Site migrations are a common SEO challenge. However, no matter how well they’re planned, any change is going to have an impact on the results.
A popular misconception is that a new site will experience immediate, debilitating visibility losses. While this is true sometimes, launching a revamped site with solid growth potential is also possible.
Identifying Your Goals
Regarding web site migration, it’s essential to identify your goals and objectives from the start. It’s also important to make sure that everyone involved knows the big picture and how their task fits in. It will help them stay focused on the goal and not get distracted by more minor issues.
For example, let’s say that you want to migrate your website from HTTP to HTTPS for added security or because you’re rebranding. It is a significant change that will impact users. It will also require you to change your sitemap so Google knows where the new pages are. Additionally, you will need to redirect old links to the new pages. It is a crucial step to ensure your web traffic doesn’t drop.
Another common reason for website migration is to upgrade to a more advanced web server. It will allow your web pages to load faster and improve the user experience. It will also increase your search engine rankings, a huge benefit.
Finally, you might choose to consolidate some web pages. It will improve the user experience and may also enhance SEO. However, carefully plan these changes and ensure your internal links point to the correct page. Otherwise, you may encounter 4xx errors, a sign that something is wrong.
Lastly, testing your site after the migration is a good idea. It will allow you to catch any issues that didn’t get fixed during the migration and fix them before they affect your website and visitors. It’s also good to track specific metrics for several months after the site launch to see if your efforts have paid off.
Creating a Staging Site
When making changes to your web site migration, a staging site is an invaluable tool. It allows you to test out a new theme, experiment with plugins and troubleshoot any errors without affecting your live site. Plus, it’s quick and easy to set up. Depending on your web host, they may offer built-in functionality for creating a staging site. If not, there are plenty of manual options available.
Staging sites are clones of your website hosted in a different environment from what visitors see. A unique URL or a subdirectory often accesses them, so they’re not visible to your live site visitors. You can make as many changes as you want in the staging site, then push them to your live site when they’re ready to go live.
Using a staging site can help you avoid time-consuming, expensive downtime while you work on your site. It is important for any business, as it can significantly impact your bottom line.
In addition, a staging site allows you to experiment with new features and make custom changes without the risk of breaking your live site. It also lets you take your time and only push the changes to production once you’re confident they’re ready.
A staging site is a great way to ensure your website is always up-to-date and functioning correctly. It can also help you avoid mistakes impacting your traffic and search engine rankings. So, whether you’re redesigning your site, trying out a new plugin or updating your SSL certificate, a staging site can save you from losing visitors and potential revenue while working on it.
Creating a Blueprint
A successful web site migration depends on the input of multiple teams. It’s not just developers who must be involved, but also content writers, UX designers and SEO specialists. It’s a good idea to set up a project management tool like Wrike, Trello or Asana to break the migration into deliverables, assign them to different team members, and establish deadlines.
One of the most important aspects of a site migration is ensuring all existing URLs are redirected to the correct new ones. It is essential because it prevents customers from reaching a 404 page and ensures that search engines can index recent pages without problems.
You can use a tool like Screaming Frog’s SEO Spider to crawl the old site and create a content map that lists all of the existing URLs and their new counterparts. It will give you a complete picture of all the current pages and make creating a plan for 301 redirects easier during the migration.