Redesign - redirect of old pages?

[daemon61]

Currently we are into redesign of our website, and we came to a problem with redesigning because files on server are in pretty messy state. We are talking here of about 300-400 html pages which need to be properly arranged on server. So that instead of http://www.something.com/folder/fold...lder/page.html we get to a proper state - www.something.com/folder/page.html.
The problem is that all these pages have their PR, links to them, etc etc.
So what would be most unpainfull solution for this? To leave pages as they are and just replace them with redesigned pages, or make 301 for each page, or to add on every page a visible link to new pages? Or something completely different?:)
Im asking this, cause recently weve done on another site redirect 301 from old domain to new domain. It was OK for some time, new domain got its PR, but wasnt in SERPs. But after a month or two, it wasnt in SERPs, and it has lost its PR, so i am a bit worried about using 301.

Thanks for help!

[cyanide]

Originally Posted by daemon61

To leave pages as they are and just replace them with redesigned pages, or make 301 for each page,

This is what I would do. With a few hunderd pages it will take some time to add them all as 301's, but well worth it.

A 301 Re-direct is the "official" way to tell the SE's that your pages have permanently moved.

You probably had some issues before, because you moved to a new domain. In this case, your domain is still the same, so the change should get picked up quicker.

[daemon61]

Originally Posted by cyanide

This is what I would do. With a few hunderd pages it will take some time to add them all as 301's, but well worth it.

A 301 Re-direct is the "official" way to tell the SE's that your pages have permanently moved.

You probably had some issues before, because you moved to a new domain. In this case, your domain is still the same, so the change should get picked up quicker.

Thats true, i didt think of that at all... ah...:)
Thanks for answer!

[cyanide]

np

Good Luck!