How to keep google rankings when changing URL rules on a website? [closed]

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On our website, we use page names with GET attributes for URL's, for example "page.php?index=43". We want to use rewrite rules in the htaccess file so that we can type "/pages/some-page-title" for the same effect. However, we also want to keep our Google rankings from the previous URL's. Is there a way we can achieve that?

Answer 1

If you make a proper redirect, with a 301 return code from the old urls to the new urls, the ranking should not be affected.

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/83105?hl=en

However, this is every SEO'ers nightmare, because what if... :) I think you just have to trust Google's promise that ranking will be kept when you create proper, working redirects.