Q and A: Is a site re-write necessary for SEO?

Dear Kalena...

To save a total rewrite of a site (which you're aware needs it, but
funding doesn't quite allow), but you want to optimize all your
individual pages (specific URL's) for search engine use, is it feasible
to use 'templates'? i.e. when within the site, if an article is clicked
on an 'equivalent' popup window appears with that article, but when
searching on say Google, that 'popup' appears as a window in your site,
but it isn't really as the amount of pages listed with the said site are
only major 'category' pages.

I will add a relevant piece of HTML (as an attempt to simplify), which
would be found at the end of the page source: Template name
/webroot/commom/templates/search/js_specific_search_results_template.html

So really I'm asking is this a good route to take, or should one simply
take the plunge and do the rewrite?

Many Thanks

David


Kalena's Answer:

Hi David

I'm not entirely sure I understand what you're suggesting, except that it sounds quite complex and a stop-gap measure to save yourself some re-writing. It's well-documented that users and search engines dislike pop-ups so that's another factor to consider.

Are you planning on taking this step for perceived search engine value? As Google suggests in their Webmaster Guidelines, you've got to ask yourself "Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?"

Answer that question and you can more easily answer your first one.

If you don't have time to undertake an entire re-write of your site right now, try setting aside a few minutes each day to optimize and re-write a single page or perhaps two. You'd be surprised how quickly the pages will add up and you will gradually attract more and more search engine traffic via the newly optimized pages.

Optimizing a few pages at a time also allows you to concentrate your best SEO efforts on each page, rather than quickly doing a patch job on the entire site. Best of luck!