: Sounds like you're doing exactly what Matt Cutts of Google recommends including the 301 redirects. Only thing I'd add to that is to create a sitemap that pings Google, which will help it

@Kevin317

Sounds like you're doing exactly what Matt Cutts of Google recommends including the 301 redirects. Only thing I'd add to that is to create a sitemap that pings Google, which will help it keep inventory of your new links alongside your redirects.

Settings up Google Webmaster Tools for your website in general is a good idea to keep track of your sitemaps (ensure they're working and getting successfully processed). You can also increase Googlebot's crawl rate after the switch.

But really, 301 redirects are already gold. I run a large message board and dramatically changed the URLs. I had 301 redirects + a sitemap system in place and I didn't even notice so much as a skip in Google's reindexing. Google clearly knows what you're doing and as long as it can successfully connect oldlink-->newlink, the transition will be painless.

My forum is crawled very heavily and the new URL index was live on Google within 24 hours.

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