107: Meredith's Website Relaunches!

Summary:

In this episode, Meredith and her husband discuss key steps for website owners to take after launching or relaunching a site. These include checking for broken links using the "site" command in Google and ensuring redirects are correctly set up to avoid 404 errors. They also touch on tracking website performance through Google Search Console and Analytics to evaluate traffic and the effectiveness of any promotional efforts.

Essential Steps to Take After Relaunching Your Website

Launching or relaunching a website can be a major milestone for business owners. After all the work of designing, developing, and perfecting your site, it’s important to make sure that everything runs smoothly for visitors and search engines alike. However, the work doesn’t stop once your site goes live. To ensure long-term success, there are a few critical steps you should take to monitor and optimize your new website.

Here are the essential steps website owners should follow after a relaunch:

1. Check for Broken Links

Once your site is live, one of the first tasks is to ensure all your pages are accessible and functioning properly. A great way to do this is by using the “site” command in Google. Simply type "site

.com" (without the "https" or "www") into Google’s search bar, and it will display all the indexed pages of your site. Click on these links to make sure none lead to 404 errors.

Broken links can damage user experience and harm your SEO ranking. It’s especially crucial to check this if you’ve updated or changed the URLs on your site during the redesign. If any links are broken, implement 301 redirects to send users to the correct page, ensuring that no traffic is lost.

2. Implement Redirects

If the structure of your site has changed, it’s important to set up redirects for old URLs that no longer exist. A 301 redirect will automatically forward users from an outdated URL to the new page, preserving both your traffic and SEO equity. Without this, visitors could land on a 404 error page, causing a negative user experience and harming your site's rankings in search results.

If you’re unsure how to set up redirects, check out guides or tutorials online that provide step-by-step instructions. This process can often be done through your website’s content management system (CMS), like WordPress, or with the help of your web hosting provider.

3. Monitor Traffic with Google Search Console

After launching, wait a couple of weeks before analyzing the impact of your new site. Google Search Console is a valuable tool for tracking the number of impressions your site receives, showing how often your pages appear in search results. Use this data to identify which pages are performing well and which may need further optimization.

In addition to impressions, Google Search Console helps you monitor clicks to see how many visitors are accessing your site from search engines. Tracking impressions and clicks over time will give you a clear picture of how your new website is performing and whether any issues are affecting its visibility in search results.

4. Analyze Website Traffic with Google Analytics

Google Analytics is essential for understanding how users interact with your website. Once your site has been live for a few weeks, use Analytics to assess where your traffic is coming from, how long visitors are staying on your site, and which pages are getting the most views. This data can help you identify which marketing efforts are working and where your website might need adjustments.

For example, if you’ve run an ad campaign or sent out promotional emails, you can see how much traffic those sources are driving to your site. Referral traffic data will show if people are finding your site through external links or publications, providing insight into the effectiveness of those efforts.

Key Takeaways:

• Use the “site” command in Google to check for broken links and ensure all pages are functioning correctly.

• Set up 301 redirects for any old URLs that no longer exist to prevent 404 errors.

• Monitor impressions and clicks through Google Search Console to track your website’s search visibility.

• Analyze traffic with Google Analytics to understand where visitors are coming from and how they’re interacting with your site.

By following these steps, you’ll be able to maximize the success of your newly launched website and address any issues before they affect your SEO or user experience.

Resources

Meredith’s husband provides free guides on how to implement redirects and other SEO essentials. Check out his blog for more detailed instructions on these topics.