Website migration checklist: 11 steps for success

Web site migrations are part of an enterprise’s pure evolution. Corporations could migrate as a result of they’re rebranding, going to the cloud to scale their web site simpler or quite a few different causes.

Nevertheless, whereas migration could appear easy on paper, one misstep can result in SEO issues, similar to:

• 404 errors.
• Misplaced rankings.
• Lacking content material.
• Misplaced income.

Earlier than starting your migration, you’ll wish to run a web site crawler to stock your pages. The objective is to have an inventory of all pages that you would be able to check with when the migration is full to confirm that all the things is migrated appropriately.

You’ll additionally wish to establish when your web site site visitors is highest so you may keep away from performing a migration throughout these hours. When you’re prepared, it’s time to maneuver on to the primary a part of your starting stage.

Communication plan

I see most guides go proper into the pre-migration section, and whereas this can be superb in the event you’re a one-person proprietor, it’s not OK when a number of stakeholders are concerned. 

A fundamental communication plan is critical, and it ought to embrace:

• Inner communication and insights into the migration, when it can happen, who it can affect and what staff members could help you.
• Exterior communication to alert shoppers and clients of the migration and potential downtime that will happen.

Be sure that everybody is aware of what’s occurring to keep away from any vital points that may disrupt the migration or another person’s work within the group.

Pre-migration planning

Screaming Frog is a superb device to assist with gathering knowledge in your web site earlier than the migration, similar to:

• Evaluating crawls.
• Staging.
• URL mapping.

However you’ll want extra knowledge than this. You’ll additionally wish to collect an inventory of your rankings earlier than and after the migration. Ahrefs and Semrush help you simply observe and export your key phrases.

You possibly can – and may – create an annotation inside your Google Analytics to mark the pre–migration knowledge so that you could check with it if you’re performed with the positioning migration.

When you’ve created your listing, you’re prepared to maneuver on. The next are 11 steps that may make it easier to efficiently migrate your web site.

Warning: Don’t delete your previous web site. It’s good to have a fallback in case your new web site fails for some purpose.

Dig deeper: 12 SEO pitfalls to avoid during a website platform migration

Step 1: Setup internet hosting, DNS, CDN, mail

Migrations have lots of shifting components. First, make a backup of your web site and database. If one thing goes flawed, you’ll be grateful that you’ve got a backup to revive your web site. Ideally, you’ll additionally create a staging web site to check the migration to cut back any preliminary hiccups that may happen alongside the best way.

Staging environments help you check out the migration and establish any vital errors that may pop up. If you happen to’re migrating a widely known web site that receives lots of site visitors and should even generate income, staging is essential.

Enterprise stakeholders will need solutions from you if one thing goes flawed, and the presence of a staging web site helps you forestall undesirable points in manufacturing.

Use the staging atmosphere to check redirects, duplicate content material and the quite a few different parameters talked about all through this text.

When you’re performed with the staging web site, you’ll wish to:

• Arrange your internet hosting atmosphere and switch all recordsdata.
• Arrange the DNS data.
• Change your CDN data.
• Change mail parameters.

Full these preliminary steps earlier than shifting into your redirects.

Step 2: Create an inventory of redirects

Internally, you and your staff ought to have an inventory of redirects that you might want to create and ones that exist already. You’ll check with this listing to make sure that all present redirects are in place in your new web site.

Fortunately, in the event you don’t have many redirects and are altering domains, you’ll want a single redirect to redirect the positioning.

Dig deeper: How to speed up site migrations with AI-powered redirect mapping

Step 3: Evaluate your search engine optimization construction

search engine optimization specs must be put in place. You’ll have to test the next to verify the migration is profitable:

• Crawlability.
• Customized URLs.
• Alt textual content.
• Canonical tags.
• Robots.txt.
• Sitemaps.
• Inner hyperlinks.
• Hreflang.
• Structured knowledge.
• URL structure.
• Cell setup.
• Pagination.

Evaluate your present web site’s search engine optimization construction to make sure that you would be able to test it when the migration is full. The important thing to web site migration success is creating lists and reviewing them a number of occasions.

Step 4: Run benchmarks

Benchmarks are going to inform you numerous about your migration and web site. From a technical SEO standpoint, you’ll wish to view the next knowledge:

• Web page load pace.
• Web page indexing charges.
• Crawl errors.
• Key phrase rankings.

You’ll be returning to those benchmarks a number of occasions over the approaching weeks. If you happen to discover that the positioning pace is gradual otherwise you misplaced rankings, you’ll wish to look via your web site extra to pinpoint the difficulty.

If in case you have this knowledge accessible, you’ll even have one thing to indicate your consumer (in the event you’re working with one) that may spotlight the success of the benchmark.

