Concerned about how website migration will impact your SEO? It’s understandable, as SEO migration can be challenging. But with the right approach, it can be a smooth and manageable process. Whether upgrading or changing your CMS, moving to a new hosting provider, or redesigning your website, managing the migration carefully ensures your site stays functional and retains its search engine rankings.
In this guide, we’ll break down the website migration process from an SEO perspective and explain the essential steps to make the transition as smooth and risk-free as possible.
What is Website Migration?
Website migration is the process of making significant structural and visual updates to a website. It involves various types of changes that can affect a website’s structure, functionality, and visibility. For example, changes may involve altering the URL structure, switching to a new content management system (CMS), changing hosting providers, migrating to a different domain, or executing a complete site redesign. Each of these changes can significantly impact a site’s organic performance, making careful planning and execution crucial.
The primary goal of a website migration should always be driven by business goals rather than solely for SEO benefits. While SEO plays a crucial role in the process, the focus should be on preserving rankings and visibility with minimal impact rather than trying to improve rankings. Valid and common reasons for migration include rebranding, redesign, company acquisitions, and others.
Types of Website Migrations
There are different types of website migration, and it is not rare to have multiple migrations simultaneously. For example, the redesign is most often accompanied by URL migration due to possible changes in the website architecture, internal linking structure, page template structure, and others. In the case of multiple migrations, a strategic approach is required to avoid any complications. This includes breaking down required changes into migration types and creating a sequence based on the business goals. Here are the common types of website migrations:
Domain Migration
Domain Migration involves moving an entire website from one domain to another. It’s often done to rebrand, make business acquisitions, or secure a more relevant domain name. While relatively straightforward, improper execution can lead to traffic loss if redirects and SEO signals aren’t properly managed.
Subdomain Migration
This occurs when a website or a section of it moves from a subdomain (e.g., blog.oldsite.com) to a subfolder (oldsite.com/blog) or another subdomain. Businesses often do this to consolidate content under a single domain for better SEO performance. Since search engines treat subdomains as separate entities, careful handling is required to ensure rankings and traffic remain stable.
URL Migration
This type of migration involves changing the structure of URLs across a website, whether due to content pruning, restructuring subfolders, renaming pages, or others. A well-planned redirect strategy is essential to maintain SEO equity and avoid broken links.
CMS Migration
One of the most complex migrations involves switching from one CMS (e.g., WordPress to Shopify) to another. It’s crucial to identify SEO differences between platforms to ensure all necessary SEO elements are carried over. A poorly executed CMS migration can lead to broken functionality, lost rankings, and decreased user experience.
Website Redesign
Even if the URL structure remains the same, a website redesign is still considered a migration due to changes in layout, navigation, and internal linking. A fresh design can enhance user experience and branding, but if SEO best practices aren’t followed, rankings can suffer. Testing and monitoring are key to ensuring a smooth transition without negatively impacting search visibility.
Are Migrations Risky?
Migrations are a risky process, and it can take time for everything to stabilize before a site regains its previous performance. The time it takes for Google to recognize and process a website migration depends on the type and complexity of the changes. A simple domain migration, where only the domain name changes, but the site structure remains the same, is typically processed quickly.
However, if the migration involves thousands of URL changes, a complete redesign, or a CMS switch, Google needs more time to crawl, reevaluate, and reindex the new pages. The more extensive the changes, the greater the risk of temporary ranking fluctuations, traffic drops, and indexing delays. However, careful planning, proper redirects, and continuous monitoring can help minimize these risks and ensure a smoother transition.
Why Is SEO an Important Part of the Migration Process?
SEO plays a key role in migration planning and risk mitigation. Overlooking it in the process can impact the success of the migration. An SEO professional ensures that all key website signals are preserved, preventing traffic and ranking losses. URL mapping is the most critical aspect, which helps maintain SEO value, signals Google about changes, and ensures users can find the right pages post-migration. Key SEO Tasks in a Migration process include:
- Developing a comprehensive SEO migration plan & strategy
- Creating a redirect strategy to manage URL changes effectively
- Defining SEO-related requirements for the new site
- Validating SEO implementation during various migration stages
- Conducting post-migration performance checks
- Monitoring SEO performance trends post-launch
SEO Migration: 5 Steps to Success
From an SEO perspective, we can break down the migration process into five key steps to ensure success:
Step 1: Project Introduction & Planning
- Understand the migration scope: Identify reasons, types of migration, expected challenges, timeline, and potential risks.
- Secure access to essential tools: Google Search Console (GSC), Google Analytics 4 (GA4), and other necessary SEO tools.
- Develop a Migration Plan outlining tasks, responsibilities, and timelines.
Step 2: Pre-migration SEO Actions – Audit & SEO Requirements
- Perform a comprehensive website audit: Identify issues that should be fixed during the migration. Focus on critical aspects related to crawling and indexing.
- Define SEO requirements tailored to the migration type and audit findings.
- Collect benchmark data: Gather pre-migration SEO performance metrics (3-6 months of data) to compare post-migration performance.
Step 3: Pre-migration SEO Actions – Redirect Strateg
- Create a list of website URLs: Use multiple sources (GA4, GSC, crawling tools) to ensure no critical pages are missed.
- Create a URL redirect map: This ensures proper redirections, helping Google understand the relationship between old and new URLs.
- Account for legacy redirects: Retain existing redirects to avoid broken links and preserve historical SEO value.
Step 4: During the Migration & Pre-launch
- Conduct frequent checks and tests: Perform regular testing throughout each stage of the migration to catch potential issues early, prevent delays in implementation, and reduce the risk of post-launch complications.
- Validate SEO implementation: Ensure all planned SEO requirements are correctly implemented before the website goes live. Prioritize critical SEO requirements. Some lower-priority requirements can be postponed until after the launch if necessary.
Step 5: Migration Day & Post-migration Checks
- Critical checks immediately after the migration: Conduct an initial review to ensure proper crawling, indexing, and redirects are functioning correctly. Identifying and resolving potential issues early helps prevent disruptions in search visibility.
- Implement urgent fixes: Address any critical errors immediately, such as broken redirects, missing pages, or indexing and crawling issues, to minimize any negative impact on rankings and user experience.
- Comprehensive post-launch checks: Perform an audit to verify that all essential SEO elements are intact and working as expected.
- Regular monitoring on a daily and weekly basis: Track Google Search Console indexing and crawl reports, analyze GA4 traffic fluctuations, monitor for 404 errors, and assess ranking stability.
- Long-Term Monitoring: Continue evaluating performance over the following weeks to ensure rankings and traffic stabilize.
Staying on Track After Migration
Website migration is a complex and high-stakes process that demands careful planning and execution to mitigate risks and maintain SEO performance. However, with a structured approach, starting with a thorough pre-migration audit and extending to post-launch monitoring, you can minimize the risks and ensure a smooth transition.
Remember, SEO doesn’t stop after the migration. Ongoing monitoring is essential to track any ranking fluctuations or traffic drops. If done correctly, a website migration can align with your business goals, preserve your site’s SEO authority, and set the stage for long-term success.
Need help with your website migration? We’ve got you covered! Contact us today, let’s make your migration smooth and worry-free!
