The worst nightmare, any web developer may have, is finding out that all the SEO juice collected so thoroughly and persistently was…lost during the migration process. Uh oh, I definitely just had a wave of goosebumps rolling down my back. I mean, it’s not like the SEO score was decreased, it was completely erased! That’s right, from now on your renewed website is not considered to be changed but completely fresh. Thus neither Google nor any other search engine can’t rank you yet.
But it can only happen if you don’t keep in mind the SEO issue while moving house. Surely, no one can give a 100% accurate prediction about how the web world would react to your choice. Though, I may simply give you some pieces of advice on how to avoid a possible downfall. First of all, consider adding a few useful options like 301 Redirect and MetaData Migration to your migration list. Why do they matter?
Second of all, make up a list of all your valuable URLs, which, for instance, have a high rank, get most of the organic clicks and simply are crucial for your website wealth and health. You can do it using Screaming Frog tool or any other similar. This may come in handy after the migration is done and you want to check if every 301 Redirect works, are there any 404 or doubled pages which mark your perfect web project with nasty ink stains.
In case, you’ve already switched your platform, and your website is ready to go, but there are still some changes to implement, use The Robots.txt to prevent search engines from crawling the refreshed site. It sort of puts your web masterpiece in a time capsule, it can’t be scanned by bots. Thus it’s like it doesn’t even exist yet. This action performed gives you extra time to fill in every blank space if there are some, so your appearance can create a real hype all around the internet.
Finally, don’t forget to register your new address in Google Search Console, giving a Big Brother Google a hint that he can start watching you again. Though bear in mind that if your domain didn’t change, this action is not necessary.
Discover more tips on every migration stage with the help of this infographic:
(This infographic was created with the help of VENNGAGE service)
So, how did you like the article? I hope you’ll bookmark all the pieces of advice described here and there won’t be any naughty surprises on your successful migration journey.
By the way, in case you wish to switch your current CMS to a new one, try out automated aisite website and forum migration service. There is a tremendous number of supported platforms, but if you fail to find yours in the list, simply request it. Also, run a free Demo migration to check out the results of the renewed site before moving it for good.
