Client Question:
After redesigning our site we want to make sure our search engine position on Google stays the same. How can we do this?

Answer:
Internet marketing can be broken into Pay Per Click (PPC) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). PPC entails placed paid ads where the advertiser pays for every user that clicks on their link, while SEO's goal is to acquire top results for the "free" listing results. A common misconception about SEO is that once you have achieved your place in an engine, you own it.

To understand the misconception about permanent results, we need to look at how search engines work. Search engine programs -- called 'bots or spiders -- scour the Internet on an ongoing basis looking for useful websites and pages to add to their index. They originally find your site when someone submits your site to the search engine, or if a spider finds a link to your site. As a spider indexes your site, it pays attention to specific items of the page according to its program (or algorithm). This algorithm is the secret recipe that search engines use to differentiate pages and separate the top results from the useless web trash. Once your site has been indexed, the spider will return on a regular basis usually monthly or bi monthly depending on the spider.

Permanent results are impossible, due to the instability of both search engine algorithms and website structure. With a website redesign, page urls are dropped, and new ones added. The outcome of a site redesign is that pages that were once indexed may lead to nowhere, and new pages will not give results until they are indexed.

Evolving algorithms, like the recent Google update nicknamed Florida, prevent sites from staying in one position permanently. Florida took many people by surprise because their once stable top result plummeted to a position that nobody was going to see.

Ways to help your site ranking:
As a re-indexing of your site after a redesign may take up to 2 months, there are a few tips that can help keep you on top.

Blend CPC and SEO
If a site launch occurs during a mission critical business cycle (tax season for an accounting software firm) I would definately recommend the initiation of a PPC campaign, at least for that period, to ensure a less volatile search result.

404 Page
The 404 page is the page you get when there isn't a page. If you have redesigned your site there may be links in search engine indexes that are dead. It's often a good idea to just get your 404 page to be your home page

Hire an SEO expert
An SEO professional will be able to give you some pointers to ensure that your site transitions as well as possible through your redesign phase. Please don't listen to anyone who guarantees #1 rankings on Google. It's not a guarantee that anyone can with 100% certainty deliver.

Good luck and happy searching.

Ryan Holmes, President/CTO Invoke Media

As founder of Invoke Media, Ryan's experience combines diverse management skills with solid industry and technical knowledge. Prior to the founding of Invoke, Ryan gained extensive experience in entrepreneurial ventures, business management development, and marketing as owner of a restaurant chain, and a tourist adventure business. His passion for technology and desire to embrace the Internet revolution let him to Vancouver to work as a project manager and programmer for a .com company.

www.invokemedia.com

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