Many people do everything to bring traffic on their website but they fail to get something substantial. One of the questions such people ask is whether it is a good idea to change the URL structure. Well, the answer to this question is “it depends”.
If you are going to make this change in the URL, you need to be very sure about the impact of this change. It means that you need to deliberate the reasons for making this type of change very carefully.
If you are not sure whether the change in URL structure will provide you with the benefit you are looking for, it would be a better idea not to go for this change.
Nevertheless, there are scenarios in which the change becomes crucial. For instance, you will need to change the URL structure when you are rebranding your company. Site migration, redesign, and launch of some specific products may lead you needing a change in the URL structure.
Now, the major question here is that should you need to change the URL structure. The answer is if there is any price you can pay to avoid this change, you need to pay that price.
Why it is important to maintain the URL structure?
The reasons you need to avoid changing the URL structure are quite obvious and straightforward. For example, a change in the URL structure breaks the bookmarks the users would have stored in their browsers. It means that you will lose direct relationship with your users after changing the URL structure.
Another reason the change in URL structure can be harmful is that the users will not be able to find you after seeing your website’s URL shared on different advertising channels. In this scenario, an easy way is to put 301 redirects. However, complete restructuring of the website might make it quite difficult for you put these redirects.
It would be worth mentioning that the reason you would not want to make such a change may probably be related to SEO in most of the cases. Even if you have a robust SEO strategy in place, Google will take time to rediscover your website.
If you must bring this change in the website’s URL, the first and most important thing you will need to work on is your link profile. The entire link building work tends to be of zero value when you redesign your site. However, you can avoid it by putting the redirects. You need to analyze the link profile fully and apply redirects where needed. This way, people using the old links will be directed to your site with a changed URL. And the major benefit of this approach, apart from the retained viewers, is that Google will not take much time rediscovering your website.