Google: There Is No Way To Prevent Search Traffic Loss From A Website Revamp
Google's John Mueller was asked if there is a way to prevent search traffic loss while launching a new website revamp. This specific case has URL changes with folders and subfolders. John Mueller was quick to say no; there is no way to prevent loss of traffic.
In fact, John's response was a simple "no."
Here are those tweets:
If we will do the website revamping is there any way to prevent loss from organic traffic/ keyword Ranking . (note:- domain is remain same but may be we can do changes in folders and sub folders)Ask expert @JohnMu— Chandresh Kumar Mahana (@AmChandresh) September 11, 2023
Gary Illyes said something similar earlier this year, saying if you redesign your site, your rankings may go nuts. John also said earlier that website design changes often lead to content changes, even if that is not your intent.
This is not to say you shouldn't redesign and improve your site - you should - as should I.
Some clarifying posts:
So does that mean that the site can't come back to the original status as it was before the revamp? Very confusing in that case.
— Mobilanyheter (@mobilanyheter) September 12, 2023
I think I understand. So if we add sub folder domains for new language editions (leaving the "original page" untouched). Will that mean that Google will see the whole site as a "new site"?
— Mobilanyheter (@mobilanyheter) September 12, 2023
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