Changing/Deleting Categories - Search Engine Ramifications

[Midrangeman14]

Hello,
I am quite an amateur when it comes to Miva, but I have managed a store for several years now. I have come to find that the original category tree layout that was created is more complicated than it needs to be. I would like to consolidate categories into broader topics.

For example, "Beomat Trap Parts" and "Beomat Skeet Parts" would now be under "Beomat Parts" since a good portion of them are interchangeable. Where as now there are parent "Trap Parts" and "Skeet Parts" categories.

The problem is the current categories have good rankings on Google, and I would hate to break that by changing everything. I know you can use redirects, but does Miva have a function for this situation? I don't want to commit search engine suicide by changing everything.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for reading.

[Siamese-Dream.Com]

Re: Changing/Deleting Categories - Search Engine Ramifications

The problem is the current categories have good rankings on Google, and I would hate to break that by changing everything.

Well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it...

If there is a big crossover, then I guess you could create a category called "Beomat trap and skeet Parts"
I would probably take one of the EXISTING categories (either the trap or skeet parts categories) and merge the other one with it (as opposed to creating an entirely new third category).

You can do the 301 redirect either in the .htaccess file, or if you are using toolkit, I think you can use the archive page redirect (but that might be dependent on whether you use short links or not, but I am not sure, so talk with the developer of toolkit first).

Any halfway decent host will be able to help you with doing 301 redirects in your .htaccess file. But if your host can't help, let us know, and someone here can help you.

[Midrangeman14]

Re: Changing/Deleting Categories - Search Engine Ramifications

Mark,
Thank you for the reply. I will give the 301 redirect with my host a try, as well as think about combining my categories and using an old one.
I'll post how it goes!
-Kevin