Search “website launch checklist” and you’ll find plenty of good advice online. But there’s less if you’re looking for real-world advice on what to consider when you’re relaunching a redesigned website. Pitfalls and “gotcha”s abound, and many can significantly impact your natural search engine listings. 1. Make sure your highly indexed content is replicated accurately It seems like a no-brainer, but we’ve seen this key element neglected far too frequently. Review your analytics and make sure your top 50 (or more) pages are replicated under your new site. That is, make sure your page headings are the same: the title tags, the keywords, the images, etc. You want the content of the page to be as similar as possible – if not identical – so that the search engines don’t see it as new or changed. 2. Add 301 redirects for your top indexed content This is crucial and perhaps might deserve to be number one on this list. During a redesign it’s unlikely your site structure or the URL paths remain identical to the old site’s. So it’s critical that you politely and correctly inform the search engines that the old links should be “re-indexed” using their new URLs. This is done via 301 permanent redirects – usually applied via your htaccess or webconfig file. It simply remaps your old url paths to their new ones while also informing the search engines to reindex them properly. This one step will almost single-handedly preserve your natural listings and page ranking during the transition from old to new design. It’s even more critical if you’re also changing your domain during this process. Seriously, if you do nothing else… do this step. 3. Inform the search engines about your change Google Webmasters Tools and Bing’s Webmaster Tools allow you a convenient way to inform each about changes to your site – from its url structure to a change in domain. By using these free tools you can preserve your natural rankings and enjoy a smoother transition. Each also provides valuable data about how the search engines are “seeing” and cataloging your site, and how you could improve the results. So you should be using them regardless of a site redesign. 4. Test and debug your site on mobile and in multiple browsers Again, you’d think this goes without saying, but it bears repeating. Make sure you test your site using various browsers, and on multiple platforms (Mac, Windows, etc.), and on mobile devices. There are excellent online resources for doing this – we personally use crossbrowsertesting.com. You can view and use your site on numerous browsers and operating systems and on emulated mobile devices. 5. We highly recommend scanning your site for vulnerabilities. If you’re working with a web developer this is most likely part of their services. Before or just after launching your site, they should perform a security and vulnerability scan using various tools or SAS options. We generally configure McAfee Site Secure to scan the newly launched site daily for approximately two weeks or more. This way McAfee can scour the site and follow even the deepest links. Any issues or concerns are addressed promptly to avoid problems. 6. Do a quick seo review / audit It doesn’t have to be an extensive seo review. But you should review each page on your site to ensure it has all the SEO fundamentals in place. A unique title tag, meta description, keywords, and one or more heading tags along with copy content. Make sure every image has a completed alt tag and, if possible, the image file itself is named identifiably and with “keyword bias.” Make sure you have an updated XML sitemap file that will be updated regularly – usually this is automatically done by your CMS. 7. Have someone proofread your content While not such a major grievance as not remapping your top content, a typo or bad grammar can be embarrassing and distract visitors from your message. And if you’ve spent money on redesigning to achieve better results or conversions, it’s worth investing some time or money into hiring a proofreader. 8. Finally, have your mother test your site Yes, that’s sounds a bit silly, but what we’re actually recommending is you have someone unfamiliar with your site or brand test your site to make sure it accomplishes and communicates what you intended. Have them visit your home page and then articulate what they think you do or sell. What your benefit is; your unique selling proposition. Then have them use the site and monitor and catalog any difficulties that will need to be addressed. This is especially important on ecommerce sites, so you know your store and checkout are working smoothing and understandably. Follow these eight simple steps and your redesign and relaunch should go smoothly. You should be able to preserve your natural listings and page rank. And most importantly, you should keep your customers happy and converting.
