Migrating a website’s user interface (UI) to a new look and feel is a big step for many. There are several reasons that prompt a decision to change the UI including improved usability, intuitive navigation, better lead capture etc. But the one overriding reason people today are opting to redesign their websites, is to improve SEO ranking. Websites have finally come into their own as major lead generation tools that can guarantee significant sales pipelines.

So how does one ensure that your existing website does not lose out on it’s current ranking and in fact turns up tops on relevant searches?

1. Know your keywords

The top 10 successful keywords from your existing website is a great starting point. Learn how your site is doing right now as a benchmark exercise. Start with finding keywords that already work for you. A useful tool to get this data is Google Analytics – use Analytics to find keywords that actually brought traffic to your site. Additionally Search Queries under the Traffic section in Google Webmaster Tools will give you a new portion of keywords relevant to your site. Those are search queries that people typed in Google to get your Web pages in search results. Knowing your keywords makes it simple to track their ranking.

2. Landing pages

Before you redesign, make a list of landing pages that perform best for your site right now. Using Google Analytics, get a list of pages that brought you the most traffic. Also make a list of landing pages that show up for your top keywords. If you combine pages that rank for your keywords and your most viewed pages according to Google Analytics, you’ll get a list of your top landing pages.

3. Backlinks

These are critical to website SEO, and it is important to understand which pages are linking to external websites. Google Webmaster Tools will provide you with perhaps the most detailed link profile of your site. Backlinks should clearly be keepers in the redesign as well.

So if you are getting ready to redesign your website, remember there is more than one reason to ensure that it is SEO friendly.

In our next post we will talk about UX & UI in web design – is the hype surrounding them translate to something real? Oh and more and more SEO related topics too. Fun times ahead!