How to run a successful site migration from start to finish

A web site migration can really feel like packing up your total home and transferring throughout the nation. There’s a lot to maintain monitor of, and also you don’t need to lose any helpful possessions (or, on this case, SEO progress) alongside the way in which. 

When completed proper, a web site migration is an opportunity to enhance web site efficiency, improve consumer expertise and enhance search presence.

Nevertheless, with numerous transferring components and a number of groups concerned, having an organized plan is crucial for a easy transition. 

To nail it, you want a rock-solid plan and a dedication to doing issues proper.

On this article:

What’s a web site migration?

A web site migration refers back to the course of of creating main modifications involving an internet site. 

This would possibly embrace transferring a web site to a brand new area or internet hosting supplier, switching to a unique content material administration system (CMS) or merging a number of web sites into one.

Why is search engine optimisation essential in web site migrations?

Some individuals could surprise what search engine optimisation has to do with transferring a web site. 

A web site migration with search engine optimisation constructed into it will probably protect rankings, keep away from site visitors loss, retain hyperlink fairness, enhance consumer expertise and uncover new alternatives to enhance the location. A web site migration with out search engine optimisation is laced with assumptions and poor selections and might result in a near-death site visitors loss.

As an instance how, when completed proper, search engine optimisation constructed right into a web site migration can massively impression search efficiency, see the picture beneath. 

After this shopper’s web site migrated about mid-April 2023, they skilled the next outcomes when evaluating February 2023 to August 2023:

• A 455% improve in every day site visitors.
• A 78% improve in high 10 rankings, with the highest three rankings going from 8,081 to 13,591.
• Zero SERP options to 1,496 SERP options.

Making ready to your web site migration

Earlier than you bounce into the deep finish, take the time to plan: 

• Outline your targets and targets. No matter your web site migration targets, doc them and the steps wanted to make them a actuality. Get particular and make your targets measurable. This may assist information your efforts and provide you with a transparent technique to consider success post-migration.
• Conduct a radical search engine optimisation audit. A radical search engine optimisation audit assesses the location’s strengths and pinpoints areas for enchancment. A part of this includes monitoring your web site’s present rankings, site visitors ranges and engagement metrics utilizing instruments like Google Analytics, Google Search Console and others.
• Give you a undertaking plan. Map out an in depth undertaking plan. Break the migration into phases, assign roles and duties and set practical deadlines. (Don’t neglect to construct in time for testing and troubleshooting. Migrations not often go off with no hitch, so planning for the surprising is vital.)

Google provides some extra best practice tips for managing a web site transfer, together with splitting your transfer into smaller steps, altering just one factor at a time and timing the transfer to coincide with lower-traffic instances. 

Dig deeper: 12 SEO pitfalls to avoid during a website platform migration

Managing and optimizing the brand new web site construction and content material

How individuals and engines like google entry your content material, and what sort of content material you publish are each essential to your search engine optimisation program transferring ahead.

Web site construction

A well-organized web site construction enhances consumer expertise and helps engines like google perceive the relationships between your pages.

Take into consideration the way you would possibly restructure and streamline your web site’s navigation for the relaunch. 

This may require looking at your goal key phrases and mapping them to the navigation and content material. 

Group associated content material collectively in a logical hierarchy, making it simple for web site guests and engines like google to search out precisely what they want.

I name this search engine optimisation siloing, and the advantages embrace:

• Creating a very good consumer expertise may end up in extra time spent on the web site.
• Serving to engines like google decide relevance, which positions the location for rating for goal key phrases.

The purpose is to have the highest of every silo (navigational class) be primarily based on the extra generic key phrases and to construct a hierarchy of subpages that help that key phrase matter.

The image above exhibits a pattern construction for search engine optimisation siloing on a fictional energy instruments web site. 

The principle classes are cordless energy instruments, electrical energy instruments and gas-powered instruments. The supporting subpages are proven beneath.

Content material

Now onto the content material that fills the pages in your web site. As you head right into a web site migration, it’s an ideal alternative to make enhancements.

The purpose is to make sure the standard of your content material if you relaunch. 

