Moving articles of a large site to different categories !!

[lucie12]

In one of my site there are many articles. I mean 100's of them. They are ranking and getting traffic perfectly fine.

Now, many of our readers are complaining about 'finding the appropriate article quickly as per their convenience'. Since there are many articles which are alike but don't serve the same info.

So, I have been thinking about moving the articles to different categories.. Like this say 'xyz.com/why-am-i-thirsty/' to something like this 'xyz.com/dehydration/why-am-i-thirsty/'. Now, my query here is that will it impact our rankings?

[zeus]

Usually, I will not recommend people to move their already ranking articles. Since it's not wise to play with already ranking articles. It can mess up your rankings.

But in your case, it's the readers demand. So, you have to do something like this anyway !!!

If you properly 301 redirect them. Then I can assure you that your rankings will have minimum to no effect. Do them via your .htaccess file and not through any other easy means.

[Autofresh.in]

yes, it will impact but make sure you redirect them properly. so after some time, it will be back to position (most of the times)
sometimes it won't work, depends on many other factors.

[vk_lord]

@Autofresh.in That's why redirects must be done from the root level of the domain (through htaccess is the best option)..And also I have seen sites redirect with no effect at all... So, saying that it will be back eventually might just not be the case of OP.

[sophiawils59]

also I have seen sites redirect with no effect at all...

So does this happen every time or sometimes?

[vk_lord]

So does this happen every time or sometimes?

Have you heard of moz? It used to be "SEOMoz".. It transferred it's site completely to moz without any fallouts.

[sophiawils59]

Yes, heard of Moz! Who doesn't know Moz

[np.carzspa]

Yes, it will affect the current ranking of your articles. if you change the URL don't forget to redirect the previous one or set canonical. it will help you.

[Autofresh.in]

The short answer is YES! It will impact the rankings.

[Brackwom]

In one of my site there are many articles. I mean 100's of them. They are ranking and getting traffic perfectly fine.

Now, many of our readers are complaining about 'finding the appropriate article quickly as per their convenience'. Since there are many articles which are alike but don't serve the same info.

So, I have been thinking about moving the articles to different categories.. Like this say 'xyz.com/why-am-i-thirsty/' to something like this 'xyz.com/dehydration/why-am-i-thirsty/'. Now, my query here is that will it impact our rankings?

It doesn't affect your ranking when you create categories, it is easy for readers to find the article, or from this, you can get more traffic & increase your rank.