An SEO Expert Explains How To Migrate Websites

An SEO Expert Explains How To Migrate Websites
Moving a website is like moving to a new house. Assets must be accounted for, detailed plans made, and reliable help hired. It’s heavy lifting—and requires great care that valuable items aren’t broken in the process.
Organizations migrating websites should apply that same diligence and attention to detail. One key consideration is SEO. Just as you wouldn’t want your grandmother’s fine china squashed in a box, you don’t want your SEO rankings damaged by an oversight.
This guide breaks down everything you need to know about preserving (or even improving) an organization’s SEO during a website migration. From understanding the different types of URL redirects to dealing with pesky 404s, here’s how to migrate a website without losing SEO value.
Reasons for a Website Migration
Website migrations occur when an organization updates the URL for one or more websites. When done correctly, visitors to the old website(s) will automatically redirect to the new address. Organizations choose to migrate websites for a variety of reasons, including:
- Rebranding: An organization that owns multiple brands or has made significant changes to its current one will often opt for a website migration. That can entail moving two or more websites to one address or shifting a single website to a new address.
- An acquisition or merger: When an organization acquires a new business or joins forces with a new one, its digital profile needs to mirror that change by moving one or more websites to a central location.
- Improved user experience: Not all website migrations entail big business changes. Some organizations choose to overhaul their website to make it more palatable to visitors. Updating a clunky URL, improving SEO, consolidating duplicate web pages, and removing outdated ones are all reasons to switch.
- Legal considerations: Large companies with the same name as other websites may encounter trademark disputes. They can change domains to prevent this from happening.
Note: In tech speak, a website address is known as its domain. It's the URL typed into an address bar (e.g. google.com). It also appears in email addresses associated with that website. Website migrations rely on URL redirects to shift domains; i.e., to move one web page to another address.
How Website Migrations Impact SEO
Website migrations require considerable work. However, the right tools and know-how can make redirecting visitors to a new URL easy. There are two types of URL redirects: permanent and impermanent. Companies migrating websites will want to choose permanent for most, if not all, of their new web pages.
Here’s why: Search engines like Google rely on software that scours websites called crawlers to determine valuable content. Crawlers search for websites containing backlinks to trusted sites that establish authority. Strong backlinks result in better SEO rankings.
When a website redirects, it sends out a signal saying a resource has moved to a new URL. Signals associated with permanent redirects let the search engine know to associate the website’s new URL with its old SEO ranking. If a company chooses an impermanent redirect, the crawler doesn’t know which page to rank for SEO—the old one or the temporary one. As a result, it loses SEO value.
301 redirects are permanent and the primary focus of this article.
Best SEO Practices for Website Migration
Because SEO is such an important consideration with website migration, organizations will want to ensure they take every precaution to preserve or improve their SEO ranking. Here are general factors to be aware of and fundamental steps to take.
- Conduct a content audit: Start by cataloging every page in the website(s) you plan to migrate. Note the kind of page it is (landing, homepage) and document the corresponding page it will move to. Pro tip: don’t connect every page to your homepage (or another single source). This is a mistake that can seriously impact your SEO score.
- Update 404s and other outdated content: As you conduct your audit, you may come across pages that show up as 404s. Use a Backlink Analytics tool to find 404s and redirect them to a closely matched page. If the 404 page is now irrelevant, delete it.
- Eliminate duplicate content: This step is especially important for organizations merging one or more websites. Near-identical pages should be consolidated. Using a tidy and thorough spreadsheet can help to easily identify these instances.
- Avoid redirect chains and loops: A redirect chain occurs when a website input signal must hop through multiple URLs to arrive at its final destination. Even more problematic is the redirect loop, which sends users from one URL to another, and then back to the original. While the word on the street is that a website can host up to five URLs in a chain without impacting SEO, it’s still a good idea to make a clean transition between your old web pages and new ones. Resolve redirect chains and loops using a tool like SiteDetour, which identifies surplus URLs so you can eliminate them.
- Migrate pages meticulously: If you’ve done your homework, migrating an old website to a new one can be a relative breeze—especially if using a tool like SiteDetour. Using your content audit as a source of truth, enter the new URL for each web page you want to migrate. Be sure to choose a 301 redirect.
- Monitor content for up to a year: After migrating your website, go through it to make sure all the pages are properly synced. Don’t worry if you see a slight dip in your SEO—as long as you use 301 redirects, it should quickly return to normal. It’s advisable to monitor your SEO ranking for up to a year after a website migration.
Well-executed website migrations can maintain or even improve your SEO. The recommended content audit requires organizations to look in-depth at website content and make key decisions that improve search rankings. As a bonus, you’ll have the skill sets and tools to make more changes to your website further down the road—such as acquiring other websites or even setting up temporary pages for seasonal promotions, A/B testing web pages, and more.
SiteDetour is the perfect companion for website migrations. The URL redirect tool takes seconds to use, and the platform’s analytics provide valuable insights to make the transition seamless. To learn more, contact us today and we’ll set you up with a free demo.
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