What are the best practices for building links during a website redesign?

Before making any changes, it's essential to understand what you already have. Start by using tools like Google Search Console or specialized SEO software to identify all your current inbound and outbound links. This audit will help you know what you're working with and what needs improvement.

Before revamping your site, first audit your existing links. This step is crucial for SEO success. Use tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or Moz to assess your link profile. Identify which links boost your SEO and which ones harm it. Keep the good, fix the broken, and remove the toxic. This strategic approach ensures your redesign strengthens, rather than undermines, your site's SEO. Remember, a good link audit sets the foundation for a successful redesign.

Redesigning your website often means changes to the site's structure and organization. When you make these changes, be mindful of your URL structure. If possible, try to maintain the same URLs for important pages. Consistency is key, as it helps search engines and users find and recognize your content.

For making a better user experience I always check the conversion rates and also use a tool like hotjar or mouseflow to understand the current weaknesses of a website. Once I have this data then we can design an amazing ux and make sure to handle the urls for SEO purposes correctly!

If you must change URLs during your redesign, make sure to set up 301 redirects from the old URLs to the new ones. This tells search engines that the content has moved permanently. Ensure that each old URL maps to the most relevant new URL to maintain SEO value.

Internal linking is an often overlooked but powerful SEO tool. As you redesign your website, make sure that internal links are updated to point to the new URLs. Internal links help with site navigation and distribute link equity throughout your site.

Don't forget about external links. Identify websites that link to your old content and reach out to them. Let them know about your website redesign and request that they update their links to point to the new URLs. This step ensures that you retain valuable external link equity.

We have a template that we send out to those links which is the below: Hey ___, We have invested on doing a new amazing website but we need you to change the link to us. Make sure to change it because is also not good for your seo! The above is the message we send out.

Once your redesigned website is live, keep a close eye on your link performance. Regularly check for broken links or redirects that aren't working as they should. Monitor your backlink profile and track changes in your search engine rankings. Tools like Google Analytics and SEO software can help with this.

I use a simple google sheet and I only add 3 links per 2 weeks in order to see the effects. Then I evaluate if I should add more or remove them.

One of the approaches to a website redesign I have found to be very useful in real life projects is to 1. Clone or make a copy of the website on a local development environment or staging area. This has the advantage of allowing you to make modifications and redesign the website in a secure and controlled environment without having to worry about impacting the existing live website. 2. Test all links in your redesigned website before migrating from your local development environment to production or live environment. You can use link checker tools to verify your links. 3. Create a 404 page. This is the fallback page for any links that might be broken once you migrate to production, or as a result of updates to the website in future.