Design Changes Increasing Rank??

SO...

Recently I started building SENukeX campaigns at my sites targetting:

1: Keyword 1
2: www.mysite.com
3: click here
4: view more info, ETC...

Today one of my sites had a nice jump... page 2 to page 1 on several competitive phrases (300K-500K results). Over all gain in 149 keywords= 4%.

Stats -
eCommerce Site, 900 Pages, PR1, 3yr domain... usually very stable placement.

HOWEVER, my developer/partner told me that yesterday he changed a few design pieces globally and we rolled out another product line (maybe 20 pages total). I know page count is important but I have a competitor that changes the look of his home page almost every week and his placement is better than mine (with less SEO).

Does site re-design play a role in rankings?
and if so, could it have caused this jump?

Thanks for any feedback!

It depends, i mean improved load times, source ordering, file sizes it all plays a part in SEO although it may not be a hugely influential ranking factor, check your website through SEObrowser and you will be able to see. Also Download the Yslow extension for Firefoxes Firebug addon this is a great tool for suggesting ways in which you can cut down page load times.

I'm probably going to get shot down here but why are you implementing a automated link building campaign? Hasn't penguin taught you nothing?

Will do. I use quality articles (Hand Written or Jon Leger's Article Builder) and I haven't been hit on a single site yet from panda or penguin ***keeping my fingers crossed. And as always, any feedback is appreciated.

vezznay said:

It depends, i mean improved load times, source ordering, file sizes it all plays a part in SEO although it may not be a hugely influential ranking factor, check your website through SEObrowser and you will be able to see. Also Download the Yslow extension for Firefoxes Firebug addon this is a great tool for suggesting ways in which you can cut down page load times.

I'm probably going to get shot down here but why are you implementing a automated link building campaign? Hasn't penguin taught you nothing?

Click to expand...

radarsurge said:

HOWEVER, my developer/partner told me that yesterday he changed a few design pieces globally and we rolled out another product line (maybe 20 pages total)...
Does site re-design play a role in rankings?
and if so, could it have caused this jump?

Click to expand...

It depends. If you are just adding new content, e.g. new pages, video, images, that's Ok, but changing the actual site structure may have a negative effect, if implemented wrongly.

vezznay said:

I'm probably going to get shot down here but why are you implementing a automated link building campaign? Hasn't penguin taught you nothing?

Click to expand...

'Penguin' had no effect on people who do automated link building the right way. I saw no drops, only consolidation of rankings.

radarsurge said:

Will do. I use quality articles (Hand Written or Jon Leger's Article Builder) and I haven't been hit on a single site yet from panda or penguin ***keeping my fingers crossed.

Click to expand...

I've used Article Builder. Sorry, but they're not quality articles. They are essentially re-ordered PLR snippets, knitted together from a large content database, and you're sharing that content with 100's/1000's of other members. I've done Copyscape checks on some of the articles, and they don't pass. They may 'just' scrape by with a little work for Tier 1, but definitely not for your money site. You're better off just getting articles written instead (or if you have time, writing them yourself).

Ok. so unique articles for money site & Tier 1, got it. Thanks!