How to redesign a store without losing search-engine rankings?

[Kent Multer]

Hi folks,

I have a client who's running a rather outdated Miva store, and he'd like to create a new design. But he has some reservations; for one thing, half of the site is static HTML pages, and they have good search-engine rankings. He doesn't want to lose the rankings associated with the static-page URLs.

I'm not a big SEO expert, but from what I know, there are a few different ways to solve this problem. Please correct me if I'm wrong about any of them:

He could use .htaccess commands to redirect the old URLs into the store.

He could use URI Management features to make the old URLs work with the store.

He could use some sort of page-caching system to turn store pages into static HTML files.

He could use SEO tools such as CANONICAL tags and data feeds to get new URLs into the search engines while preserving his rankings.

What do you think? Will any/all of those ideas work? What's the best approach?

Thanks --

[PCINET - Andreas]

Turn all static pages into Miva pages and use URI to maintain the URLs.

[PCINET - Andreas]

Turn all static pages into Miva pages and use URI to maintain the URLs.

>> weird, replied only ones. Looks like the forum had a glitch in the morning. <<

[Pete McNamara]

So, to be clear Kent, if you change the URLs in the redesign you cannot avoid losing rankings (but redirects will minimize the duration of the loss). However, if you use the Miva URI feature to maintain the existing URLs i.e. follow Andreas' recommendation, then there should be no loss. I make this comment because Andreas' reply may have been a little cryptic for some :)

[Kent Multer]

Good news; thanks!