How Law Firms Can Recover SEO Traffic and Rankings After a Website Redesign

In today’s dynamic digital landscape, law firms understand the critical importance of SEO performance. But what happens when you opt for a website redesign and fear the depreciation of your hard-earned search engine rankings? Don’t let your previous diligence go to waste. Here’s a guide to help you recover SEO traffic post-redesign in the current digital era.

First Step: Is There a Problem?

Before jumping into solution mode, confirm if there is indeed an issue with your SEO performance post-redesign. Frequently, traffic and rankings are retained or even enhanced post-redesign. However, it is crucial to monitor your website following the changes to ensure no drop in traffic. If there’s a noticeable decline, it’s time to troubleshoot common issues associated with website redesigns.

Digging Deep into the Issue

Should you uncover a problem, delve deeper into your Google Analytics or any analogous tool you’re using. Monitor when the traffic decline commenced (it could be the day or week of your redesign). Determine whether the drop was abrupt or slowly escalated. Google Search Console can assist in pinpointing when this drop occurred by scrutinizing keyword rankings.

Identifying Major Loss Avenues

Further analysis will help identify where the most significant declines took place. Use your analytical tools to find out which landing pages or keyword rankings suffered the most. Having prior data will be helpful here, but if not, a memory recall might suffice in a pinch. Google Analytics allows you to check specific landing page details, which could be organized in a spreadsheet for better visualization.

Redirects and Other Common Issues

Among popular reasons for a drop in SEO rankings and traffic, misconfigured or missing redirects top the list. Ideally, your redesigned website should maintain the same URLs to circumvent such issues. If that’s not feasible, URLs should have 301 redirects to guide visitors from the old to the new page.

Domain Mistakes

If your redesigned website has a slightly altered domain or has transitioned from http to https, ensure that your redirects accommodate these changes. Meticulously check the protocol, subdomain, and domain to ensure everything is correctly set up and functional.

Content Changes

Changes to content on high-performing pages might impact traffic. If there’s a decrease, identify what shifted and why it isn’t working as well. Make necessary tweaks to align the page with its former successful state.

Missing Content or Pages

Pages disappearing in a website redesign is a common issue, but it can drastically impact your SEO if the missing pages were previously high performing. To check the same, revisit your landing page analytics and identify any gaps. Rectifying content issues should ideally result in traffic recovery.

Other Areas to Look Into

Besides the mentioned issues, be aware of technical glitches that slow down your site, lack of basic optimization, or simply ranking turbulence due to the indexing of new pages. If all else fails, ensure your analytics are accurate, take into account any changes to the Google Algorithm, and consider seasonal variations in your website traffic.

Engagement and User Experience Optimization

After addressing the foundational SEO concerns, it’s time to focus on enhancing user engagement and experience, which are pivotal for SEO. Improved user engagement metrics like lower bounce rates, longer session durations, and higher pages per session can positively influence your rankings. To achieve this, ensure your redesigned site is user-friendly, with intuitive navigation and fast loading times. Incorporating visually appealing elements and interactive features can also keep visitors engaged longer. Regularly gather user feedback post-redesign and make necessary adjustments to continuously improve the user experience. Remember, a satisfied visitor is more likely to return, recommend your site, and convert, thereby indirectly boosting your SEO efforts.

Takeaway:

While redesigning your law firm’s website can be a challenging endeavor, it can also be hugely rewarding by providing you with a contemporary, user-friendly platform. However, it’s critical not to overlook SEO optimization in the process, which could risk your new site’s visibility on search engines. If your firm seeks support in recovering SEO traffic or optimizing your newly redesigned website, feel free to reach out for a consultation.