website migration tips

5 things you need to remember for a smooth migration Jon Earnshaw@jonearnshaw @PiDatametricswww.pi-datametrics.com

July 2016

@jonearnshaw@PiDatametrics www.pi-datametrics.com

DangerousAdventures

Swimming with sharks

Free climbing

Running with bulls

Migrating your website

Potentially one of the most dangerous online marketing adventures

Here’s a classic example

Platform Migration - unnamed website loses all organic visibility

And here’s another

A high street bank - appears to suffer a loss of visibility

Turns out to be a ‘straightforward’ TLD migration

The Overall Outcome?

Organic VisibilityAfter 15 days

28% visibility loss

Organic VisibilityAfter 75 days

35% visibility loss

Pre MigrationVisibility Index - grouping the terms together

Original TLD

Pre and Post MigrationVisibility Index - grouping the terms together

Original TLD

New TLD

Never quite recovered from

the loss

And this is where the rumours start!

The old‘migration myth’

60% - 70%

It could die

It depends

But…It doesn’t have to be

this way!

This is a great opportunity!

Five key things to get right

1. Involve SEO from the start2. Redirects and mapping3. Utilise DATA4. Make sure there’s an owner5. Keep the stage from getting out

1. Involve SEO from the start

● Project resources and scope normally set very, very early on

● Involve SEO in scoping and planning to build SEO in at all appropriate touch points

● This person MUST be experienced in migrations● Allow SEO person to build relationships and establish

credibility with the team

2. Redirects and mapping

● Crawl your site● Check for old subdomains and orphan pages● Create a detailed redirect map● Every page matters - especially the priority ones● If you’re in pre-build phase - review the theming● Thoroughly test in staging and after launch

And if you don’t?

Incorrectly migrated contentThe result of a failure to preserve authority

Many old URLs still indexed - months on

Steady rise in soft 404s

Impact on the SERPS?

01 April 2016

High value terms

The cause and the fix

● Highly inappropriate redirects● Substantial number of pages 302 to home

● Audit to determine appropriate redirects● Regaining authority will take time!

3. Utilise DATA

● Benchmark current visibility early on● How are we performing?● Look for opportunities and feedback● Determine current extent of conflict● Who’s doing better and why?● Find/modify existing redirects to avoid chains● Monitor the migration window

The migration windowWhat to expect...

Imagine you were #1 for “Best Bollywood Movies”

Straight switch

Original domain

New new domain

migration window

Brief coexistence then switch

Original domain

New new domain

migration window

Good uplift

New domain

Original domain

migration window

Previous conflict resolved

30 positionuplift

Another good uplift

New domain

Original domain

migration window

Previous‘Glass ceiling’

20 positionuplift

4. Make sure there’s an owner

● Give one person responsibility to run the migration● Involve them throughout the project to ensure they grasp

the architecture and the quirks of the site● Empower them to make and enforce decisions

5. Keep the stage from getting out

● Remember that robots.txt only blocks crawling, NOT indexing

● Use IP whitelisting● Require a login● Noindex meta

Summary

● SEO is not the icing - it’s a key ingredient● You can’t just SEO it!● Get expert help● See this as an opportunity● Don’t always believe the old ‘migratory myth’● Utilise data - before, during and after● Plan

Thank You

Jon Earnshaw@jonearnshaw @PiDatametricswww.pi-datametrics.com

July 2016

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