Listed here are some ideas as you assessment the content material in your web site:

• Evaluate top-performing webpages and you’ll want to prioritize these. For pages that aren’t performing, determine in the event that they want a rewrite, should be merged or 301 redirected.
• Assess the content material with some pointers in thoughts, akin to Google’s E-E-A-T rules and its recommendation on helpful content. 
• Evaluate all content material to make it possible for it’s evergreen and thorough. If it may be up to date, do it. If total matters are old-fashioned, flag these to do a 301 redirect on them in a while. 
• Take into account merging a number of pages on an analogous or identical matter into yet one more in depth information on the subject. (Don’t neglect to 301 redirect URLs later).
• Be certain that your new web site’s content material is optimized to your goal key phrases. Optimize titles, headings, meta descriptions and physique content material. 
• Tackle duplicate content material points. Duplicate content material can occur for a number of causes, together with trailing slashes on URLs, CMS issues, content material that’s too related, boilerplate content material and extra. 

If you want to add new content material earlier than the location migration, think about using AI content material instruments for effectivity—however watch out to observe search engine pointers. 

See my article on how to survive the search results when you’re using AI tools for content.

Bettering consumer expertise

Previous to a web site migration is an efficient time to evaluate consumer expertise components in your web site and make any changes transferring ahead. 

Evaluate Core Internet Vitals

• Google’s Core Web Vitals give attention to the responsiveness, velocity and interactivity of a web site. Benchmarking and seeing what could also be improved in your present web site is an efficient step earlier than relaunching a brand new web site.
• Google provides extra insights in a assist file here, and you may view the Core Internet Vitals report in Google Search Console. Prioritize changes primarily based in your accessible sources. 

Cell-friendliness

• Making certain your web site is optimized for cell means issues like having a responsive design, touch-friendly navigation, creating and formatting content material with cell readers in thoughts and rather more. 

Bettering accessibility

• Evaluating and bettering accessibility in your web site can guarantee your web site is usable for individuals with disabilities.
• The gold normal for complying with accessibility is W3.org’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Prioritize minimal necessities first.

Enhancing safety

• Some issues you are able to do to enhance the safety of your web site are evaluating your server / internet hosting supplier (this can be a motive to your web site transfer anyway), implementing HTTPS and updating software program, plugins and authentication protocols. 

Managing hyperlinks

Properly mapping and redirecting URLs is crucial for sustaining search engine optimisation worth throughout a web site migration. With out cautious planning, you danger shedding hyperlink fairness. 

Create an in depth spreadsheet that lists each previous URL and its corresponding new URL. This redirect map will function a blueprint for implementing 301 redirects and guaranteeing no pages are misplaced within the transition.

Remember to account for modifications in web site construction, URL naming conventions and content material consolidation. A radical redirect map is your finest protection in opposition to damaged hyperlinks and misplaced search engine optimisation worth.

Work along with your improvement group to make sure that redirects are configured accurately: 

• Keep away from redirect traps like utilizing short-term 302s as a substitute of everlasting 301s, creating messy chains or loops and forgetting that URLs are case-sensitive.
• Previous to launch, totally check your redirects to make sure they’re working as supposed. Use instruments just like the SEOToolSet (full disclosure, that is my firm’s search engine optimisation software program) or Screaming Frog to crawl your previous URLs and confirm that they’re being correctly redirected to the proper new URLs.
  Pay particular consideration to your most essential pages, akin to your own home web page, top-level classes and high-traffic weblog posts. 

Mapping your 301s is only one a part of managing your hyperlinks earlier than a web site migration. That is additionally a very good time to assessment your inbound hyperlink profile. 

Eliminate any hyperlinks that will not serve your web site nicely transferring ahead and determine new hyperlink alternatives for the location.

Monitoring technical search engine optimisation

Monitoring all facets of technical SEO earlier than and through a web site migration is significant for web site well being and search engine visibility. 

Listed here are some duties to test off your checklist:

Evaluate design modifications

• Adjustments to web site design can impression search engine optimisation–one instance is the coding side of constructing a web site. Evaluate design plans to verify they help search engine optimisation targets.

