Will the change of the site affect rankings?...

[MemKaw]

My affsite is ranking high for many keywords, but I wanted to change the look of the site. The index page is a kind of landing page, So I decided to have a new landing page designed for me. Something that will convert and look better with div's and css. I am going to use it for PPC also.

My question is, if I change the index page and, offcourse I have to change other content pages at my site, will this affect my rankings?

I am going to keep the content as it is on the pages. Just change the design.....Secondly, would you only change the index page and leave the article pages as it is?

Thanks

 

[TylerL]

If you kept the exact same HTML and simply modified the stylesheet, then your rankings wouldn't be affect. However, sounds like you're going from an older site and replacing it with something a lot more recent, so I'd take this chance to make sure everything is labeled how it should be (<h1>, <h2>, <h3> and so on for headings, <p> for blocks of text, <cite> for quotes, etc). I'm 99% sure that hierarchy and organization plays a part in determining your rank.

 

[pocketrockets]

I definitely would be careful if you change the layout and structure of the site -- even if you keep the content the same it could affect the way the SE bots crawl the site.

 

[MemKaw]

So It will affect the rankings you mean...The reason why I want to do this is to have a better conversion..and my site to be in div's instead of tables which the old site is designed in....