Does changing templates affect my sites SEO?

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1

I’m planning on changing my current website’s template; however, will this affect my website’s SEO? To reduce effect I’m planning on keeping all website homepage and page URLs exactly the same.

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@kevinmooch – did you ever get an answer to this? we’re looking to update templates now and want to make sure we do it right.

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The template itself won’t directly impact your SEO much, as long as you observe the same rules you’d observe on any site migration.

  • Preserve the same exact URLs, and/or 301 redirect the old ones
  • Maintain or improve on your page titles
  • Same for H1s and H2’s especially
  • Same for meta description
  • Same for content in general, if you’re pulling most of your content in from e.g. the CMS, not a big change here
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Hi @memetican! We recently updated our homepage and it appears we have lost our ranking completely. (cayechapel.com). When I search “Caye Chapel” our website used to be first or second. Now it’s not even there. Thoughts?

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Hi @zac , I couldn’t guess without analyzing the original site, and where your SEO was before the change.

The main thing is the advice I offered just above.

Since you’ve already migrated and Google has already indexed, the “damage” is done, but if you have an old copy of the site, you could still review it to try to identify what make it rank better.

Look especially at page titles, paths, domain names, if those have changed.

Note also that Google made some major updates just this month. so rankings are being significantly affected anyway for a lot of companies.

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To maintain previous SEO, the main thing is to keep the same URL structure as your previous website had. If changing the template impacts (changes) your URL structure, then you lose your SEO.
Like -Previous template: domain/about-us
after changing it should be: domain/about-us

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Changing your website’s template can potentially have an impact on your website’s SEO. However, by following certain best practices and keeping your homepage and page URLs the same, you can minimize the negative effects and help maintain your SEO performance. Here are some considerations:

  1. Responsive Design: Ensure that the new template is responsive and mobile-friendly. Mobile-friendliness is an important ranking factor for search engines, and having a template that provides a good user experience across different devices will benefit your SEO.

  2. URL Structure: Keeping your homepage and page URLs the same is a smart approach. Consistency in URLs helps search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of your website. If you change the URLs, it may lead to broken links and negatively impact your SEO. Use 301 redirects if you need to change URLs to redirect traffic from old URLs to the corresponding new ones.

  3. Meta Tags and Content: Pay attention to your meta tags, such as title tags and meta descriptions, as they play a crucial role in SEO. Ensure that the new template allows you to easily customize and optimize these elements. Additionally, maintain the quality and relevance of your content during the transition. Keep your valuable keywords intact and ensure that the new template supports the proper formatting of your content.