Converting html to asp hurt rankings?

[alienzhavelanded]

Wasn't sure about this...so here goes ...I'm coverting a large HTML based site over to ASP, and was wondering if this would affect my rankings with Google as the links to the HTML pages will be gone. I thought of just leaving the HTML pages there or something, but wasn't entirely sure if converting to ASP will be a problem with rankings or not. Anyone who can answer will recieve a free ride in a UFO!

The Martian

[cyanide]

You should be doing a re-direct. Atleast the bots will know the pages have moved and will be able to find them.

Shouldn't be any harm keeping those old pages for a little while, until the new ones are indexed.

Big question, though.
Are you on a unix server or windows iis ?

If it's unix, then it's as simple as uploading an .htaccess file and entering something like:
Redirect /old/oldfile.html http://yoursite.com/new/newfile.html

All on 1 line

On Windows, then you're looking at using a third party tool, such as:
ISAPIRewrite www.isapirewrite.com
IISRewrite www.qwerksoft.com/products/iisrewrite

I'll pass on the UFO, thanks LOL !

[sudhani]

My basic question ... why do we need to convert the html website into an asp website??? is it for the ease of updating / maintaining the website???

We can have all features of a database driven dynamic website ... even in html pages ... we are already doing it

I still feel ... if SEs prefer html pages ... just stick to them.

Sudha

[alienzhavelanded]

Thanks for the quick response Cyanide.

Sudhani, the site is becoming too time consuming to maintain as static html, so I'm converting it. The question was not whether SE's prefer HTML pages.

The Martian

[mm99]

Definitely keep the old pages there and use a java redir, not frames. I recently moved a few small sites from a free space vendor when they started throwing ads on the pages.

I used a redir to get to the pages to begin with. When I pointed the redir to the new host, I left the old pages in place with a java redir in the head. On the sites that I resubmitted page by page, I had problems. On the ones I didn't submit, the old pages (root listings) stayed listed and the new pages were picked up also, giving me double presence.

If someone clicked the old page, they were redir to the new one. The ses do not read java. It will just take a while for them to drop the page, but who cares, as long as the visitor is redirected to the new one. I even had chance to optimize my titles for something diff while this was going on.

Just leave the old pages alone, put a redir in the head, and forget about submitting new pages one at a time for now. This will work.

peace...Paul