Table of Contents:
A Health Check For Your Website
Get a comprehensive SEO audit from the experts at Digital Next today.
SEO website migration is something that plenty of businesses will come across at some point during their lifetimes. For whatever reason, you need to move your operation from one website environment to another. In a just world, this would be doable at the push of a button, with all your SEO value and rankings completely intact. But sadly, things are never quite so simple!
Website migration SEO is the process of transferring optimisation from one website to a new one, touching on elements like URL structure, platforming and design. That way, you can occupy a new digital space without losing any digital visibility. This blog will offer a look at the essentials of a successful migration, so you can feel more confident in knowing where to start.
Understanding the different elements of SEO website migration
There are four main pillars of a website migration, each of which must be completed properly for maximum success.
- Domain migration. This is the changing of the website’s domain name, whether due to rebranding, acquisition or any other reason.
- URL structure migration. Altering the structure of the website’s URL, ideally to enhance usability and SEO.
- Platform migration. Changing the content management system or website platform to sidestep limitations or access new features.
- Server migration. Picking the right server is essential, so you’ll have to choose between shared hosting, virtual private servers, cloud hosting or dedicated servers.
Each of these processes needs to be completed correctly to ensure your migration is as smooth and effective as possible.
Pre website migration SEO checklist
The things you need to get done before you actually enact your migration include:
- A thorough website audit to identify current SEO issues
- Gather all existing URLs
- Identify your priority pages for traffic and conversions
- Benchmark your key metrics and KPIs
- Optimising domain and URL structures for SEO with keywords and navigation
- Implementing 301 redirects to new URLs
- Set up a Google Search Console for the new website and submit a sitemap
- Block your staging site from search engines with HTTP authentication
- Test your redirects
These preparatory steps are essential for a strong foundation to launch from. After they’re all complete, there’s nothing ese you can do except implement your redirects by removing indexing blocks and submitting your XML sitemap.
Post-launch checklist
After you’ve enacted the launch, you need to keep your eye on things. A website migration SEO service with no post-launch analysis isn’t worth investing. Important checks include:
- Monitoring traffic, rankings and user behaviour on the new website
- Checking Googlebot’s crawl rate
- Updating all external links and citations to direct to the new website
- Using canonical tags to determine preferred pages in case of duplicate content
- Continuously optimising the new site’s overall SEO
By keeping an eye on things consistently, you can ensure that the migration doesn’t just start successfully, but carries through as time goes on.
Begin your SEO website migration
If you need to enact a migration but don’t feel that you have the tech savviness necessary, the best move might be hiring professional SEO website migration services. With a professional team behind you, you can trust that the process will be enacted flawlessly by an experienced team who know their way around all manner of domains.
For more information about migration, SEO and so much more, contact Digital Next today. We’ve been providing performance digital marketing services and free resources for years, and we’re always open to conversations about anything that might be on your mind!
A Health Check For Your Website
Get a comprehensive SEO audit from the experts at Digital Next today.
