User talk:Soppnox

WebSite Changes Affect SEO
Your log should track all the changes to the website, not just those that were made with web marketing in mind. Organizations make many changes that they do not think will effect search engine optimization, but they have a big impact on it. Here are some examples.

1) Content areas/features/options added to the site this could be anything from new blog to new categorization system.

2) Changing the domain of your website. This can have a significant impact, and you should document when the switchover was made.

3) Modifications in the website URL & structures of website designing Changes to URL on your site will likely impact on your internet marketing rankings, so record any and all changes.

4) Implementing a new dynamic website or Content Management System, this is a big one, with a very big impact. If you must change your website CMS, make sure you do through analysis of the online marketing shortcoming of the new CMS versus the old one. And make sure you track the timing and the impact.

5) New partnerships that either send link or require them (meaning your site is earning new links or linking out to new place)

6) Changes to navigation/ menu system (moving links around on pages. creating new link system, etc).

7) Any redirects, either to or from the site.

8) Upticks in usage/traffic and the source (e.g if you get mentioned in the press and receive an influx of traffic from it)

When you track these items, you can create an accurate shoreline to help correlate causes with effects. If for example, you we observe red a spike in traffic from yahoo that started four to five days after you switched from menu links in the footer to the header, it is a likely indicator of a causal relationship.

Without such documentation it could be months before you notice the surge and there would be no way to trace it back to the responsible modification. Your web design team might later choose to switch back to footer links, your traffic may fall and no record would exist to help you understand why. Without the lesson of his history, you are doomed to repeat the same mistakes.

Reference: http://www.soppnox.com/blog/?p=40