SEO Migration Services & Strategy: How To Not Kill Your New Website

Meticulously plotting an SEO migration strategy is perhaps the most important aspect of digital change.

Businesses undertaking website redesigns, domain transitions or platform migrations must ensure they plan meticulously to preserve their SEO and maintain their online presence. To avoid a decline in organic traffic, it is imperative to prioritise the often-overlooked aspect of SEO migration.

A comprehensive SEO migration plan is necessary to ensure a hassle-free transition, which we will delve into in this blog post. Together, let's take a deep dive into why an SEO migration strategy is crucial and what steps are necessary for success.

Protect your existing search engine optimisation results

By skilfully developing an SEO migration plan, you can bolster and maintain your organic visibility, decreasing the likelihood of losing painstakingly earned search rankings. The pitfalls of failing to execute a coherent strategy cannot be understated. Optimising for SEO during any site alteration can reduce the potential for risk and ensure that your online organic visibility is not instantly compromised upon relaunching your website.

Minimise fluctuations of your keyword rankings

A website migration, redesign or relaunch often results in temporary fluctuations of your search rankings while search engines like Google adapt to your new website. A cohesive SEO migration strategy can reduce the likelihood of these fluctuations from been permanent (or happening at all).

We’ve spent the better part of 20 years executing enterprise level SEO migration strategies, and while the process is extensive, here are some of the key aspects we find businesses overlook when deploying wide scale digital change to their online presence.

Considerations for your SEO migration strategy:

• Perform a full SEO audit prior to any relaunch; what do you do well already?
• Relaunch your website in a fully optimised state(don’t go backwards!).
• Optimise page titles, meta descriptions and on-page keyword copy to focus on keywords.
• 301 redirects to permanently move old pages to new pages (no missing or broken pages).
• Use sitemaps and Google’s search console to map old domains to new.
• Maintain URL structures (where possible) to minimise fluctuations.
• Improve core site metrics like speed, page load and server response on migration.
• Ensure strong inter-linking strategy between pages; make your site scannable.
• Utilise accurate canonical tags to speak directly to the search engine bots.
• Don’t work with a developer who doesn’t understand SEO; common CMS platforms have ‘bloatware’ in the code.

Never take a step backwards; SEO migration is the key

The relaunch of a website or platform should be a moment of growth. It should be a chance to show the world you’re a better and more professional business. It would be an incredible shame if you did so, but at the expense of your online presence in search engines.

All too often we see web development agencies redesign the aesthetic, only to find themselves with a website with significant organic traffic drops and reduced conversion overall.

When planning a relaunch, redesign, or transition – “never take a step backwards” is our mantra. Every aspect of your website and its search engine optimisation should be improved.

Key considerations on where most websites can do better:

• Faster page speeds and server response (a key ranking factor).
• Better on-page copy that is highly scannable, easy to read and incorporates keywords.
• Cleaner code behind the scenes: less is more.
• Improved user experience: Google wants your visitors to engage and easily find things.
• A chance to improve navigation (consistent, easy to use).
• Fully responsive website (mobile, tablet and desktop friendly).
• Removing the spammy SEO work of previous agencies that are likely hindering your ability to rank for keywords; things have changed in the past ten years people!

What does it all mean?

Quite simply, elevate the customer experience upon relaunch. Leave no stone un-turned and put an SEO migration strategy at the forefront of your product considerations.

Conducting a comprehensive audit of your current content, optimising on-page elements, and identifying potential gaps or areas for improvement is crucial when executing an SEO migration strategy.

Maintaining (and improving) your website's overall visibility and capturing new organic traffic should be the goal. This strategy is a compelling opportunity to leverage the migration process as a catalyst for growth and improved search rankings, ensuring the preservation of existing rankings and enhancing SEO performance simultaneously.

Need help with your own SEO migration strategy?

Don’t leave it to a web developer who bolts on “SEO” as an additional value-added service. Engage a company that has years of direct experience in SEO migration services, as the cost of inaction can result in significant business decline at a time when you should be celebrating and aiming for growth.

If you wish to speak with us about our SEO migration services, please contact us and we would be delighted to assist you with our initial views and how to best make your relaunch a success. As experienced SEO migration consultants, with a team of developers and designers at our disposal, we can craft a holistic SEO migration plan that is unique to you and your business.