How to Transition your Optimized Website

As we kick off 2010, we’re finding a lot of businesses looking to implement website redesigns. While a website’s design should never remain stagnant, wiping the slate completely clean of current content isn’t always the best idea, either. This is especially the case when considering the SEO efforts held within a website. Here are some tips on transitioning an optimized website:

• If you intend to change your domain name, a 301 redirect of the old domain to the new domain name will ensure search engine rankings will not be affected.

• Ensure that all existing SEO work is properly migrated. Transition over titles, meta descriptions, meta keywords, heading tags, alt tags, and other SEO-specific content.

• Do not create a 100% flash website. However, if you have a flash embedded object, be sure to include optimized text. If you’re designing a new website, do not include frames. If the current site has frames, replace them with a dedicated page under your domain. If including certain elements of content within your site via frames, be aware that the content from frames will not be indexed as part of the master page.

There are other steps you can take to transition your optimized website. Are you taking the right steps?