If you are contemplating a website redesign, these recommendations may help you avoid the dreaded PRTC (that’s Post Re-launch Traffic Catastrophe).

Get a pre-launch baseline of your website’s traffic.

As you begin planning your redesign, (or at least a few weeks before you launch it) install a professional web analytics program (such as Google Analytics) on the current website. Pay attention to referrals (traffic sources), and make sure you tread carefully when expiring or re-organizing content that generates a high number of site entrances.

Optimize your URLs.

If you are moving from a static website to a dynamic one (or even a dynamic one to a dynamic one), make sure your URLs are short (ideally less than 72 characters or so) and human readable (e.g. http://www.foraker.com/web_design.html). No query strings!

Manage Link Rot.

Put in place permanent redirects (error code 301) for all URLs that will no longer function. Permanent redirects send browser requests for old page URLs to new page URLs. For pages that have been split up, combined, or otherwise do not map directly from old to new, do the best you can. If page content is dead and gone for good, it’s OK to just let it die… but understand that any search engine rankings, inbound links from other websites, etc. will also be dead and gone (see #1, above for how to avoid this).

Failure to manage link rot can have some hard to measure but important long term side effects: People don’t like having broken links on their websites. If bloggers, journalists, other webmasters, etc. have to update broken links after having linked to your website… they will be less likely to link to your website in the future. Inbound links from relevant third-party web pages are currently the most important factor in organic search engine rankings.

Update (or create) your Google Sitemap.

It’s worth creating this XML file if you have not already, as it can lead to a larger and more enticing search result for your site’s pages in Google. If you already have a Google Sitemap, be sure to update URLs, priorities, and modified dates so it is accurate after re-launch of your website.

Customize the HTML tags that search engines display or use.

Make sure your Content Management System (CMS) allows you to customize all page s, as well as description and keyword fields. Page titles are generally what users see as linked text on a Search Engine Result Page (SERP), and have a huge influence on how likely users are to click.

While description and keywords fields are nowhere near as important as they were 10 years ago, they can still make the difference between a #2 or #3 ranking and a #1 ranking. An eye-tracking study by Cornell researchers Granka, Joachims, and Gay entitled Eye-tracking analysis of user behavior in WWW search, indicates that attaining position #1 on a SERP over positions #2 or #3 can mean upwards of 500% more traffic.

Make your website markup (HTML and CSS) semantic, valid, and accessible.

W3C's Markup Validation service

Semantic web pages ensure that your textual website content still makes sense when it has been stripped of images, colors, branding, styling and design (which is how search engines see it). Semantic markup also uses information-bearing HTML tags for content (e.g.


My Title

instead of <span class="page-title"> </span>My Title). Semantic markup and content structure prepares your web content for re-use, viral spread, and other forms of free marketing.

Valid web pages (test yours right now at: http://validator.w3.org/) are easier for search engines to index, and therefore are indexed more often. Valid web pages are also an indication of a legitimate organization that has invested in a professional web presence—and search engine owners know that these organizations are more likely to be high-quality, relevant search results than their “spaghetti code” counterparts.

Accessible web pages conform to one or more accessibility guidelines, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines or the Americans with Disabilities Act Section 508. Like valid web pages, accessible web pages are an indication of a more legitimate business or organization.

Perform regular checkups after launch.

Search Engine Optimization is not a one-time deal. It is a continuous process that involves paying attention to your site’s web analytics, instituting editorial policies that are search engine friendly, and managing website content, technology, and marketing efforts accordingly.

A few weeks after re-launch, use your web analytics software to analyze how the search engine world responded to your redesigned website. Then start optimizing based on that data.