Things to do before switching off the old content
- create a list of the main content and structural change: these pages will be most likely affected by temporary down-ranking and require specific monitoring
- ensure that a consistent and granular redirect strategy has been developed
- particular care has to be taken when mapping sections that have undergone a structural change
- to help search engines locating the new content, ensure that the sitemap is up as soon as the content is published under /info
- if necessary, resubmit the sitemap to Google or other search engines
Things to do after the content has been switched off
- check that all pages are indexable (robots metatag should be set to follow, index)
- check sample-wise that the redirect is working on Google
- any redirect that is not working must be fixed as a priority (before Google updates its index)
- monitor constantly with Google Search Console the visitors and query situation for at least four weeks
- a slight and temporary down-ranking has to be expected in case of content variation, introduction of new landing and navigation pages
Contact and support
Need further assistance on this topic? Please contact the team in charge of Europa Domain Management (EU Login required).