Anti-case on SEO: How Changing URLs Led to a Catastrophe

Service

SEO and promotion of a large online store based on the Prom.ua marketplace.

Goal

The overarching goal of this SEO promotion project was to increase website traffic and attract more potential customers. A specific task was to assess the prospects of restoring the website's previous positions due to the incorrect interaction with the site's content by the owner.

Website Before

The website was built on the Prom.ua marketplace platform and was steadily advancing in search results through our team's efforts.

However, in February 2023, the client decided to restructure their online store by deleting all product categories and then recreating them with new URLs. Unfortunately, the client overlooked the fact that websites created on the Prom platform do not have functionality to set up redirects from non-existing pages to new ones.

The consequences of this decision were catastrophic. The site's visibility sharply declined:

Organic traffic declined by 17%, leading to a significant 49% decrease in site revenue:

In general, the site was pushed back in all metrics:

Project Work

Today, we continue to work on restoring the previous metrics, but the process is proving to be challenging.

Conclusions

This situation serves as a strong reminder of how crucial it is to interact with a website and its content with proper caution. This is especially important when it comes to critical elements like the URLs of promoted pages. Regardless of the platform, be it Prom.ua or any other service, it's essential to always consider their features and limitations. It's essential to remember that any changes can have long-term consequences, and one should constantly strive to minimize the risks associated with traffic and revenue loss.

Before embarking on radical changes to a website, it's necessary to evaluate their necessity (in our case, there was no need to change the URLs at all), analyze potential consequences, and explore all alternatives. Consulting with an SEO specialist is always recommended.