The term “site migration” refers to the process in which the site is revamped in different areas, affecting its visibility on search engines. Such areas are the site location, platform, user experience, design, and structure. The site migration’s end result includes an improved user experience, a cleaner interface, and a hassle-free editing experience.
You should not make the mistake of taking site migration lightly. If you execute the site migration poorly, the website might suffer from bad SEO performance and status code errors. Now, we will tell you the steps, how to migrate without losing traffic.
Crawling the existing website
The website crawler helps retrieve the markup and URL on the site. Executing the crawl offers the starting point for the URL mapping. You will be able to crawl the site with different third-party tools.
Benchmarks
There are risks that the analytics data might be removed during the website migration. In this regard, choosing historical benchmarks is valuable. Hence, it is best to retain the same. You should set aside the prerequisite time for reviewing the analytics.
Moreover, it assures the techniques that the potential audience uses to facilitate website navigation. Moreover, it also helps find valuable pages. Such context is useful in informing the website architecture and redesign decisions.
Choosing the proper hosting platform
To migrate the web hosts without losing SEO, you need to opt for a suitable hosting service provider. As you invest in the hosting platform, which comes with amazing technical features, you will be successful in handling the SEO needs. You should choose a hosting platform that is appropriate for the site’s needs.
Investing in the proper server location
It is essential to opt for the proper server for the site. Geographical advantage is the deciding factor in search engine optimization. The location of the server is going to impact the search engine optimization rankings. In addition, it affects the target audience. To ensure a successful web host migration, you can opt for the right server location.
Backups
It is essential to take a backup of the migrating websites completely before starting the web host migration. Moreover, you will be able to take the right backups through the use of plugins like BackWPup and BackupBuddy. Such a step assures that you will be able to revert to the real site if anything goes wrong.
Mapping the URLs
If you make major changes to the site URL, you need different redirections to guide the site users and Google from the old to the new URLs. If the page does not exist anymore, you do not want that the potential users might find the 404 status code error.
Incorrect redirections may indicate a larger hit to search engine optimization. From the SEO point of view, you want to take back up of the backlinks, history, and authority. The redirect is worth mentioning in this aspect, as it tells Google the proper place to attribute such signals.
Retaining the meta descriptions, titles, and HTML markup
Such migrating website to avoid seo issues offers assistance with the organization of the website. The pages need to inform. They comprise the necessary information. You can consider rewriting the titles and updating the titles, HTML markup, and Meta descriptions.
Test driver
To ensure a seamless and hassle-free data migration, it is recommended to go for an online test drive before the migration.
Selecting the proper migration date
You should avoid those peak hours to avoid the hiccups.
As you try to redirect the website to the new server, you should make sure to point to the new location of the website. You will be able to coordinate with the potential hosting service providers to do this. After setting the forwarding redirects, you should un-publish, followed by implementation.
If you are searching for well-skilled website developers to transfer a website, you should take a look at Sysiz.