The old mantra that things on web pages had to be above the fold is an antiquated idea from the very early days of the web. When people didn’t know what the internet was or how to use a browser. Back then, yes, the “above the fold” idea mattered. But that was back in 1999 – today people know what a browser is and how to use it. This old newspaper term was adopted and refuses to die. Above the fold originates from the newspaper industry where positioning a story or graphic “above the fold” on the paper could increase readership. Since newspapers are displayed and sold flat – if the headline or photo was compelling it could increase sales. And of course, readers are more likely to read and be interested in things placed on the top half of the front page. So “above the fold” was born. When the web was young, and newcomers didn’t understand how a browser worked, monitors were small, and the world wide web was not ubiquitous – this idea was co-opted and applied to web design. Since screens were small, things seen within the boundary of the home page screen were “deemed” above the fold. So back in 1999, something visible within the 800 x 600 pixel dimensions of the home page was more likely to be seen, read, and clicked on. Similar to a “folded newspaper” if it appeared above the fold or in digital terms, within the visible area of the monitor, then it was golden. AOL also made this concept popular since its standard interface was constrained to 800×600 everything was “chopped up” to be contained and displayed within this area – to keep it visible. The result, articles spanned multiple pages, you clicked to the next page instead of scrolling to see more. But that was then… Repeat after me, above the fold doesn’t matter any more. Now breath a little bit. Relax. It’s ok. You’re not going to die. Your head isn’t going to explode. And visitors to your website aren’t going run screaming from their computers because they have to scroll. In fact, with the explosion of the big monitors and the mobile web with its small screens on smart phones, scrolling is almost a requirement in some instances. The fold has vanished. It has ceased to be. It is a dead issue. User testing, eye tracking, and click data dispels the fold myth Many studies of been conducted to test the validity of the “above the fold” hypothesis and they’ve all shown that today’s users do indeed scroll. The above the fold myth has been debunked. CX Partners, a user-centric design firm from the United Kingdom, does a lot of eye tracking research for their clients. And they’ve consistently found that the “fold” is no longer relevant. You can read about their “above the fold user testing” on their blog. But to paraphrase their results – often less content above the fold will encourage exploration beneath. And if the design tantalizes that more exists below – scrolling is almost guaranteed. In essence, if something bridges the fold people with scroll down to see more. Further, people now recognize that scroll bars on a browser indicate more content lies below and know that the scroll bar can also visually indicate the page length. Evaluation of click data also supports the notion that people do scroll. Milissa Tarquini writes for boxesandarrows.com about her experiences as an interface designer at AOL since 1995. Her article, “Blasting the Myth of the Fold” is a very good read and provides lots of anecdotal and real-world evidence to support the concept “the fold doesn’t matter” – but one of the interesting things she mentions is the click data for TMZ. She notes that the links at the bottom of TMZ’s super long pages are often the most clicked on – this indicates a willingness of the user to scroll long pages – if the content is compelling. Things above the fold should be important… If you’ve scrolled down this far, you’ve just read the above headline where I acknowledge that content above the fold should be important. But it’s a no brainer to proclaim interesting and important things should be placed at the top of the page. Really “above the fold” was an argument against scrolling and against longer content on pages. The mantra of “above the fold” was used to constrain design to an arbitrary and mostly imaginary screen dimension. But as research has demonstrated compelling content and visual cues that more content exists below have obliterated the old notion of “above the fold” in web design. Unfortunately the out dated idea simply refuses to die. But where is the fold? Again, back in the 90’s when most computer monitors were typically 15 inches, screen real estate was at a premium. But more so, it was fairly standard. Most people viewed a web page full screen and with “browser clutter” designers knew they had less than the 800×600 pixel dimensions to work with and designed for 640 x 480. But today, high resolution monitors are fairly standard and their pixel dimensions and aspect ratios vary wildly. Desktop monitors can span 20” to 30” or larger; you can connect your computer to huge LCD or Plasma televisions; and laptops come in all sizes and shapes with lots of different screen resolutions too. And need I mention smart phones and tablets? So the answer to “where is the fold” isn’t easy to answer today. The “fold” was usually defined as the bottom of the browser window…but if you open your browser on a 24” monitor it’s likely most web pages will fully display within that height – so there really isn’t any fold. Or if you open the same page on a smart phone…it’ll either resize the content to fit or you’ll need to scroll. So why cling to the old 800 x 600 dimension? By adhering to the “above the fold”
On the 9th of Oct 2012, Matt Cutts tweets about the improvement of the page layout algorithm… You might need an explanation about this. Matt Cutts is basically Google’s face. He announces all the updates of Google that will influence the way Google ranks websites in the result page. The page layout algorithm is one piece of the formula Google uses that focuses on the structure of the webpage. Conclusion: It means that the structure of your webpage will influence more its ranks in Google. The steps are simple: – You want to please Google to get ranked high – Google wants you to please your visitors to rank your URL high The solution is to PLEASE YOUR VISITORS WITH YOUR WEBSITE. You have to provide them with beautiful pages, structured website, structured webpages and informative content to gain online visibility. Professional web designers check the three first points. We can help you and your company get the website that will make you stand out from the crowd. Get back to me today with your requirements and I will be happy to provide you with a competitive quote for web design.
