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The Ultimate Website Migration Checklist
Comprehensive Guide To Migrating Websites
Every website could use a revamp every now and then, especially where your SEO potential is concerned. Website migration is an easy way to change your SEO capabilities drastically. But what is a website migration, and what’s involved in one? This blog will explain the ins and outs of an SEO migration and how to migrate a website successfully.
What is website migration?
A website migration, or site migration, is the process of making massive changes and alterations to a website to improve its online visibility and search engine optimization (SEO). Website migration is a task that is often undertaken by digital marketers or SEO specialists for their clients.
What is an SEO migration?
SEO migration is another term for site migration. A site migration for SEO purposes can play a significant role in meeting your digital marketing goals, whether boosting online visibility, increasing sales, or improving your online presence and authority.
Why do so many people fear website migrations?
Website migration can be a daunting process for businesses, often met with hesitation and fear. Whether you’re migrating to a new platform, changing your domain, or updating the structure of your website, the thought of the unknown can be overwhelming.
But why exactly do people fear website migration? Here are the key reasons:
- The Risk of Losing Search Engine Rankings – One of the most common concerns during a website migration is the potential loss or drop in valuable search engine rankings. SEO performance can be impacted if not handled carefully. The worry is that search engines may struggle to crawl and index the new structure properly, causing a drop in rankings and organic traffic. With the right planning and proper SEO implementation, these risks can be minimized, but the fear of losing all the hard-earned visibility is real.
- The Complexity of the Process – Website migration is a complex and often technical task, especially when you’re shifting from one content management system (CMS) to another or updating URLs. Without a clear strategy and expert guidance, it’s easy to overlook crucial steps like setting up 301 redirects, updating internal links, or testing new structures. These complications can lead to broken links, poor user experience, and ultimately, traffic loss. The intricate nature of the process can make it seem like a scary undertaking.
- Fear of Downtime – The possibility of experiencing downtime during migration is another source of anxiety. If your website is down during the transition, potential customers may be unable to access it, which could result in lost sales, inquiries, or even brand damage. The fear of disruption to your business operations and online presence often holds companies back from initiating the migration process. However, with careful planning and working with experienced professionals, this can be avoided.
- Loss of Data – Data loss is a significant concern during migration. Website content, customer data, and important business information may not always transfer correctly if not backed up or handled properly. Whether it’s product descriptions, blog posts, or customer accounts, the fear of losing valuable information can make website migration seem like a risky business move. A thorough data backup and testing plan can prevent this from happening, but the fear of “what if” remains for many.
- Lack of Expertise – For businesses without in-house technical expertise, the fear of handling a migration process correctly is a major issue. Website migrations often require a deep understanding of technical SEO, server settings, and how changes affect search engines and user experience. Without the necessary knowledge, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and anxious about making costly mistakes that can negatively impact performance.
- Impact on User Experience – Website migrations often involve changes to navigation, layout, and overall user interface. While these changes may improve your website in the long run, there’s a fear that the new design or structure may confuse or alienate users, causing them to leave the site. This is especially concerning for businesses with loyal customers who are accustomed to the old site’s design. Testing and gathering feedback can help mitigate this, but the concern is always present.
- Uncertainty About the Outcome – The fear of the unknown is inherent in any large-scale change. Even if you’ve planned your website migration down to the finest details, there’s always a degree of uncertainty about how the search engines will respond and whether users will adapt to the new website design. This fear is amplified when the migration is tied to business goals, as you’re not just migrating a website but also a key driver of sales, leads, and conversions.
Website migrations can indeed be a challenging and intimidating task, many of the fears surrounding it are based on uncertainties that can be overcome with proper planning, expertise, and the right support. By understanding the risks, implementing best practices for SEO, and ensuring a seamless user experience, businesses can successfully navigate migration and emerge with a more powerful and efficient website.
It’s important to work with experienced professionals to guide you through the process, ensuring your website migration is as smooth and stress-free as possible.
How can a site migration impact SEO?
As we know, effective SEO can deliver spectacular results for your business. But SEO goes beyond keywords and internal linking; it outlines the best way to structure and optimize your website. Not including SEO in your site migration can result in your digital marketing efforts taking a hit. You may notice a decline in organic traffic, and your rankings may also plummet.