Audit your monitoring instruments

• Verify that Google Analytics monitoring is accurately configured. Transferring to GA4 could be difficult, contemplate hiring analytics consultants if obligatory.
• Additionally, guarantee Google Search Console is configured to your web site. 

Again up your present web site

• As a precautionary measure, again up your total web site – particularly the XML Sitemap. Belief me, you want this. Obtain all photographs and different sources, and save a replica of your database if related.

Set up a check atmosphere

• It’s widespread apply amongst net builders to create a separate testing atmosphere to experiment with modifications earlier than making them stay.
• Guarantee that is arrange and that engines like google are blocked from indexing this staging space.

Validate structured knowledge

Evaluate metadata

• Guarantee titles and meta descriptions are distinctive with unique content material and are accurately optimized. 

Evaluate robots directives

• Recheck the setup of your robots.txt file to make sure it’s accurately blocking or permitting entry as supposed. 

Create and handle sitemaps

• Develop a brand new HTML sitemap to assist customers in navigating the brand new web site easily.
• To some, this subsequent level could seem counterintuitive, nevertheless it’s essential: The second the brand new web site is stay, submit the previous XML sitemap you archived earlier. This causes the major search engines to search out your redirects immediately. 

Perform launch day duties

• On launch day, crawl the web site to determine and resolve any rising points instantly, akin to crawl errors.
• Beneficial instruments embrace SEOToolSet’s web site spider, Lumar and Screaming Frog. You too can use the assorted testing options in Search Console. 

Managing post-launch actions

You’ve made it via the location migration course of, however the work isn’t over but. Holding a detailed eye in your web site’s efficiency within the weeks and months following the transfer is essential. 

Testing

Step one in post-migration testing is to conduct a complete assessment of your web site’s performance. 

This implies testing each web page, hyperlink, type and have to make sure that every part is working as supposed. 

Give your web site a radical once-over by specializing in these important areas:

• Navigation and inside linking.
• Kinds and speak to pages.
• Ecommerce performance (if relevant).
• Cell responsiveness and usefulness.
• Integrations with third-party instruments or companies.
• Web site velocity and responsiveness.

As you check, make word of any points or errors you encounter and prioritize fixing them primarily based on their impression on consumer expertise and web site efficiency. 

Watching key metrics

Together with your monitoring instruments in place, it’s time to observe your web site’s efficiency and natural site visitors ranges. 

Preserve a detailed eye in your every day and weekly site visitors in Google Analytics. It’s regular to see some short-term fluctuations after a migration, however in the event you discover a sustained drop in natural site visitors, it’s time to analyze additional.

One other key metric to observe post-migration is your web site’s key phrase rankings and total search visibility. Use search engine optimisation instruments like Ahrefs to trace your rankings for goal key phrases and monitor any modifications over time.

Enhancing consumer expertise

Past performance, it’s essential to take a holistic take a look at your web site’s consumer expertise and engagement post-migration. 

Are guests discovering what they want simply? Are they partaking along with your content material and changing on the charges you count on?

You should use your analytics instruments to dive into behavioral metrics akin to purpose completions, bounce charges and extra.

In case you discover a drop in conversions or engagement, dig deeper to determine potential points or roadblocks. 

Is there a selected web page or step in your conversion funnel the place customers drop off? Are there sure consumer segments or site visitors sources which are underperforming?

Take into account reviewing the next areas that will want consumer expertise enchancment:

• Bettering navigation and web site construction.
• Optimizing content material structure and readability.
• Enhancing calls-to-action and conversion factors.
• Making certain mobile-friendliness and responsiveness.
• Including partaking visible components and media.

You should use issues like warmth maps and surveys to get inside your guests’ heads. Search for traits and sticking factors, then use that knowledge to fine-tune your web site’s consumer expertise. 

Repeatedly refining

When you’ve accomplished a profitable web site migration, the true journey begins. 

You’ll proceed to maintain a detailed eye in your web site, run assessments and make tweaks to make sure that it’s all the time acting at its finest and delivering an distinctive consumer expertise.

With a dedication to enchancment, you possibly can make sure that your migrated web site survives and thrives in its new residence for the lengthy haul.