How to give a Site a New Layout without Hurting SERPS?

Just started a job at a new company that makes carpet cleaning equipment.

Currently they rank #1 on Google for many of their (very competitive) keywords

the problem is that their website looks like it was designed by a 12 year old with downs syndrome

There is no copy to speak of on the main page - not even sure how it is ranking.

What steps can I take to ensure I don't lose google cred while overhauling the site? Is it safe to replace their crappy huge javascript menu with a CSS one?

Can I add a few paragraphs to the main page?

Obviously I wont change any of the file structure and will leave all the titles alone - but what else should I be wary of?

Huge thing is CMS overhauls. Just dont do it unless its life or death

How about creating a subfolder then just redirect the index page?

I did some onpage seo, the site didn't come back into ranking until 2-3 weeks later. It seems to rank better, but it looks like it is dropping.

Why fix something that is not broken?

i think you can go ahead and change the layout.just make sure the links are intact.As for how it ranks,i think it has to do with the site age.its old,isn't it?

cloak

mccullum said:

i think you can go ahead and change the layout.just make sure the links are intact.As for how it ranks,i think it has to do with the site age.its old,isn't it?

Click to expand...

yeah like 10 years old maybe more