Site migration with SEO means adhering to the latest best practices of technical SEO to ensure an exceptional user experience, from an easy-to-navigate site to a faster page speed.
At Online Marketing Gurus, we have done countless migrations and engineered recovery strategies for botched migrations.
What drives our success is our R&D Department which has created a documented process for migration. Whether you’re in the pre-launch, launch or post-launch stage, this guide demystifies the process for a successful website migration. We outline the considerations for minimising risks and look at strategies for improving your rankings and search traffic.
Let’s take you through the following steps:
- Types Of Website Migrations
- Website Migration Process
- Common Pitfalls
- Site Migration FAQs
- Tools
The six common types of website migrations
Every website is unique and as such, every website migration require a customized approach tailored to that individual website. At Online Marketing Gurus, we specialize in providing tailored SEO migration services that are designed to protect and enhance your website’s search engine rankings during transitions. Whether you’re redesigning your website, shifting to a new domain, migrating to a new CMS, or even upgrading your site’s architecture, a strategic SEO migration plan is essential to maintaining and improving your search visibility.
Depending on the nature of the changes required, we may recommend one of the following SEO migrations:
1. Site move migrations
A site move migration involves changing the URL of a website. This is one of the biggest and most obvious changes in an SEO migration.
As there are many components in a website’s URL, site move migration may involve adjusting the following:
- Protocol change— A URL’s protocol refers to exchanging or transferring data across a computer network. One of the most common protocol changes a website may undergo is migrating from HTTP to HTTPS, which involves a change in web security.
- Subdomain change – This occurs when a website merges a desktop and mobile version of a website while maintaining the same URL.
- Domain change — A domain change typically occurs when a business undergoes a rebrand and must move from one domain name to another.
- Top-level domain change — A top-level domain change may be implemented when an online business goes international with its customer base. This SEO migration involves changing the country in the top-level domain, for example, migrating from .com.au to .com or .org.
- Site structure change — This refers to changing the website’s architecture and structure, such as internal linking and layout of pages.
2. Re-platforming
Whether you have a blog attached to your website or a section with restricted access, your website likely runs with more than one platform, offering multiple technical capabilities and features. Re-platforming involves moving from one site platform to another or simply updating to a different version of the same platform.
A website involving multiple platforms undergoing an SEO migration may require greater care, as several features must be considered.
3. Site Redesigns
As user experience and site mapping are tied to SEO, many websites may undergo a site redesign as part of their SEO migration. A site redesign involves changing a website’s layout or overall design to make it more user-friendly. As more users search for things via a tablet or smartphone, websites must be able to accommodate both desktop and mobile searchers.
4. Structural changes
As they say, content is king — and for a good reason! For your website to rank highly in Google, you need fresh and unique content. Your site may need to have its content revised, updated, or re-optimized to keep it updated with the latest SEO best practices.
5. Content migrations
As they say, content is king — and for a good reason! For your website to rank highly in Google, you need fresh and unique content. Your site may need to have its content revised, updated, or re-optimized to keep it updated with the latest SEO best practices.
6. Hybrid migrations
Hybrid migration is a term used when a website needs more than one type of SEO migration. For example, a hybrid migration may involve a website changing its domain, structure, and content.
What are the risks involved with site migration for SEO?
Website migration can deliver incredible benefits for your site’s SEO. However, poor or unplanned migrations can hurt many areas of your business, from online presence to sales and traffic. Many common risks involved with an ineffective site migration for SEO include:
- A decline in conversion rates, traffic, and rankings
- Increase in a page’s bounce rate due to a lack of relevant content
- An interrupted user experience brought on by poor site mapping
- Issues with tracking analytics and other codes
- Broken internal and external links
- An overload of page indexation
Over the years, Online Marketing Gurus have performed countless SEO migrations and developed risk management strategies to avoid the abovementioned risks. We use a documented procedure for a site’s migration and outline and minimize any risks before beginning the process.
Website Migration Checklist
Once you understand which SEO migration your website needs and the reason behind it, it’s time to get planning. SEO site migration is a complicated procedure that must be planned carefully to ensure success. If you are thinking about using a website migration service from a digital marketing expert, like OMG, it’s likely your site’s migration will be broken down into three stages: scoping and planning, the pre-launch and post-launch checklist.
