Changing Existing Web Page Names

Response to a client asking about changing their existing site’s page names to improve their Google listings…

The first thing to remember is all change on an established web site is a risk, you have to work out if the risk is worth the possible benefits.

If it was all down to the URL/path (the address of the page) www.web_site.co.uk/car-parking-signs would beat www.web_site.co.uk/list.php?cat=20&page=1 hands down and I think worth the risk. The amount of work creating 301’s (code the search engines can see that says page moved, e.g. www.web_site.co.uk /list.php?cat=20&page=1 has moved to www.web_site.co.uk /car-parking-signs) for all 2900 existing pages is colossal. It has to be done though and quick & easy workarounds, meta redirects, Javascript redirects, etc. are not good enough. It’s worth looking into some way of automating permanent 301 redirection.

As a footnote… There is a ‘black hat’ SEO technique called keyword stuffing (adding multiple keywords in a URL) which carries a maximum sentence of a complete Google ban. I noticed www.test_site.net/car-parking-signs/car-parking-signs and would strongly recommend not using URLs like this.

However SEO is not all down to the URL, the old adage ‘content is king’ still applies to Google and is still the most important part of your page. In Google’s own words “One of the most important steps in improving your site’s ranking in Google search results is to ensure that it contains plenty of rich information that includes relevant keywords, used appropriately, that indicate the subject matter of your content.”

We’ll keep car parking signs as the example; click here to see how Google ‘sees’ your page http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:3iOGpUVoVzsJ:www.archersafetysigns.co.uk/list.php%3Fcat%3D20%26sub%3D32%26page%3D1&hl=en&gl=uk&strip=1

You’ll notice the page has very little actual content and the first text Google sees is your offer. If you were keeping your offer as text you need to change it to suit each page…

Look out for our UNBEATABLE CAR PARKING SIGNS QUANTITY DISCOUNTS [example 100[off] car parking signs for £1.90 each!!] PLUS a further 10% DISCOUNT on all online car parking signs orders over £250 !! CALL US NOW TO FIND OUT MORE

… you get the idea. Personally I’d change it to an image so Google sees the page title/heading first.

The content you have on a page shows Google what the page is about and the most repeated words are the most significant. This is referred to as keyword density. Single words, 2 and 3 word phrases are the important ones, the more they are repeated the higher their density (up to a point, if you overdo it Google thinks you are spamming and penalises the page).

Your car parking sign page’s top keywords;

single word= ‘sign’ – density= 11.9%
(I need to check, but I think 11.9% density would be classed as spam)
2 word phrase= ‘photo of’ – density= 4.6%,
3 word phrase= ‘from £7 95’ – density= 3.1%

There are also hidden codes for search engines built into the pages and although the new page has better keywords than the old pages they need to be more specific.

Your old pages have…

<metaname=”keywords”content=”safety signs, best sellers – sign sale, mandatory signs, prohibition signs, safety signs, street name signs , warning signs, christmas products, espo, safety sign starter pack, acrylic signs, asbestos signs, battery charging , braille/tactile signage, car parking signs, braille and disabled information signs, cctv and security notices, construction signs, coshh, dibond traffic signs, custom signs and sign systems, directional posts and signs, disabled information signage, education signs, electrical, event signs, fire signs, signs for events, fire action and fire equipment, fire assembly point signs, flags, floor graphics, fire exit andamp; safe condition, food and hygiene, for sale signs, free standing floor sign, general and public information signs, general signage, grit bins, glass awareness, hazard, lollipop signs, hygiene – flu risk, labels on a roll, hanging kits, labels on a roll, memorial plaques, mirrors, mot signs, no smoking signs, office signs, pavement signs andamp; a-boards, personal protective equipment [ppe], photoluminescent signs, portable and temporary road signs, poster display cases, posters, posts fixtures and fittings, privacy and dignity signs, projecting signs, public information signage, rail signs, rebound sign system (bollard), recycling and waste management, sale and clearance signs, sign systems, smoking shelters, stanchion signs/signs in frames, stencils, traffic signs, tapes and barrier tapes, triptych signs – three sided post signs, anniversary banners, birthday banners, bonfire night banners, christmas banners, display signs, event banners, halloween banners, jumble sale banners, nhs signage, personal protective equipment, photo gift ideas, photo gift ideas on to acrylic, photo gift ideas on to economy photo board , photo gift ideas on to metal, pm group, rail signs, recycling and waste management signs, restore your old photos, screws, seat belt signs, stencils, valentines day banners, water safety signs, wedding banners, nhs, southern water, environment agency, buildings management signs, engraved signs and memorial plaques, horse signs, snow and ice signs, adhesives, bonding and fixings, clearview prestige, desktop signs, fire exit light box, fire exit light boxes, health and safety law poster, ian test, scaffold signs, street and park furniture, street furniture, tuff signs, verge posts, wood components“/>

And the new pages have…

<metaname=”keywords”content=”signs for sale, cheap signs, buy sign, buy signs, purchase signs, purchase sign, signs to purchase, buying sign, buying signs, safety signs, custom signs, buy road signs, custom road signs, construction signs, custom parking signs“/>

Footnote… Search engines no longer look at this hidden code to decide what the page is about, they use it to determine if the page is spam or not. Your old pages I’m sure would be classed as spam because the keywords listed are not mentioned in the page content and there’s way too many of them.

My conclusion depends on how much organic traffic the site is getting (how many hits a month) but if it’s very low change the URLs, just don’t expect a huge difference. If it was my money I’d spend it on content, alterations to the existing pages and clean the whole site up