Web site migration guidelines: 11 steps for achievement

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

Nonetheless, whereas migration could appear easy on paper, one misstep can result in web optimization issues, reminiscent of:

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

Earlier than starting your migration, you’ll need to run a website crawler to stock your pages. The aim is to have a listing of all pages that you may seek advice from when the migration is full to confirm that every thing is migrated appropriately.

You’ll additionally need to establish when your website visitors is highest so you possibly can 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 part, and whereas this can be high quality when you’re a one-person proprietor, it’s not OK when a number of stakeholders are concerned. 

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

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

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

Pre-migration planning

Screaming Frog is a good software to assist with gathering knowledge in your website earlier than the migration, reminiscent of:

• Evaluating crawls.
• Staging.
• URL mapping.

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

You may – and may – create an annotation inside your Google Analytics to mark the pre–migration knowledge so that you could seek advice from it whenever you’re performed with the location migration.

When you’ve created your record, you’re prepared to maneuver on. The next are 11 steps that can assist you efficiently migrate your web site.

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

Dig deeper: 12 web optimization pitfalls to keep away from throughout an internet site platform migration

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

Migrations have many shifting elements.

First, make a backup of your website and database. If one thing goes fallacious, you’ll be grateful that you’ve got a backup to revive your website. Ideally, you’ll additionally create a staging website to check the migration to cut back any preliminary hiccups that may happen alongside the way in which.

Staging environments help you check the migration and establish any important errors. When you’re migrating a well known website that receives quite a lot of visitors and should even generate income, staging is necessary.

Enterprise stakeholders will need solutions from you if one thing goes fallacious, and the presence of a staging website helps you stop undesirable points in manufacturing.

Use the staging setting 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 website, you’ll need to:

• Arrange your internet hosting setting 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 a listing of redirects

Internally, you and your group ought to have a listing of redirects that it is advisable to create and ones that exist already. You’ll seek advice from this record to make sure that all present redirects are in place in your new website.

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

Dig deeper: The right way to velocity up website migrations with AI-powered redirect mapping

Step 3: Overview your web optimization construction

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

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

Overview your present website’s web optimization construction to make sure that you may test it when the migration is full. The important thing to website 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 website. From a technical web optimization standpoint, you’ll need to view the next knowledge:

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

You’ll be returning to those benchmarks a number of occasions over the approaching weeks. When you discover that the location velocity is sluggish otherwise you misplaced rankings, you’ll need to look by way of your website extra to pinpoint the difficulty.

When you have this knowledge out there, you’ll even have one thing to point out your shopper (when you’re working with one) that may spotlight the success of the benchmark.

Technical web optimization benchmarks

You need your customers to have an distinctive expertise in your website. To realize this, crawlability wants to stay excessive and speeds should even be monitored:

• Cell-friendliness: Websites must be mobile-friendly. Two instruments that may assist you confirm that customers throughout cellular gadgets can use your website seamlessly are Bing and Web site Grader.
• Web site velocity: Your website velocity additionally issues, so that you’ll need to run exams earlier than and after the migration utilizing PageSpeed Insights.
• Duplicate content material: Typically, migrations go fallacious, and duplicate content material pops up. You need to confirm that you simply don’t have a bunch of duplicate pages.

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

Step 5: Analyze key website pages

Your key website pages are crucial revenue-generating pages and must be the primary that you simply goal. Analyze these pages to be sure that they’re working correctly. Even when you have 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 by way of your analytics, you’ll need to preserve an in depth eye on these pages whereas persevering with by way of the remainder of these steps.

Step 6: Rerun website crawlers to check

Rerunning your crawler is a good suggestion at this level. You’ve already gone by way of a lot of the tedious steps, however now it’s time to check your previous website crawl to the brand new one.

The aim is to test the next:

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

Examine your metadata to make sure that every thing migrated correctly. Typically, metadata is misplaced throughout the migration, particularly when you change content material administration methods that attempt pulling knowledge from a database column or desk that doesn’t exist.

Step 7: Audit the location

Audits come subsequent, and you may also use a number of 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 need to create your robots.txt file, arrange canonical tags and make sure that your key pages are working effectively.

When you’re altering domains, add your website to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Instruments. You’ll need to comply with this up by requesting that your website be listed and submitting your XML sitemaps.

Google Search Console permits you to change your website deal with. You may arrange the change of deal with by going to Settings (Gear icon) > Change of deal with.

The Search Console’s change of deal with permits you to alert Google of your website’s deal with change. Nonetheless, you will have to confirm that you simply’re the proprietor of each websites earlier than submitting your change of deal with.

Step 9: Run usability exams

Usability is one side of a website migration that folks overlook. Your website could keep its rankings, but you’ll lose income if usability diminishes. 

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

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

• Downloadable content material.
• Kinds.
• Full checkout course of.
• Stay chat operate.
• Mailing lists.
• Navigation.

You need to make sure that your whole website’s options run correctly. When you come throughout any points, appropriate them as vital.

Step 10: Monitor analytics and carry out any vital cleanup

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

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

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

You’ll need to intently watch Google Search Console’s Protection tab, which can present you any important 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 adjustments will probably be quick. Just a few objects that you simply’ll need to add to your monitoring guidelines are:

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

You need to use this template, which I’ll preserve up to date that will help you confirm your migration.

Guarantee a easy website migration with these key steps and ideas

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

Dig deeper: The right way to run a profitable website migration from begin to end