At OMG, we understand the mysterious nature of SEO for beginners, which is why we divided all the stages in our website migration checklist, so you’re confident in allowing us to manage your website’s SEO potential.
Stage one — planning and scoping
Before any website undergoes a migration, two things must be taken care of first: devising a plan to ensure everyone understands what is to be changed and double-checking that an SEO migration is truly worth it for the website.
Is an SEO migration worth it?
If you’ve been doing your due diligence in researching the latest SEO best practices and strategies, it’s common to wonder if your website is up to scratch. Before signing up for an SEO migration, why not consult with an SEO specialist first? OMG can audit your website’s SEO to determine whether a comprehensive migration is required or if your site only requires a few technical tweaks.
Planning your SEO migration
If you are using a website migration service to perform your migration, understanding exactly what changes are being made to your website is crucial. As part of our service, our gurus will sit down with you and explain in detail what adjustments will be made and why.
We understand better than anyone how crucial it is to have a user-friendly and captivating website, so we’ll take you through each element to ensure you are comfortable with our proposed changes before going ahead with the migration. We’ll also respond to any feedback or concerns you may have.
Once you are happy with our recommendations, we’ll devise a plan and delegate tasks to our team members. Migration goes beyond SEO specialists — it involves UX designers, data analysts, copywriters, and more.
While we will keep you updated with your website migration, remember that this process can take days to weeks and even months, depending on your website’s migration plan. That’s why performing a site migration is highly recommended when your business experiences less traffic.
Stage two — the pre-launch checklist
Once your migration plan is ready to go, the next stage of the website migration checklist is to outline your pre-launch to-dos. The first step to prevent any SEO issues or UX hiccups is to review the website’s prototypes and wireframes. This will save you time and effort down the road! We can jump into the more ‘meatier’ aspects when that’s completed.
Technical SEO audit
This involves combing through your current website and making a list of detailed technical SEO specifications for the developers, so they can easily understand the site’s requirements. To give you an insight into what these specifications may look like, here are some common components of an SEO audit:
- Implementing metadata and alt text for images
- Improving page load time
- Removing duplicate content
Benchmarking
Benchmarking involves taking note of your site’s current performance, such as its keyword ranking, organic traffic, and more. Having these records is important as it allows you to rate the performance of your new site once it launches against your current one. It also gives you a clear insight into which areas are not performing optimally, helping you address them immediately.
Identifying priority pages
Priority pages can refer to the pages that are your site’s top performers — the ones that require the most SEO work or both. Having a list of these pages helps you maximize your site’s migration potential.
301 redirect mapping
A 301 redirect mapping is a permanent redirect used when the URLs of your old site are completely different from those of your new site. The 301 redirect also informs search engines of the change, instructing them to transfer ranking signals from the old URL to the new one.
All pages must be mapped and correspond to the old pages to be successful. Should a URL redirect to the wrong page, this can significantly impact user experience, affecting your SEO efforts and website credibility.
Final checks and changes over your domain
Between testing your website in staging to double-checking all the finer details, combing through the changes before launch one last time is crucial. This allows you to address any last-minute changes or issues before migration. During the final stages, you must change your domain name in Google Search Console (GSC).
Three essential SEO migration must-dos
Before your SEO migration goes ahead, you will also need to:
- Make a copy of your site to prevent any details from getting lost
- Block access to your new site so site visitors don’t get confused
- Copy the Google Analytics (GA) tracking code to your new site so you can track its performance
Stage three — the post-launch checklist
The final stage in your website migration checklist comes after launching your new website.
Things to do after your new site goes live
As your new site goes live, it’s likely your old site will be temporarily shut down — this must be done for a short time, as the longer it takes for a search engine to crawl your site, the greater impact it will have on organic search results. You must also check the robots.txt file to ensure search engines can crawl the new pages.
After a few weeks or months post-launch
Google needs time to crawl your entire website, so it’s worth checking in on your site’s performance a few weeks or months after its launch. Smaller sites may take four to six weeks before their results can be compared with the old site, while large sites take two to three months before any disturbances settle.
Measure site migration performance
Testing migration performance comes down to site load speed, mobile and desktop visibility, page sessions, number of indexed pages, and more. Stacking these insights against your old website’s performance helps you understand if the site migration has improved or diminished your site’s visibility, indicating areas for improvement.
Is it hard to migrate a website?
