What is SEO migration?
When you build a new website or move an existing one to a new domain, in SEO terms this is called migration. In short, migration is the art of making sure the SEO value of an existing website carries over to the new one.
When it comes to SEO, migrating a website isn't always straightforward. There are many things you should take into account before moving a domain. Thorough research, planning, execution and monitoring are needed to make sure you build and maintain visibility on Google.
Remember, SEO migration exists to prevent losses in your website's traffic, rankings and conversions. By implementing the right migration strategy, you'll make sure your website keeps, and ideally improves, its organic rankings and traffic.
What should you take into account during a migration?
Your website has most likely spent a long time building its status and visibility on Google, which has resulted in you being found for exactly the right keywords and search terms.
When you change your URLs or content, or simply give your website a total makeover, you also change the way Google perceives your website, which in turn affects the metrics tied to your rankings. The goal of any type of migration is to avoid as much traffic loss as possible.
What happens if you don't carry out an SEO migration correctly?
In short, you risk losing your rankings in the search engines, and with them traffic, enquiries and leads.
Below, you can see an example of what can happen if you don't carry out your SEO migration correctly. As the graph from Google Analytics shows, organic traffic dropped drastically in the period after the migration.
The migration took place in December, and as you can see, traffic started to fall from mid-December.
The reason for the drop was that no-index tags had been added to the blog pages, which meant Google couldn't read them. The error was quickly spotted, and in January traffic started to rise again as Google was allowed to index the pages again.
It's a textbook example of what happens when you don't have your directives under control during a migration, but more on that later in the post.
How to: SEO migration of your website
Now you know what a migration is and why it's so important, so far so good. But how do you actually do it in practice? I explain that below.
1) Choose a good date
Think about which date suits you and your website's traffic. Choose a date and time when traffic and engagement are typically low, and ideally a day when your web team and the people responsible for the server are in the office.
Tempting as it may be, avoid scheduling it for a Sunday evening, as something might go wrong, and then you won't be able to communicate and coordinate with other departments.
Aim to migrate in the afternoon or early evening, so you can work on troubleshooting in the morning, when traffic is low, if anything does go wrong.
2) Back up!
Remember to make a backup of your current website!
If anything should go wrong, you can always go back to the old version of the site, and hopefully you'll have gained insight into what went wrong, so you can fix it on the second attempt.
3) Create a local website to test on
A local, or offline, version of your website is a duplicate version that users can't access. This is where you can try out changes to your new site.
By creating an offline version of your website, you give your web team plenty of time to see how the new content will look on the website and how it performs, as well as time to implement 301 redirects before the real version goes live.
That way, you don't need to worry about broken links and sitemaps after the site has gone live.
4) Crawl your site before migrating
Use an SEO tool such as Screaming Frog to crawl your website and get a full list of URLs and content. You can use this list to fix errors on your offline version, but also to keep track of old URLs that need redirects.
5) Redirects: Go through your current site, what needs to move across?
The best thing you can do to keep track of your redirects before and after the migration is to create a redirect map. It should ensure that your old URLs redirect correctly to the new ones, and that internal links are updated too. Go through your redirect map before and after you implement it to make sure your redirects work!
Here's an example of what a redirect map could look like. In this case, it's a smaller website being migrated, so the list of redirects is also quite manageable. For large websites and webshops being migrated, the document will be far more extensive.
Essentially, you need to create one column with the old URLs and one column with the new URLs. The file type will depend on your CMS and your developer's preference. Most often, it will be a CSV file that you need to upload.
If you use Wordpress as your CMS, you can use the commands “Source URL” and “Target URL” to name the columns with the old and new URLs respectively. That way, you can upload the CSV file directly in Wordpress’ redirection tool, and avoid having to upload your redirects manually.
If you run a Shopify webshop, you can do the same trick using the commands “Redirect from” and “Redirect to”.
