The Solution

The navigation project started with a thorough examination of the current URL setup. We realised that, even if the current setup was ineffective, it was important to preserve any organic performance that had been accrued over the years from the SEO strategy.

After conducting a full site crawl, we were able to locate thousands of internal redirects and redirect chains originating from the navigation. After obtaining a comprehensive view of the existing performance, we commenced devising solutions to guarantee the elimination of redirect chains and the presence of internal redirects upon the launch of the new navigation.

Then, in close collaboration with Wynnstay, we provided keyword research so that we could ensure that every new navigation URL was supported with SEO research and data.

As part of the ongoing project, we also scrapped the site for all internal links going to the old URL structure. We understood the importance of ensuring as much authority is passed to the new structure, and with this, we identified 299 internal links which needed updating.

As we led up to the project being deployed, we finalised the redirect map of old to new URLs, whilst fixing all internal redirect links, and redirect chains. Once all technical aspects were addressed, we then ensured that all content on the new URLs was optimised towards SEO best practices, by mapping the target keyword into the:

- Title Tags
- H1s
- Meta Descriptions
- Category Descriptions

The Results

Since being deployed, we instantly saw a 134% increase in organic impressions on the site. Over the past 12 months, the site on average recorded 50,000 impressions a day. This then doubled recording 116,955 impressions on the 1st day post-launch:

Our Recommendations

Whilst a new navigation can often present a significant opportunity to reshape the users journey, and optimise for your long term SEO strategy, there are a number of steps which need to be followed to ensure no SEO value is lost as part of the project.

You must:

- Review current navigation performance
- Identify technical fixes such as redirects and redirect chains
- Map out the new URL structure
- Create redirect map from old to newCreate redirect map from old to new
- Create redirect map from old to new
- Complete keyword research around the new URLs
- Run a content gap analysis for missed opportunities
- Update all internal links to point towards new URL structure
- Configure and adjust the robots.txt file
- Update XML sitemap to reference new navigation URLs