I came across a very interesting article earlier this week that highlighted the problems that websites encounter when a major change is imposed upon them. All too often, the manager responsible for implementing the new website is ignorant of, or simply ignores for whatever reason, the impact this will have on the visibility of the site.

The classic case is the introduction of a new CMS, (content management system). These wonderful things can have calamitous effects on traffic if the seo implications of the new structure are not taken into account.

Page names will inevitably change. Google will still continue to rank the old page, so that is where visitors will be sent. A well thought out redirection strategy is essential if all your natural search visitors are not to be confronted by a ‘page not found’ 404 error message – not a good user experience to use some jargon!

Even Pay per Click ads are not immune to the changes. All the landing pages for all your campaigns need to be changed, and that’s just for starters.

The moral is always to consult your SEO expert and to consider the SEO implications before you implement major (or even minor) changes to your website. It could end up saving a lot of money – and even your entire business.

I've been here and done this and unravelling the mess makes for both an unhappy website manager and SEO consultant!

For more on the Law of Unintended Consequence, go to
http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/opt/article.php/3507091
by P J Fusco.

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Set yourself out from the rest and really get to understand what is
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