Does changing a site's theme/template make you lose rank?

[breakcode]

I would like to change the template of my site, is there any chance that I will lose all positions on Google?

Is there a procedure to follow to avoid losing rank?

 

[notNewB]

Make sure the template doesn't have a new link structure. As long as your link structure (domain.com/category/blogpost) stays unchanged, you gonna be fine.

However, there are some other smaller things to consider as well. Such as adding breadcrumbs with the new template to a site that didn't use to have them may have a positive impact on SEO. Or, the new theme might not have proper schema markups added to its HTML and thus affect your SEO negatively.

You may want to check this video:

 

[Ramazan]

yep. I just changed navbar html code every link was same and my visits have instant drop.

 

[Turbo SEO]

Yes, changing a site's theme or template can affect its ranking. Any changes you make to your website, from the scheme to a complete redesign, will affect your ranking.

 

[Loklush]

I would like to change the template of my site, is there any chance that I will lose all positions on Google?

Is there a procedure to follow to avoid losing rank?

Yes bro changing theme cause some position changes but it will fix automatically after some days. Also bro just keep in mind site internal structure & permalinks remain same

 

[breakcode]

Make sure the template doesn't have a new link structure. As long as your link structure (domain.com/category/blogpost) stays unchanged, you gonna be fine.

However, there are some other smaller things to consider as well. Such as adding breadcrumbs with the new template to a site that didn't use to have them may have a positive impact on SEO. Or, the new theme might not have proper schema markups added to its HTML and thus affect your SEO negatively.

You may want to check this video:

Thank you! I will try to keep the link structure intact, hopefully it won't change my rank.

Yes, changing a site's theme or template can affect its ranking. Any changes you make to your website, from the scheme to a complete redesign, will affect your ranking.

So I can't touch my site design anymore?

Yes bro changing theme cause some position changes but it will fix automatically after some days. Also bro just keep in mind site internal structure & permalinks remain same

Thank you! Is this something you've tried before?

 

[Loklush]

Thank you! I will try to keep the link structure intact, hopefully it won't change my rank.


So I can't touch my site design anymore?


Thank you! Is this something you've tried before?

Yes bro I have done this multiple times

 

[Thunder Digitals]

Changing the website design might have little impact on your SEO but if you keep the same URL structure then it is all good.

 

[l0cke]

I would like to change the template of my site, is there any chance that I will lose all positions on Google?

Is there a procedure to follow to avoid losing rank?

On my opinion , changing a site's theme could potentially impact the ranking by slowing the page speed sometimes. But it can be improved by optimizing the site's theme according to search engine's algorithm.

 

[Black Belt Spodermen]

No, changing the theme template has no effect. In case if your internal linking structure changes due to some reasons, you will have effect on your rankings.

 

[f0rest00]

You may see a slight change in your website's ranking if you change the template or theme.

 

[roydan]

It might dance for a bit but as long as the new theme performs the same or better than the old one (in terms of speed and UX), you'll regain the positions and can even improve.

 

[Giant SEO]

I did not face that problem, I changed the theme and template but it's not affecting my site maybe if you change the internal structure it will impact your ranking.

 

[jujudoxc]

If you change link structure you will loose ranks temporarily if you use 301. If you do not use 301 your in the hurt locker.

Like you do a redesign and take /category/ tag and do not redirect all that properly etc... It's pretty simple 101 stuff that impacts people the most.

Cover the basics and most times you should be good long term.

 

[dragonlube]

Changing site's theme will definitely show changes in ranking, as it changes the site's structure, site speed, content format, design - which all remains as SEO factors.

 

[CPANathan]

Make sure the template doesn't have a new link structure. As long as your link structure (domain.com/category/blogpost) stays unchanged, you gonna be fine.

However, there are some other smaller things to consider as well. Such as adding breadcrumbs with the new template to a site that didn't use to have them may have a positive impact on SEO. Or, the new theme might not have proper schema markups added to its HTML and thus affect your SEO negatively.

You may want to check this video:

If none of my webpages are ranking yet, can I remove the older URLs using GSC's removal page and request indexing on the newer URLs while not requesting indexing for webpages that are no longer on the website?

I've done my 2-3 hours of reading up and most of the warnings are to make sure internal and external linking doesn't direct to the webpages provided by GSC & there are no internal links aside from one or two to my homepage and all of the webpages from the new development only point to eachother - I thought to ask the pro's before I made any changes.

 

[Waifu_tatyana]

Nope if your new template is faster (i.e, less unminified CSS and JS, less http requests, less assets, and the like) your site will rank higher based on improved pagespeed metrics.

 

[Bounce Back]

As per my learnings from BHW, i think if you use light weight & user friendly template, with not much coding, then it won't affect your ranking.

 

[Maali]

Don't change the internal URL structure and if you have to do it then use 301 redirect and submit the updated URL in GSC.

 

[paisawaisa]

It is possible like in case it is breaking the design of the site, making navigation bad, it will affect the user experience.