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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
An SEO’s Guide to Website
Migrations
@FayeWatt / Seeker Digital

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Who am I?
•SEO Manager
•Seeker Digital
•@FayeWatt
•BristolSEO

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Types of migrations How to redirect a domain Migration planning
Setting up a local server Migration checklist Migration timeline

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What is a website migration?
@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
“A website migration is a process to describe
significant changes to your website's
domain, platform, structure, content or
design.”

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Types of website
migrations
@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
seekerdigital.com seeker.digital
Domain name change

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Merging multiple domains
domainone.com
domaintwo.com
domainthree.com
domainfour.com

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Platform migration

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
New design

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
http to https

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Or a combination!

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Migration Type Difficulty
HTTP to HTTPS Low
Domain Low
URL Structure Moderate
Design Moderate
CMS High
Server Low
Multiple Domains Moderate to High

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
How to redirect a domain
@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
fayewatt.co.uk fayewatt.com
Domain forwarding

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Not all that easy

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Why migrations go wrong
@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Lack of planning/strategy

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Lack of time and/or budget

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
No SEO consultation

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Slow to fix issues post
migration

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Launch date during peak
traffic period

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
What are the consequences?

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Removed High Traffic
Product Pages

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
example.com/category-name/product-name
example.com/product/category-name/product-nam
e
Completely New URL restructure

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
No Redirects setup

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
What were the consequences?

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Loss of search visibility

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Loss of traffic

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Increased bounce rate

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Loss of conversions

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Loss of links

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Increased page load time

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
��

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How to avoid a migration
disaster?
@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
6 Stages

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
1. Planning

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Planning: Don’t Rush

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Planning: Migration Type
Domain, CMS, HTTP, Design

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Planning: Tasks
Create a list of all the tasks based
on the migration type

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Planning: Timeline
Create a timeline for each task with
expected delivery dates

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Planning: Launch Date
During a quiet period i.e. not Q4 for
ecommerce!

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Planning: Testing
Allocate time for testing pre-launch

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Planning: Solutions
Allow time for fixing any issues found
pre-migration

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Planning: Post-migration
Be prepared for post-migration issues

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Planning phase 2: Content
@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Planning: Define Pages
Define which pages will be on your new
website

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
1st: Produce a List of All URLs
Curate a list of URLs using ScreamingFrog,
Ahrefs, Google Search Console, and Google
Analytics

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Crawled
URLs
ScreamingFrog

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Linked URLs
Ahrefs

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
URLs Google
has Identified
Google Search
Console

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Traffic URLs
Google
Analytics

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Planning: Content Audit
Identify high traffic & high value pages
to keep

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ScreamingFrog
Connect Google
Analytics API

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ScreamingFrog
Connect Ahrefs
API

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ScreamingFrog
List Mode

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Planning: List of URLs
Produce a list of all the URLs you want
to keep

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Planning: URL Structure
Plan the URL structure

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Planning: Redirect Mapping
Map the old URLs to the new URLs
& create rules

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2. Data collection
@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations

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Pre-Migration: Collect as
much data as possible

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Data Collection:
Website Crawl

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Page titles and
descriptions
Page headings Body content
Canonicals Robots directives Structured data
Images
Internal linking structure
External linking structure Site architecture map HTML

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Data Collection:
Sitemap

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Data Collection:
Benchmark Performance
Benchmark the legacy website’s
performance for comparison

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Benchmark:
Index Status

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Benchmark:
Site Performance

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Benchmark:
Site Audit Issues

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Benchmark:
Keyword rankings

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Benchmark:
Website Analytics

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Benchmark:
Backlink Profile

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Benchmark:
HTML, CSS,
JavaScript &
Media Files

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3. Staging environment
@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations

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Staging Environment
Set up a staging environment
e.g. staging.fayewatt.com

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HTTP Authentication
Stop search engines and users from
accessing your staging environment with
HTTP authentication

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Pre-Launch: Crawl
Crawl the staging environment and compare to the
old website, looking for any missing, incorrect, or
broken data

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Page titles and
descriptions
Page headings Body content
Canonicals Robots directives Structured data
Images
Internal linking structure
External linking structure Site architecture map HTML

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Common issues
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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Pre-Launch: Missing Content
Review new website structure and check for
any missing pages or sections of content

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Pre-Launch: Missing URLs
Does the number of pages match the old
website?

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Pre-Launch: Internal Links
Update internal links to the new URL to
avoid internal redirects

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Pre-Launch: Canoncials
Update canonical links to the new URL

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Custom 404 Page
Design a custom 404 page

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Pre-Launch: Sitemap
Create an updated sitemap

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Pre-Launch: Site Audit
Set up your staging environment on your
SEO audit tool & identify any crawl errors

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Redirects
Check old URLs 301 redirect to the
new URL

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Redirects
Avoid using 302 or JavaScript
redirects

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Redirects
Avoid redirect chains

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A B C

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Redirects
Don’t forget any legacy redirects!

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Testing
Continually monitor and retest the site for
new issues once any changes have been
made – no matter how small!

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Pre-Launch: One final crawl…
Run a final crawl of the old website
the day before the new site goes live

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Keep control of your old
domain!!

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4. Launch day
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Launch Day: Search Console
Check Google Search Console is
correctly set up

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Launch Day: Google Analytics
Check Google Analytics is set up correctly
and recording sessions

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Launch Day: Robots.txt
Double check your
robots.txt file and make
sure search engines can
crawl your site!

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Don’t want to see
this

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Launch Day: Index
Look for any noindex
directives

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Launch Day: Redirects
Check your legacy URLs are correctly 301
redirecting

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Launch Day: Crawl
Crawl the new site and compare to the old
website, looking for any missing, incorrect, or
broken data

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Launch Day: Missing Content
Check for any missing content or sections
of content

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Launch Day: Page Speed
Perform a page speed test across your most
important page types

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Launch Day: Sitemap
Add or update your sitemap in
Google Search Console

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5. Post Launch
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Post-Launch: Backlinks
Reach out to your most valuable links

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Post Launch:
Technical SEO Audit
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6. Monitor and review
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Monitor and Review
Number of indexed
pages

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Monitor and Review
Check old URLs are
being removed and
replaced by new
URLs

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Monitor and Review
Review your backlink profile and identify
any lost links

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Monitor and Review
Monitor organic traffic and keyword
rankings

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Monitor and Review
Check crawl stats in Search Console

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Monitor and Review
Continually monitor and fix any crawl
errors

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@FayeWatt seeker.digital/website-migrations
Once again…
Keep control of your old domain(s)

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Don’t Forget...
SSL

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Thanks for Listening!
@FayeWatt
seeker.digital/website-migrations