A most predictable way to lose money
A quick blog this morning.
Someone sent me a really fantastic article on what are known as ‘301 Redirects’ yesterday.
The article is fantastic, not only because it simply and coherently explains what 301 Redirects are, though because it makes a few important points, really, really clear.
- The first is that 301 Redirects are not nice to haves; they are a must for any website replacing an older website.
- The second is that failure to implement 301s will be met with the inevitable: a significant drop in traffic and therefore, revenue.
Indeed, the article is entitled ‘This is What Losing Money Looks Like’.
If only more web design and SEO bloggers were so pertinent, commercial and drew the clear conclusions that this article does.
As a quick explanation for anyone scratching their head, a 301 Redirect is a way of telling Google that the old page on your website which no longer exists, can instead be replaced with a new page on your new website.
This means that Google is not floating around with lots of '404 Page Not Found' pages in its index and instead, Google can confidently keep sending users your way.
If you do not use 301 Redirects and do the right thing by Google, Google won't do the right thing by you: it will stop sending you traffic.
Long-story short, if you are building a new website, you must implement 301s. The time and cost up-front is nothing like the expense down the track; talk to your web developer and SEO agency and make sure they’re on it.
