> Our sitewww.virtualfestivals.com- which provides news and > information on music festivals - was very well ranked for years in > Google and generally came up in the Top 3 for searches on most > festival names and first page for artist name searches. As a result, > 80% of our traffic (1.6 Million unique visitors per year) came from > Google.
> When we relaunched our site in April this year, offereing users > everything the previous site did, but in a much more user-friendly > form, and much more functionality, we were expecting traffic levels to > increase considerably. We had also upgraded our server hardware to > deliver a far quicker service.
> However, we made the fundamental oversight of changing the URL > structure of pages which meant that all of our existing links in > Google went to a 404 page. As a result, it appears that Google decided > that our site no longer existed and we have had to start from scratch > with our rankings in the new site.
> Now - despite our content and user experience being considerably > superior to that of our old site - our rankings are still virtually > non-existent. We have managed - through following Google's webmaster > advice to the letter (such as adding a Google-friendly site map, which > we had never done before) to improve things slightly but our traffic > remains 50% lower than before we upgraded the site and this is > destroying the business I have worked so hard to build, since I first > launched the site from my bedroom 8 years ago.
> Any help or advice that anyone can give us in this hour of need would > be very gratefully received (if you can turn this around for us, we > may even take you to Glastonbury with us next year!) :)
> Thanks,
> Steve Jenner
> Steve Jenner > Founder and Managing Director > Virtual Festivals.com Ltd.www.virtualfestivals.com > [email address]
> Create a 301 redirect from the old URLs to the new
> On Aug 3, 11:13 am, SJenner wrote:
> > Please help!
> > Our sitewww.virtualfestivals.com-which provides news and > > information on music festivals - was very well ranked for years in > > Google and generally came up in the Top 3 for searches on most > > festival names and first page for artist name searches. As a result, > > 80% of our traffic (1.6 Million unique visitors per year) came from > > Google.
> > When we relaunched our site in April this year, offereing users > > everything the previous site did, but in a much more user-friendly > > form, and much more functionality, we were expecting traffic levels to > > increase considerably. We had also upgraded our server hardware to > > deliver a far quicker service.
> > However, we made the fundamental oversight of changing the URL > > structure of pages which meant that all of our existing links in > > Google went to a 404 page. As a result, it appears that Google decided > > that our site no longer existed and we have had to start from scratch > > with our rankings in the new site.
> > Now - despite our content and user experience being considerably > > superior to that of our old site - our rankings are still virtually > > non-existent. We have managed - through following Google's webmaster > > advice to the letter (such as adding a Google-friendly site map, which > > we had never done before) to improve things slightly but our traffic > > remains 50% lower than before we upgraded the site and this is > > destroying the business I have worked so hard to build, since I first > > launched the site from my bedroom 8 years ago.
> > Any help or advice that anyone can give us in this hour of need would > > be very gratefully received (if you can turn this around for us, we > > may even take you to Glastonbury with us next year!) :)
> > Thanks,
> > Steve Jenner
> > Steve Jenner > > Founder and Managing Director > > Virtual Festivals.com Ltd.www.virtualfestivals.com > > [email address]- Hide quoted text -
> This ended up making a new thread instead of a reply to the original > one.
> On Aug 3, 12:28 pm, djc wrote:
> > Create a 301 redirect from the old URLs to the new
> > On Aug 3, 11:13 am, SJenner wrote:
> > > Please help!
> > > Our sitewww.virtualfestivals.com-whichprovides news and > > > information on music festivals - was very well ranked for years in > > > Google and generally came up in the Top 3 for searches on most > > > festival names and first page for artist name searches. As a result, > > > 80% of our traffic (1.6 Million unique visitors per year) came from > > > Google.
> > > When we relaunched our site in April this year, offereing users > > > everything the previous site did, but in a much more user-friendly > > > form, and much more functionality, we were expecting traffic levels to > > > increase considerably. We had also upgraded our server hardware to > > > deliver a far quicker service.
> > > However, we made the fundamental oversight of changing the URL > > > structure of pages which meant that all of our existing links in > > > Google went to a 404 page. As a result, it appears that Google decided > > > that our site no longer existed and we have had to start from scratch > > > with our rankings in the new site.
> > > Now - despite our content and user experience being considerably > > > superior to that of our old site - our rankings are still virtually > > > non-existent. We have managed - through following Google's webmaster > > > advice to the letter (such as adding a Google-friendly site map, which > > > we had never done before) to improve things slightly but our traffic > > > remains 50% lower than before we upgraded the site and this is > > > destroying the business I have worked so hard to build, since I first > > > launched the site from my bedroom 8 years ago.
> > > Any help or advice that anyone can give us in this hour of need would > > > be very gratefully received (if you can turn this around for us, we > > > may even take you to Glastonbury with us next year!) :)
> > > Thanks,
> > > Steve Jenner
> > > Steve Jenner > > > Founder and Managing Director > > > Virtual Festivals.com Ltd.www.virtualfestivals.com > > > [email address]- Hide quoted text -
> Well this could quickly turn into a pain in the butt.
> On Aug 3, 12:18 pm, webado wrote:
> > This ended up making a new thread instead of a reply to the original > > one.
> > On Aug 3, 12:28 pm, djc wrote:
> > > Create a 301 redirect from the old URLs to the new
> > > On Aug 3, 11:13 am, SJenner wrote:
> > > > Please help!
> > > > Our sitewww.virtualfestivals.com-whichprovidesnews and > > > > information on music festivals - was very well ranked for years in > > > > Google and generally came up in the Top 3 for searches on most > > > > festival names and first page for artist name searches. As a result, > > > > 80% of our traffic (1.6 Million unique visitors per year) came from > > > > Google.
> > > > When we relaunched our site in April this year, offereing users > > > > everything the previous site did, but in a much more user-friendly > > > > form, and much more functionality, we were expecting traffic levels to > > > > increase considerably. We had also upgraded our server hardware to > > > > deliver a far quicker service.
> > > > However, we made the fundamental oversight of changing the URL > > > > structure of pages which meant that all of our existing links in > > > > Google went to a 404 page. As a result, it appears that Google decided > > > > that our site no longer existed and we have had to start from scratch > > > > with our rankings in the new site.
> > > > Now - despite our content and user experience being considerably > > > > superior to that of our old site - our rankings are still virtually > > > > non-existent. We have managed - through following Google's webmaster > > > > advice to the letter (such as adding a Google-friendly site map, which > > > > we had never done before) to improve things slightly but our traffic > > > > remains 50% lower than before we upgraded the site and this is > > > > destroying the business I have worked so hard to build, since I first > > > > launched the site from my bedroom 8 years ago.
> > > > Any help or advice that anyone can give us in this hour of need would > > > > be very gratefully received (if you can turn this around for us, we > > > > may even take you to Glastonbury with us next year!) :)
> > > > Thanks,
> > > > Steve Jenner
> > > > Steve Jenner > > > > Founder and Managing Director > > > > Virtual Festivals.com Ltd.www.virtualfestivals.com > > > > [email address]- Hide quoted text -
