Re-naming my pages

[epper78]

Hi there,

I have read a few posts on this forum about seo and I have discovered that I can do a better job at naming my pages.

However, I have already published about 150 pages and on every page there are about 300 links and no database to work with (I know....I should have made a database.....) so I would have to manually change a lot of links.....You can imagine that I'm not planning on doing that.

Anyway, I was wondering if it could work if I were to change the names of the links only on my indexpage and then publish all the other pages again under their new names. Then I would have all the pages published under two different names. I could then make new pages with new names, but keep the older ones as they are.

Would search engines accept this or would they think I'm trying to be smart and ban me?

Looking forward to your thoughts on this.

[jkadin]

Re: Re-naming my pages

This is a very simple thing to do open your page save page as with the new name then republish it all your links will still be working unless those pages with the links goes back to the old pages with the old names then you got to do all those links over. then theres one more thing to do in cpanel is to delete the pages with the old names.
If those old pages have rankings I myself would leave it as , because when you do a new page it will like be starting over with the search engines. The search engines may ban you if you do with the old and new it will be like spamming
Joe
anytime-figurines.com
jkteddybear.com

[Karen Mac]

Re: Re-naming my pages

Well if both pages had the SAME content .. yes it could hurt you. Better you clear the old pages and put in a redirect to the new.. either in the old page meta or use the htacess file to redirect them

Karen

[epper78]

Re: Re-naming my pages

Thanks for your advice guys! I have changed the names of all my pages, re-published them and deleted the old ones from the cpanel public html folder. It took a while, but it should work fine now.

Kind regards,
Esther

[itzelratoncita]

Re: Re-naming my pages

OK--from what I can piece together from reading numerous posts about SEOs/renaming pages ("retrofitting" in my case, since I've already published), I should:

1. Open my page(s),
2. "Save page as...",
3. (This step is the one I need some very specific guidance on.) Add the keyword(s) to the name, e.g., index.professional-organizer/household-spaces_paper-control_home-offices.bvp (not html), with appropriate keywords for each page vs. simply repeating the same set for every page name. (Here's where confusion reigns for me... is this the place to add keywords, or in the "title" box of page properties, or BOTH?)
4. (Save page and) publish
5. Delete old page(s) from cPanel
6. IMPORTANT!! Do I also need to add these same (page-appropriate) keywords to each of the navigation button properties, i.e., make the navigation button links identical to the page names?
7. Is there any reason to add keywords to my contact/ success pages, since they contain no real "content" aside from the form and a "thank you" remark?

Everything is working quite well on my website at the moment, and I'm majorly concerned about fouling it up somehow with this keyword addition business... This seems a rather complex topic, but I perceive its major importance for getting a site on the road to recognition. Many thanks to all who have contributed their tidbits of experience and understanding--it's of huge significance to those of us who are not "tech savvy."

Steph (or "IR" if you want to shorten the itzelratoncita...) ;)

[Bethers]

Re: Re-naming my pages

If everything is working well and the se's have found your pages, with the old names, you will be making a mistake to redo it all, IMO - unless this is something you want to do - and you then do the file as Karen said.

And I do not suggest those long names like you just said:
index.professional-organizer/household-spaces_paper-control_home-offices.bvp
unless that is really the best name for the page. Shorter names are reall y better.

My suggestion - leave the page names as they are - and optimize the pages themselves correctly (titles, use of text on page, etc). And as you add new pages, give those pages better names. But leave well enough alone on the already indexed pages that are already sending you traffic.

[itzelratoncita]

Re: Re-naming my pages

Thank you, Beth. All my questions began with the following link:
http://vodahost.com/vodatalk/search-engine-topics-vodahits/14962-how-name-your-pages-search-engines.html,
sent to me as a help topic while I was in the design stages of my pages. It was WAY over my head at the time (still is, apparently), and the following thread (excerpt) was what brought in the concept of the more lengthy page names...


"Look how this page is named....

Quote:
vodahost.com/vodatalk/search-engine-topics-vodahits/14962-how-name-your-pages-search-engines.html
Every single page of this forum is indexed in all the major search engines"


I'd come to the conclusion after the 2nd response on a posting I placed on 6/24/08 (from Karen Mac & Lady Eye) that leaving well-enough alone was best, and your email confirmed so. Thanks again for taking time out to respond!

Steph

[Bethers]

Re: Re-naming my pages

You're welcome, Steph. And every page of the forum is indexed, as the se's find the forum full of useful information :) Make your site full of useful info- do it right, and even with goofy names, it'll make it up there.

Now, I don't recommend non-relevant, goofy names, but they'd work if the rest was done properly. Just like having a site with the keywords in the name. That's best, but not necessary- again, if the rest works well. There are many aspects to doing things - and we strive to do as many of them as we can for the optimal effect, but changing things that can hurt us, isn't worth the time or effort unless the gain will be way more than the hurt (and unless there aren't other steps that can be taken to give the gain without any hurt at all).

Hope you follow my ramblings.