SEO Tycoon

**bigcat1967** · 03-03-2010, 12:40 PM

I have someone that is going to replace the index page with a new design/page and I believe more text is added and the functionality is a little different. The site is ranked number 2 on the first page for a decently competitive niche. Just wondering, if he keeps the title tag the same and the KWs the same (I believe he has) - will his site be in danger of losing any ground in the SERPs because of the design and text change of his index page?

**lynxus** · 06:22 PM

Its possible as the SE's dont just check the tags.

They also check

Keyword frequency in the page content itself.
Keywords in your internal links.

If you keep the frequency the same then it shouldn't change too much.

Edited to help keep Chris's blood pressure down.

**chrishirst** · 03-03-2010, 06:03 PM

Oh how I wish the density stupidity would go away.

It is just another piece of crappy "advice" from half wit "experts" who simply do not understand any kind of analysis.

What people need to understand and pass around is that there is a DIFFERENCE between density and FREQUENCY.

Keyword FREQUENCY is the viable metric (the number of times a word is used). Density, being the ratio of any word to others is a meaningless, abstract concept.

When you are reading something how do you ascertain the meaning of the text?
When you are listening to a speaker how do you know what he is talking about?

That's right, you pick out what word/words are used most! That is FREQUENCY not density.

**surgeryhuston** · 03-03-2010, 06:19 PM

Actually Chris, keyword density and keyword frequency are synonyms for one another. Maybe you were searching for keyword quantity which is just a flat measure of the amount of keywords.

Frequency and density are both measures on a per unit scale.

**jj1** · 03-04-2010, 11:17 AM

When I redesigned my website without changing the title tag - and keeping most but not all of content of home page - my site suffered no ill-effects.

However, 9-12 months before this when I moved from town a to town b and so changed the title tag to reflect this, my site was penalised fotr 4 months before being allowed to rise up the serps (for 4 months it was no 9 underneath less optimised sites with fewer links; then within 2 weeks it was no 1).

**vangogh** · 03-04-2010, 06:08 PM

Quote:

However, 9-12 months before this when I moved from town a to town b and so changed the title tag to reflect this, my site was penalised fotr 4 months before being allowed to rise up the serps (for 4 months it was no 9 underneath less optimised sites with fewer links; then within 2 weeks it was no 1)

Just because your rank dropped or wasn't what you wanted it to be, doesn't mean your site was penalized in any way. Rankings change all the time for a variety of reasons. That's normal and not a penalty.

**melovemoney** · 03-04-2010, 06:51 PM

It could be penalized, it really depends on what he changing and what he's changing it too.

**webservices4in** · 03-08-2010, 10:24 AM

If You can add good and unique content with good keywords density and all the other good on page optimization ..........then your website will not go down...........you can get higher rankings for the keywords you have optimized your website.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigcat1967

I have someone that is going to replace the index page with a new design/page and I believe more text is added and the functionality is a little different. The site is ranked number 2 on the first page for a decently competitive niche. Just wondering, if he keeps the title tag the same and the KWs the same (I believe he has) - will his site be in danger of losing any ground in the SERPs because of the design and text change of his index page?

**ThailandForum** · 03-08-2010, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jj1

so changed the title tag to reflect this, my site was penalised fotr 4 months

Maybe next time just add to the title tag initially and do the change over several weeks dependant on how often you get indexed?

**chrishirst** · 03-08-2010, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by surgeryhuston

Actually Chris, keyword density and keyword frequency are synonyms for one another. Maybe you were searching for keyword quantity which is just a flat measure of the amount of keywords.

Frequency and density are both measures on a per unit scale.

Totally, Totally wrong!

Frequency is the number of times any one entity appears

Density is the ratio of one entity to all other entities in a given space or volume

Frequency is a measurement that has UNITS.

Density is a dimensionless number.

In a bowl containing 20 different items of fruit there may 5 apples (the frequency) whereas the apple density would be 25%.

**ThailandForum** · 03-08-2010, 10:56 AM

^So your saying comparing Frequency and Density is the same as comparing apples and pears then ?

**chrishirst** · 03-08-2010, 07:00 PM

In exactly the same way that ALL words on a page are supposedly "keywords"

Density is NOT a comparison, it is simply the ratio between two quantities, these quantities could be totally disparate items, or could be different units.

The density of water can be increased by adding salt.

To use "keyword density" as an absolute measure is frankly stupid, even more so when the people who spread this "magic number" do not seem to fully grasp matematics anyway.

**VirtuosiMedia** · 03-08-2010, 08:04 PM

**chrishirst** · 03-09-2010, 06:21 PM

More like dead_horse.gif

**vangogh** · 03-09-2010, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by melovemoney

It could be penalized, it really depends on what he changing and what he's changing it too.

Could? Sure. Lot's of things could happen. It's unlikely though. People seem to have this tendency to think that if rank drops it must be a penalty. If you read the post I was quoting you'd see that all that was changed was the location of the business in the page title. Hardly something you would get penalized for. The poster however concluded that because pages on the site dropped in rank it must have been penalized. I'm trying to correct that faulty logic.

Drop in rank != penalty by default