1. File Names
Never change your file names unless it is completely important to reform the file hierarchy as not only you risk losing valuable rankings with page renaming, but also you might lose existing customers who could have bookmarked the now-moved page. If you do not have a choice but to rename file names, the use of a 301 redirection is the best solution. Your customers are automatically redirected to the new location while using 301 redirection.
2. Site Structure
Together with file names, site structure changes may include your domain name. The above rule still holds true if your domain name is the only change you make to your site. Even with correct 301 redirects, your rankings may drop notably.
Ensure that you have 404 redirects in place. Either direct “page not found” traffic to a custom 404 error page, or to your site’s home page.
3. Image Links
In case your present website uses text links to the home page, ensure that they are carried over to the new website design without losing the relevancy.
4. Content Management Systems
Today lots of new sites use CMS for content management which can destroy your rankings from time to time. Before switching to a CMS make certain that changed URL’s are accurately covered with 301 redirects and try to find a system that offers clean URL strings with minimal extra characters.
5. Content
If your new site has wholly fresh textual content, make sure that the keyword densities remain as close as possible to the old copy.
6.Title and Meta Tags
Make sure to copy the title and meta tag of your old page to the new version.
