Avoiding a website migration disaster

How to avoid a site
migration disaster
Jon Earnshaw
@jonearnshaw @PiDatametrics
www.pi-datametrics.com
September 2016

@jonearnshaw @PiDatametrics www.pi-datametrics.com
What and why?

www.pi-datametrics.com@jonearnshaw @PiDatametrics www.pi-datametrics.com@jonearnshaw @PiDatametrics
Potentially one of the most dangerous
online marketing adventures

Here’s a classic
example

www.pi-datametrics.com@jonearnshaw @PiDatametrics
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 Visibility
After 15 days
28% visibility loss

Organic Visibility
After 75 days
35% visibility loss

Pre Migration
Visibility Index - grouping the terms together
Original TLD

Pre and Post Migration
Visibility 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 depends
45%
it could die

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 start
2. Redirects and mapping
3. Utilise DATA
4. Make sure there’s an owner
5. 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 content
The result of a failure to preserve authority
Many old URLs still indexed - months on
Steady rise
in soft 404s

Impact on the SERPS?
High value
terms
01 April 2016

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 window
What to expect...

Imagine you were #1 for
“Best Bollywood Movies”

Straight switch
Original domain
New domain
migration window

Brief coexistence then switch
Original domain
New domain
migration window

Good uplift
New domain
Original domain
migration window
30 position
upliftPrevious conflict
resolved

Another good uplift
New domain
Original domain
migration window
20 position
uplift
Previous
‘glass ceiling’

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 from the start
● See this as an opportunity
● Don’t always believe the old ‘migratory myth’
● Utilise data - before, during and after

Use this as your business case

Thank You
Jon Earnshaw
@jonearnshaw @PiDatametrics
www.pi-datametrics.com
September 2016

Avoiding a website migration disaster

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