6) Create a custom 404 page
Some redirects may still slip through the net, or some links may break when the new site launches. This is where it makes sense to create an “engaging” 404 page that helps visitors find their way to the homepage instead. If there's no 404 page set up, the user will land on a blank page with no way of navigating to the homepage, and will then most likely leave your website = higher bounce rate.
Below, you can see the 404 page on the website of SEO giant Moz. As well as being creative, it also gives visitors the option to keep navigating around the site.
7) Update My Business, Bing places and other places that link to your website
If it's your entire domain that's being updated, and there may be some changes to your domain name, remember to update your Google My Business profile and other places where your website's URL might appear.
If you have several offices with several Google My Business profiles, remember to update them too, especially if each location has its own URL, e.g.: www.ditdomæne.dk/dinlokation or dinlokation.ditdomæne.dk.
Remember, Google My Business is a strong local ranking factor!
8) Update your sitemap
Once you have all your new URLs in place, it's a good idea to create a new sitemap, or update the old one, which can then be attached to your website. Your sitemap will usually live at www.ditdomæne.dk/sitemap.xml or www.ditdomæne.dk/sitemap_index.xml.
Then upload your new sitemap to Google Search Console to help the search engine understand the changes made to your new website. At the same time, it will help Google index the new site faster.
READ: What is a sitemap?
9) Tell Search Console that you're changing domain
Search Console has another smart feature: Change of Address Feature, which tells Google that you've changed your domain and where the new domain can be found. You should do this as soon as you've changed your domain.
10) Update robots.txt
The robots file tells various search engine crawlers which pages or files on the website should or shouldn't be crawled, and the file is typically located at www.ditdomæne.dk/robots.txt (see Nike's robots file, for example, which has a fun feature if you scroll down a bit).
Remember to update the file so Google knows which parts of the website should be crawled. This is also where you'll want to add the new sitemap, so Google and other search engines can find it more easily.
11) Don't get rid of the old domain!
If you change domain, keep the old domain so you can make sure all backlinks pointing to it are redirected properly! If you let go of the domain, others may be able to take it over, and you could lose all your backlinks.
12) Run a crawl on the offline server, and when the site goes live
Both before and after the new site goes live, you should carry out an SEO audit to make sure all pages, content, links, tags and other elements are in place.
SEO audit checklist
Use Screaming Frog to run a crawl and check:
- 4xx pages
- 3xx pages
- Broken images/video
- Missing meta tags
- Duplicate content
- Missing or incorrect canonical tags
- Pages with “no index”.
Check Google Analytics
- Check that Analytics and Tag Manager are installed correctly on the website and are actually collecting data
- Mark dates in Analytics using annotations.
Test the site on mobile
- Get your phone out and try the website! Check that the layout, design and features all work. It's also a good idea to use Google’s mobile-friendly test tool.
Check that integrations work
- Not just Analytics and Tag Manager, but also CRM, marketing integrations, eCommerce, etc.
Is your social media up to date?
- Go to all your social media profiles and check that all links point to the right place
Can we help with your SEO migration?
Would you like help with SEO and migration? To sum up, SEO migration is certainly no easy task. It takes time, and it requires detailed research and planning to succeed. It can be hard to make sense of, which is why we're ready to give you a helping hand.
Do you need advice from an experienced SEO agency that can help you get your migration safely over the line? Email us today at seo@amplify.dk or call 70 60 50 28!
FAQ - website migration
Does migrating my website affect my SEO?
Migrating a website can affect your SEO negatively. However, you can easily avoid losing your rankings if you have the SEO migration under control. Consider getting help from a specialist.
What is SEO migration of a website?
If you're getting a new website or moving an existing one to a new domain, you're carrying out a migration. SEO migration is about completing the migration without losing valuable rankings on Google.
Can I ruin my SEO when migrating?
Yes, unfortunately you can. That's why it's a good idea to have an SEO agency on the sidelines when you start your SEO migration.