Technical search engine optimization benchmarks

You need your customers to have an distinctive expertise in your web site. To realize this, crawlability wants to stay excessive and speeds should even be monitored. A number of of the instruments that may make it easier to with these are:

• Cell-friendliness: Websites must be mobile-friendly. Two instruments that may make it easier to confirm that customers throughout cellular gadgets can use your web site seamlessly are Bing and Website Grader.
• Website pace: Your web site pace additionally issues, so that you’ll wish to run exams earlier than and after the migration utilizing PageSpeed Insights.
• Duplicate content material: Generally, migrations go flawed, and duplicate content material pops up. You wish to confirm that you just don’t have a bunch of duplicate pages.

Working Screaming Frog when the migration is finished will help you establish errors that you just’ll have to right to keep away from any crawlability points that will pop up, together with duplicate content material.

Step 5: Analyze key web site pages

Your key web site pages are a very powerful revenue-generating pages and must be the primary that you just goal. Analyze these pages to be sure that they’re operating correctly. Even when you’ve got 1,000+ pages, select the highest 5% pages and undergo them one after the other.

These are pages that:

• Have excessive key phrase rankings.
• Generate essentially the most income.

While you look via your analytics, you’ll wish to hold a detailed eye on these pages whereas persevering with via the remainder of these steps.

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Step 6: Rerun web site crawlers to check

Rerunning your crawler is a good suggestion at this level. You’ve already gone via many of the tedious steps, however now it’s time to check your previous web site crawl to the brand new one. The objective is to test the next:

• Damaged web site hyperlinks (404 errors).
• Redirects.
• Meta titles.
• Meta description.

Examine your metadata to make sure that all the things migrated correctly. Generally, metadata is misplaced through the migration, particularly in the event you change content material administration programs that attempt pulling knowledge from a database column or desk that doesn’t exist.

Step 7: Audit the positioning

Audits come subsequent, and you can even use among the knowledge collected within the final step. Your audit ought to embrace checking:

• Redirects.
• Inner hyperlinks.
• Server response occasions.
• Noindex/index data.

You’ll additionally wish to create your robots.txt file, arrange canonical tags and be sure that your key pages are operating effectively.

If you happen to’re altering domains, add your web site to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Instruments. You’ll wish to observe this up by requesting that your web site be listed and submitting your XML sitemaps.

Google Search Console means that you can change your web site deal with. You possibly can arrange the change of deal with by going to Settings (Gear icon) > Change of deal with.

The Search Console’s change of deal with means that you can alert Google of your web site’s deal with change. Nevertheless, you will have to confirm that you just’re the proprietor of each websites earlier than submitting your change of deal with.

Step 9: Run usability exams

Usability is one facet of a web site migration that individuals overlook. Your web site could keep its rankings, but you’ll lose income if usability diminishes. 

Manually testing key areas of your web site is the subsequent step, and these exams must be carried out on cellular and desktop gadgets.

Examine the next areas to make sure that they’re working correctly:

• Downloadable content material.
• Types.
• Full checkout course of.
• Dwell chat operate.
• Mailing lists.
• Navigation.

You wish to be sure that your entire web site’s options run correctly. If you happen to come throughout any points, right them as obligatory.

Step 10: Monitor analytics and carry out any obligatory cleanup

Over time, you’ll wish to look in your Google Search Console for errors and warnings. Evaluate your analytics or key phrase rankings to your prime pages. 

Historically, you’ll wish to view your highest traffic-generating pages and see in the event that they’ve skilled a loss in site visitors. If they’ve misplaced vital rankings and site visitors, begin analyzing key points, similar to:

• Improper redirects.
• Sluggish load occasions.
• Misplaced inside hyperlinks.
• Lacking meta tags.

You’ll wish to hold a detailed watch on Google Search Console’s Protection tab, which is able to present you any vital errors in your pages and warnings. As these errors pop up, undergo them one after the other and repair them.

Step 11: Submit-migration monitoring

Submit-migration monitoring is critical for the primary few weeks, however most modifications will probably be quick. A number of gadgets that you just’ll wish to add to your monitoring guidelines are:

• 403/404/and so forth. errors.
• Analytic setup verification.
• Setup Google Search Console.
• Submit sitemaps.
• Confirm third-party licenses are transferred.
• Confirm that the caching system is working correctly.
• Be sure that e mail is working correctly.
• Examine the navigation to confirm that it really works.
• Run Screaming Frog to establish errors. 

You need to use this template, which I’ll hold up to date that can assist you confirm your migration.

Guarantee a clean web site migration with these key steps and ideas

Web site migrations require appreciable diligence and time to execute correctly. Whereas just a few steps could also be added to the listing above to streamline the migration course of additional, they’re a great basis to construct on.

Dig deeper: How to run a successful site migration from start to finish