Aug 6

HTTP to HTTPS – An SEO Nightmare

by Cory

I’ve had the opportunity over the last few months of seeing the direct impact of switching URLs on a site from http to https.

Because we saw such a negative impact from this change, I wanted to share our experience with the greater community to help you avoid the same SEO challenges we faced for about 5 weeks.

The site is a major retailer with their own E-Commerce site and products sold in retail stores & thru many dealer partners.

Secure HTTPs Requirement

This particular client was instructed (read “forced“) to convert some product URLs on their website to secure https format to maintain PCI Compliance. In what appears to be one of the DUMBEST reasons to change to https I’ve heard in recent memory, this changeover led to a pretty significant decrease in SERP visibility and traffic within 2 weeks of implementation (approx. 3/25).

Top 10 Google Ranking Drops after HTTPs Implementation

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May 8

What Happens When You Forget SEO During a Website Redesign

by Cory

A recent website maintenance client of mine redesigned their website. The new website looks really good and I wish them the best in terms of improved conversion rates and user interaction.

Unfortunately, a redesign must involve many more considerations than just a new skin & the same website content. When you fail to consider the impact a new site will have on your search engine rankings, you stand to lose a lot… it’s not an urban myth or a misnomer.

In the following examples, I hope to show those considering a site redesign just how important it is to factor SEO into the design and migration process. And not only after the fact, but from the beginning of the redesign process.

In this example, I knew the client was working on a new website, but because we were only providing maintenance, they did not notify us when the new site was going to launch, nor did they ask us to look at it for any SEO considerations.

How Quickly You Can Lose Search Engine Rankings After a Redesign

Less than a week after launch, the website is already seeing some pretty significant negative search engine results – Google specifically.

Website Redesign Lost Keyword Rankings