website migration tips
TRANSCRIPT
5 things you need to remember for a smooth migration Jon Earnshaw@jonearnshaw @PiDatametricswww.pi-datametrics.com
July 2016
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DangerousAdventures
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Swimming with sharks
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Free climbing
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Running with bulls
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Migrating your website
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Potentially one of the most dangerous online marketing adventures
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Here’s a classic example
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Platform Migration - unnamed website loses all organic visibility
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And here’s another
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A high street bank - appears to suffer a loss of visibility
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Turns out to be a ‘straightforward’ TLD migration
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The Overall Outcome?
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Organic VisibilityAfter 15 days
28% visibility loss
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Organic VisibilityAfter 75 days
35% visibility loss
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Pre MigrationVisibility Index - grouping the terms together
Original TLD
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Pre and Post MigrationVisibility Index - grouping the terms together
Original TLD
New TLD
Never quite recovered from
the loss
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And this is where the rumours start!
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The old‘migration myth’
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45%
60% - 70%
It could die
It depends
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But…It doesn’t have to be
this way!
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This is a great opportunity!
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Five key things to get right
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1. Involve SEO from the start2. Redirects and mapping3. Utilise DATA4. Make sure there’s an owner5. Keep the stage from getting out
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1. Involve SEO from the start
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● 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
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2. Redirects and mapping
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● 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
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And if you don’t?
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Incorrectly migrated contentThe result of a failure to preserve authority
Many old URLs still indexed - months on
Steady rise in soft 404s
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Impact on the SERPS?
01 April 2016
High value terms
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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!
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3. Utilise DATA
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● 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
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The migration windowWhat to expect...
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Imagine you were #1 for “Best Bollywood Movies”
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Straight switch
Original domain
New new domain
migration window
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Brief coexistence then switch
Original domain
New new domain
migration window
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Good uplift
New domain
Original domain
migration window
Previous conflict resolved
30 positionuplift
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Another good uplift
New domain
Original domain
migration window
Previous‘Glass ceiling’
20 positionuplift
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4. Make sure there’s an owner
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● 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
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5. Keep the stage from getting out
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● Remember that robots.txt only blocks crawling, NOT indexing
● Use IP whitelisting● Require a login● Noindex meta
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Summary
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● 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