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An interesting WebmasterWorld thread discusses the phenomenon of redesigning a site, with brand new URL structure, 301 redirecting the old URLs to the new, and seeing an almost immediate boost in rankings at Google.com. In fact, WebmasterWorld moderator, minnapple, has coined this phenomenon the "honeymoon period."
What he means by that is that sometimes, a well-liked site, will see an immediate boost in rankings at Google after redesigning and implementing many 301 redirects. Minnapple described the honeymoon period as lasting about 20 days, and it is possible things can go back to how they were, or possibly get worse.
Tedster said he has seen similar things:
This lines up with the results of a redesign I helped on - we saw the new urls take over seamlessly. I'd say this is a sign that you had things well handled technically, and that Google already liked the site a good bit. Please let us know if things start to wobble.
Have you experienced this Google redesign "Honeymoon Period" yourself?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
Comments:
Jaan Kanellis
01/08/2009 08:58 pm
If you do things right and things were that bad before the redesign, I don't see why the honeymoon would not last forever.
Barry Schwartz
01/08/2009 09:03 pm
Jaan, yes, things should 100% improve after a SEO redesign. :) But I think here, the "honeymoon period" is described as a temporary spike in rankings. How many married folks do you know that have a lifetime honeymoon? ;-)
Mike
01/09/2009 07:37 pm
I've always felt the "honeymoon" experience people report is just them getting used to ranking better, and they want more. Thoughts like "...last month we saw an 80% increase in search referrals! Why no more growth?"
Al
01/10/2009 02:01 pm
I recently moved a few hundred pages within a site and I can see a blip on the radar for search referrals for roughly 2-3 weeks afterwards. However, the 'boost' I see there was not to a level that my site hadn't reached previously (approximately 2 months earlier). Based on that and seasonal changes for the market I work in, I'd be reluctant to say that there was a honeymoon boost and it wasn't just seasonal shift.
ronald
01/17/2010 10:04 am
hello, this is very good information about honeymoon. anybody here who tell me some good honeymoon destinations.