Migrating a website can be a challenging process, especially if you’re not familiar with the technical aspects involved. However, with the right approach, tools, and expertise, it doesn’t have to be a difficult task. The difficulty level depends on the scope of the migration and the experience of the team handling it.
Here are the key factors that determine how hard a website migration can be:
Complexity of the Migration
The more complex the migration, the more difficult it can be. For example, if you’re simply updating your website’s content management system (CMS) or making minor updates to your site’s design, it may be relatively straightforward. However, if you’re migrating to a new domain, changing your website’s URL structure, or completely overhauling the site’s design and functionality, the process becomes much more complicated.
Technical Challenges
There are many technical components that need to be addressed during a migration, including:
- 301 Redirects: To ensure that search engines and users are properly directed to the new website URLs, you need to set up 301 redirects. These tell search engines that a page has permanently moved to a new location. Incorrectly setting up these redirects can lead to 404 errors or loss of valuable backlinks.
- Content Migration: Moving your content from one site to another can be a delicate process. Content must be transferred properly to avoid issues like broken links, missing images, or duplicate content.
- SEO Preservation: SEO elements like meta tags, header tags, image alt texts, and internal links need to be moved and optimized to ensure the migration doesn’t negatively affect your rankings.
- Mobile Optimization and Page Speed: Ensuring that your new site is mobile-friendly and has fast loading times is crucial. If your new site is not optimized for mobile or has slow page speeds, your user experience and SEO rankings will suffer.
Design and UX Considerations
Migrating your website’s design requires ensuring that the new layout is functional and user-friendly. You’ll also need to test how your new design performs across various devices, browsers, and screen sizes. A poor user experience can lead to higher bounce rates and lower conversions.
Testing and QA
After the migration is complete, rigorous testing is required to ensure that everything works as expected. This includes checking for broken links, ensuring that pages load properly, and verifying that all features function as they should. Any bugs or issues need to be addressed promptly to minimize disruptions.
Impact on SEO
SEO migration is one of the most crucial elements of a website migration. If done incorrectly, you could lose search engine rankings and traffic. Properly managing 301 redirects, preserving on-page SEO elements, and ensuring that no valuable backlinks are lost are essential to ensuring that your SEO performance stays intact.
Can I Migrate My Website on My Own?
While it’s possible to migrate a website yourself, it requires a certain level of expertise. If you lack experience in handling SEO, web design, or technical SEO, you may run into problems that could negatively impact your website’s performance, such as a loss of organic traffic, broken links, or ranking drops.
If you are not familiar with SEO migrations or web development, hiring a professional agency with expertise in SEO migrations can help simplify the process. A trusted SEO agency will ensure that the migration is done smoothly, with minimal disruption to your site’s SEO performance.
Why Hiring an Expert is Recommended?
When it comes to website migrations, it’s always better to hire a professional team with experience in SEO and website design as well as web development. Agencies like Online Marketing Gurus specialize in SEO migrations and can handle the technical and SEO aspects of the migration process, ensuring that your website transitions smoothly without sacrificing rankings or user experience.
Here’s what a professional agency can help with:
- Strategizing the Migration Plan: The team will create a custom migration plan, taking into account the specific needs of your website and business.
- Managing Redirects: Properly setting up 301 redirects to preserve your search rankings and traffic.
- SEO Preservation: Ensuring that all SEO elements are transferred correctly and optimized.
- Technical Expertise: Managing the technical aspects of the migration to prevent disruptions.
- Post-Migration Monitoring: After the migration, the team will monitor the site’s performance to make sure everything is running smoothly and address any issues promptly.
Website migration is not necessarily easy, but with the right approach, it doesn’t have to be difficult either. The level of complexity depends on the type of migration you’re doing, but with the help of a professional SEO agency, you can ensure a seamless transition that preserves your rankings, maintains a positive user experience, and ultimately boosts your business.
If you’re planning a website migration and want to ensure it’s done correctly, Online Marketing Gurus can help. Our expert team will guide you through every step of the migration process, providing support before, during, and after the move to make sure your website continues to perform well.
Ready to get started? Reach out to OMG today
If you think your website and rank could improve with an expert SEO migration, OMG can help. We are an experienced digital marketing agency and are the Australian experts in all things SEO, including website migration. Contact us today to learn more about what we offer!
