WEBSITE MIGRATION BEST PRACTICES

IntroductionPre – Migration PlanningFundamentals of a Search Friendly WebsitePost MigrationDiscussion

AGENDA

TopRank® Online Marketing

Full service digital marketing agency• Content Marketing• SEO• Social Media Marketing• Influencer Marketing

Evan ProkopDigital Marketing Manager

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Objective: Migrate or re-design your website while minimizing losses in organic search traffic and rankings.

INTRODUCTION

Migration Planning• Analytics Assessment• 301 Redirects• Timing

ANALYTICS

Your web analytics are a treasure trove of historic usage patterns for your website

ANALYTICS - CLICK PATHS

ANALYTICS - TOP SITE CONTENT

ANALYTICS – DUD SITE CONTENT

ANALYTICS - CLICK MAPPING

ANALYTICS - PATHS TO CONVERSION

• Setup Web Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools on your new site before pushing live.

• Monitor analytics and organic rankings closely following migration.

ANALYTICS

Free:• Google Analytics

Paid:• Adobe SiteCatelyst• Crazy Egg

WEB ANALYTICS TOOLS

• 301 redirects can minimize any losses in SEO equity by transferring link equity from old urls to new.

• In addition, traffic to redirected urls will move seamlessly to the new site pages.

301 REDIRECTS

DOCUMENT EXISTING CONTENT

Document for all existing urls:• Page topic / keyword• Link profile• Organic rankings• Organic traffic

Document for all new urls:• Page topic / keyword• Existing or new content

Tip: use ‘clean’ urls

PLAN NEW CONTENT

Map redirects based on:• Relevance (page topic /

keyword)• Link profile• Organic rankings

301 REDIRECT MAPPING

Paid*:• SEMRush• Majestic SEO• Open Site Explorer• MS Excel

*Stripped down free versions available

301 REDIRECT TOOLS

TIMING

Time any significant website change or migration for when it is likely to have a minimal impact on business.

Consider seasonal trends for your business.

TIMING – TIME OF YEAR

Ideal for a migration

TIME OF DAY / DAY OF WEEK

Review your site analytics to determine lowest average traffic days / times.

• Review historic site usage patterns and use these insights to maintain and improve the new site usability

• Map 301 redirects to ensure a seamless transition of traffic and SEO equity

• Time your migration for when downtime is likely to have the least negative impact on business

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Fundamentals of a Search Friendly Website

• Optimization• Mobile Friendly• Crawlability• Custom 404 Page• Site Speed• Plugins• Hosting Geography

OPTIMIZATION

Effective onpage optimization (post migration) will help your content reach a relevant audience via search engines.

Make sure the following can be edited (preferably by a non-developer):• Meta titles• Meta descriptions• Headings (h1)• Schema markup• Links• Alt tags• Body copy• Onpage assets

OPTIMIZATION CHECKLIST

No longer merely a benefit to user experience, mobile accessibility has become a significant search ranking factor.

MOBILE FRIENDLY

Primary factors Google is using to evaluate:• Flash Usage• Viewport not configured• Fixed-width viewport• Content not sized to viewport• Small font size• Touch elements too close

MOBILE FRIENDLY CRITERIA

MOBILE FRIENDLY

• Review and fix mobile errors reported in Google Webmaster Tools.

• Monitor mobile usage metrics in your Web Analytics tool.

Free:• Google Mobile Friendly Tester:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/• Google Webmaster Tools

MOBILE OPTIMIZATION TOOLS

In order for content to achieve visibility in organic search, it is critical that search engines can easily crawl and index it.

CRAWLABILITY

• Minimize use of JavaScript*• Avoid Flash and Framed content• Minimize text contained in images

*In cases where using it is unavoidable (i.e. JavaScript fly out menus), provide an alternate path of navigation.

CRAWLABILITY CONSIDERATIONS

A good custom 404 page can be very effective at decreasing visitor exits.

CUSTOM 404 PAGE

CUSTOM 404 PAGE

Fast page load times are important for user experience and are an increasingly important organic ranking factor.

SITE SPEED

• Browser caching• Minimize image and video file sizes• Invest in robust hosting• Parallelize downloads• Avoid chain redirects*Note: not a full list.

SITE SPEED FACTORS

Free:• Pingdom Page Speed Test: http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/• Google Analytics

SITE SPEED TOOLS

Using trusted plugins whenever possible may help ensure the integrity and functionality of any WordPress powered site.

PLUGINS

Follow up with me afterwards to receive list of TopRank preferred WordPress plugins.

PREFERRED WORDPRESS PLUGINS

HOSTING GEO

Sites hosted in the same country as their target audience may have increased organic search visibility.

Post Migration• XML Sitemap• Robots.txt• QA 301 Redirects• Site Analytics Monitoring• Crawl Errors

A proper XML sitemap helps to ensure search engines index all desired content and are alerted of changes.

XML SITEMAP

• Generate and upload sitemap at yoursite.com/sitemap.xml • Submit / validate in Google Webmaster Tools

XML SITEMAP

Free WordPress Plugins:• Yoast WordPress SEO• All in One SEO Pack

Paid:• Power Mapper• Screaming Frog

XML SITEMAP TOOLS

Robots.txt can help with providing search engines with direction on what to crawl and what to exclude.

ROBOTS.TXT

• Add robots.txt file to site at yoursite.com/robots.txt• Submit / validate in Webmaster Tools

ROBOTS.TXT

Verify that all 301 redirects:• Direct to correct page• Give proper server response

QA 301 REDIRECTS

Free:• Bulk URL Checker:

https://www.searchcommander.com/seo-tools/bulk-url-checker/

Paid:• Screaming Frog• Power Mapper

QA 301 REDIRECT TOOLS

During a migration, it is critical to monitor site health indicators closely.

ANALYTICS

Be on the lookout for sharp drop-offs in:• Organic traffic• Keyword rankings

Note: decreases are normal immediately following migration, but should rebound within 1-2 months.

ANALYTICS

A new site can introduce crawl errors which inhibit searchbots and people from discovering and indexing content.

CRAWL ERRORS

• Perform full site crawl• Repeat monthly

CRAWL ERRORS

Free:• Google Webmaster Tools

Paid:• Screaming Frog• MOZ

CRAWL TOOLS

• Keep an extra close eye on analytics and site health following any site migration or significant change.

• A temporary decrease in search traffic and rankings is normal for up to 2 months.

• Even a well executed migration can introduce site crawl errors. Audit early and often.

• Enjoy your sweet new website!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

DISCUSSION / QUESTIONS

Let’s Connect!• Twitter - @eprokop1• LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/pub/evan-prokop/3b/a47/839• TopRank Online Marketing – www.toprankmarketing.com• TopRank Blog - www.toprankblog.com

THANK YOU!!!