Comments on: A Case Study In Changing URL Structure

By: Bruce Keener

Bruce Keener — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:06:55 +0000

@chiropractic, Thanks for mentioning the plugins … could simplify life for some.

@ lisatiyamiyu, I should emphasize that the Toolbar PR is the one that lags … as far as I could tell, the Actual Google PR adjusted “instantaneously” to the 301′s (that is, did as it should) … I had no loss of search traffic and loss of position in the SERPs for any of the URLs that I monitored during this time. Initially I thought the Toolbar PR lag was significant, but now I see it as just a consequence of the fact that it is not updated often (I suppose it uses a database, and when it doesn’t find a link in the database, it assigns a zero to it … since my new “dateless” URLs were not in its “database,” it kept them at zero until a Toolbar PR update was done).

@AndyBeard, I had heard of that (after the fact) but seems like I also heard that later versions of WordPress do not have a problem in this area. Won’t swear to it, but seems like I remember reading that one day last week.

By: AndyBeard

AndyBeard — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:07:09 +0000

You won’t find this mentioned on 99% of WordPress SEO guides, but having just a title in the URL adds server load due to verbose queries

By: lisatiyamiyu

lisatiyamiyu — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:05:12 +0000

I have also made the experience that it can take some time until the PR is transferred to the new URLs. Moreover, it seems to me that the more URLs you change the longer it takes until all PR is transferred. I have found that it can take up to several weeks until the PR is restored.

By: chiropractic

chiropractic — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 02:57:36 +0000

Great tip on the RedirectMatch 301 for changing date structure to permalinks. I imagine many are moving in this direction. For those using WordPress that may want a plugin, search Urban Giraffe Redirection for a 301 and 404 plugin.

Thanks for sharing!