed Entirely: these URLs should be 301 redirected to either the home page or the site map. • Pages That Move to a New Location: the old page URLs should be mapped via 301 redirect to the new location where the new file is found (old “Contact Us” page should be 301’ed to the new “Contact Us” URL location. Best Practices: SEO for Website Redesign & Migration 17 In this ever-evolving world of online marketing, it is critical to pay attention to the technical requirements of the search engines. Using these best practices correctly is critical. Don’t think of the challenge as redesigning your site for search engines. Rather, use these guidelines to redesign your site for users while keeping the search engine in mind.Summary By employing organic search best practices in your website structure, website file naming, URL construction, page content and linking structures, while also maintaining URL equity across the site, you’ll be creating a website that is easily spidered and indexed. Combine this guide with relevant content and the optimized webpage code, and the stage is set for optimal performance and optimal return on your search investment. Brand Values and the Bottom Line 18 14. Appendix 1 Sample Migration WorkflowPhase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3Scope & Planning Prelaunch Preparation Prelaunch Testing • Objectives • Wireframe reviews • Implementation reviews • Risk, growth • Technical SEO • BAU activity prioritization opportunities & specifications • Migration performance forecasting scenarios • Priority page reporting/crawls • Strategy identification • Client error reporting • Project plan • Redirect mapping plan • Contingency planPhase 4 Phase 5 Phase 6Launch Day Support Post Launch Review Performance Review • Site launch actions • Post launch checks & • Content review • Live site testing actions • Technical review • Paid media support • Bug fixes & reviews • Redirect testing • Social media support • Performance monitoring • Site launch risk assessment • BenchmarkingBrandBest Practices: Values and SEO the for Bottom Website Line Redesign & Migration 19 15. Appendix 2 Example of a Sucessful Client Domain Migration• Content was mapped then migrated onto a staging environment. • New templates were built, and URLs were rewritten. • 1-to-1 redirects were mapped to over 1,000 pages / URLs. • Within only two months, traffic increased by almost 200% (28% greater than historical domain traffic).Organic Search Visitors by Search Engine vs. Share % of Total Visits600,000 18.00%16.00% 500,000 14.00%400,000 12.00%10.00% 300,000 8.00%200,000 6.00%4.00% 100,000 2.00%0 0.00%GOOGLEBINGOTHERORGANIC SEARCH SHAREBrandBest Practices: Values and SEO the for Bottom Website Line Redesign & Migration 20 ABOUT INVESTIS DIGITALInvestis Digital is an award-winning global digital communications company. Founded in 2000, the company combines effective storytelling and engaging digital experiences with world-class performance marketing and cutting- edge technology to help businesses communicate clearly and authentically with any audience. Investis Digital’s 2,000 global clients including Ascential, ASOS, Fruit of the Loom, Rolls-Royce, WWE, and Wyndham Vacation Rentals trust the Investis Digital team of more than 500 employees to deliver stronger relationships with audiences and improved ROI through our Connected Content™ approach to digital. For more information, please visit www.investisdigital.com www.verticalmeasures.comBrandBest Practices: Values and SEO the for Bottom Website Line Redesign & Migration 21 Brand Values and the Bottom Line 22 </div> </article> </div> </div> </div> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.6.1/jquery.min.js" crossorigin="anonymous" referrerpolicy="no-referrer"></script> <script> var docId = '03468ea35265d4bb0834ea227e4e22e8'; var endPage = 1; var totalPage = 22; var pfLoading = false; window.addEventListener('scroll', function () { if (pfLoading) return; var $now = $('.article-imgview .pf').eq(endPage - 1); if (document.documentElement.scrollTop + $(window).height() > $now.offset().top) { pfLoading = true; endPage++; if (endPage > totalPage) return; var imgEle = new Image(); var imgsrc = "//data.docslib.org/img/03468ea35265d4bb0834ea227e4e22e8-" + endPage + (endPage > 3 ? ".jpg" : ".webp"); imgEle.src = imgsrc; var $imgLoad = $('<div class="pf" id="pf' + endPage + '"><img src="/loading.gif"></div>'); $('.article-imgview').append($imgLoad); imgEle.addEventListener('load', function () { $imgLoad.find('img').attr('src', imgsrc); pfLoading = false }); if (endPage < 5) { adcall('pf' + endPage); } } }, { passive: true }); if (totalPage > 0) adcall('pf1'); </script> <script> var sc_project = 11552861; var sc_invisible = 1; var sc_security = "b956b151"; </script> <script src="https://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter.js" async></script> </html>