There’s no getting around it. Migrating your website to a new domain is risky. Effectively, you’re starting from scratch. Your website will suddenly become the new kid on the block, with no domain history. Organic SEO rankings are bound to take a hit.
To Google, the new domain is an unknown quantity. You’ve worked hard to build up domain authority for your current website — yet that authority won’t transfer to the new domain. With 31% of businesses seeing traffic drops of more than 30%, you can understand why domain migration is right up there with base jumping from skyscrapers. It’s hazardous.
We’re here to help. This article is a comprehensive guide to navigating domain migration without screwing up your SEO. Let’s start with the big question. Is it worth the risk?
When domain migration is worth the risk
Migration has advantages. Over time, a more relevant, keyword-rich domain name can improve SEO performance. It also has the potential to increase website speed, improve user experience and generally make the site a better place to be.
However, given the potential SEO pitfalls, think carefully before making the decision. Here are some circumstances where domain migration is justified:
- Rebranding. When your company is rebranding, or going through a merger or acquisition, domain migration is necessary. You need a new domain name which reflects the updated brand.
- Legal reasons. If your domain name infringes someone else’s trademark or intellectual property rights, changing it is crucial.
- Unfixable technical issues. For example, your current domain name may not be compatible with new technologies or integrations on e-commerce platforms.
When domain migration is NOT worth the risk
Firstly, if the reason for migration is primarily to make cosmetic changes, steer clear. It’s far less problematic to keep your current domain name and get the website redesigned.
Here are some more circumstances when domain migration is NOT worth the risk:
- Revenue. If more than 50% of your revenue is currently from SEO traffic, the loss of traffic will be too destructive for the business.
- Lack of resources.Your resources must be robust enough to withstand a 6-month recovery period.
- Fixable technical issues. Can technical issues be resolved without the need for domain change? If they can, don’t make the leap.
Plan ahead
One of the most common mistakes with domain migration is rushing into it. From the planning stage to recovery, allow a minimum of 6 months. You’re looking at migration in month 5 — ideally during your lowest period of website traffic.
Here’s a guide to the timeline:
- Months 1-2: Assessment and planning
- Months 3-4: Technical preparation and testing
- Month 5: Migration during low-traffic period
- Months 6-12: Monitoring, recovery and optimisation
Let’s dive into these one by one, starting with assessment and planning.
Months 1-2: Assessment and planning (This is a larger subheading)
Back up your website and SEO data
Make sure you’ve backed up your current website, including all files and databases. If something goes wrong, this backup will be your safety net.
You’ll also need a clear view of current SEO data. Organic website traffic and page rankings are certain to drop over the first few months. You’ll want a solid baseline so that you can see exactly what’s happening.
Prune the current website
Rather than migrating poorly performing content, prune the site to get rid of dead wood. By removing URLs with low engagement, you have a better chance of improving SEO performance for the new website.
Carry out a content audit to identify pages with outdated, low-quality or duplicate content. Look at backlinks, organic traffic and bounce rates. Remember, Google rewards high-quality content which meets the needs of the user. Prioritise this content for the new domain.
Don’t change everything at once
It’s tempting to see domain migration as a chance to update all the content, videos and images. Try to resist this temptation until the dust has settled after migration. Maintaining a consistent content structure helps users navigate the new domain. It also helps preserve your current SEO value.
The more changes you make before migration, the harder it is to identify the cause of any issues afterwards. Without something to measure against — the SEO baseline data we mentioned earlier — you won’t know why the data may be changing.
Fix 404 errors
404 errors are broken links. They’re annoying for users and terrible for SEO because search engines use them to judge a website’s quality and user experience. If you have too many “page not found” errors, Google will notice. Now is a good time to get rid of them.
The easiest way to identify 404 errors is via Screaming Frog. They offer a package where they’ll crawl up to 500 pages for free, analysing your site for common SEO issues.
Set up a staging site
Create a development site on the new domain. Use it to test website features and functionality so that you can identify and fix problems before they affect the live site.
It’s important to make sure search engine crawlers can’t index the pages on the dev site. You’ll find more information on how to do this from Google Search Central, block search indexing with noindex
Months 3-4: Technical preparation and testing (This is a larger subheading)
Update robots.txt file
A robots.txt file gives Google instructions about which parts of the site it can access, and which parts to avoid — areas which contain sensitive customer data, for example.
It’s important to update your robots.txt file to accurately reflect the structure and content of the new website. Otherwise, the file could block access to important pages or, even more damaging, inappropriately allow access to private information on the new domain.
Moreover, updating the file helps mitigate the negative impact on SEO. It guides Google to crawl and index your new site appropriately.
Prepare a new XML sitemap
An XML sitemap will help Google understand your website’s new structure. Effectively, it’s a roadmap which points the way to your important pages. When you’re migrating, it will help search engines crawl and discover the content.
For large e-commerce websites, consider creating multiple sitemaps — separate maps for category pages, product pages and blog posts, for example.
Map out 301 redirects
Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts with 301 redirects. Every important page URL will need to be redirected to the equivalent URL on the new website.
As you’re mapping out 301 redirects, don’t point URLs at the new site’s home page. For website visitors, landing on a home page when they’re searching for something else will be annoying. They’re likely to bounce straight off again. Instead, take the time to find the most appropriate redirect destination. If there’s no equivalent URL, redirect to the page’s relevant parent page.
Test the dev site
Test everything before the new site goes live — then test everything again. The list of check points is pretty long, but here are a few common issues to look out for:
- 404 errors, or broken links.
- 5xx errors — often 500, 502, 503 or 504. These appear when your server can’t process a user’s request.
- Canonical issues occur when search engines get confused about duplicate content on different URLs. They don’t know which URL to rank. Make sure canonical tags are set up properly. They’re a piece of HTML code which specifies the default page for ranking.
- Google Analytics. A tracking code should be set up on all pages you want to track.
- 301 redirects. Use a website crawler such as Screaming Frog to test all of them.
- Mobile and AMP variants. Remember to redirect mobile and AMP variants correctly, otherwise mobile users can end up on error pages.
- Ecommerce functionality. All forms, search functions, buttons and interactive elements should be working properly. Test to make sure that discounts and shipping costs are correct, then test the checkout process.
- Responsivity. Check that the website works on both desktop and mobile. Also, try it on different browsers.
- Page loading speed. Google’s page speed tool will tell you how quickly pages load on the new site. Your goal is under 2 seconds.
- Meta-data transfer. All SEO title tags and meta-descriptions should be transferred to the new site.
Month 5: Migration (This is a larger subheading)
Pick the best time
Obviously, don’t migrate during a peak time for sales. Pick a time when volumes of website traffic are low. This could be during a slow seasonal period — or over a long weekend. Whichever time you choose, make sure that your website developers and technical team are available. You may need their help.
Submit your new sitemap
As the site goes live, use Google Search Console to submit your new XML sitemap. It flags up the fact that the website structure has changed, and can help speed up the indexing of the new site.
Tell Google you’ve moved
On the Search Console, you’ll find a change of address tool. It tells Google about the domain change, and helps to migrate search results from the old site to the new one.
Months 6-12: Monitoring, recovery & optimisation (This is a larger subheading)
Monitor performance
Use Google Analytics to monitor your new site’s performance. The chances are, you’ll see a drop in traffic — but don’t panic. This is normal. Google needs time to re-crawl the website.
Monitor thoroughly, using your previous SEO data as a yardstick. Key metrics to track are organic website traffic, keyword rankings, indexing progress and conversion rates. You should also keep a close eye on technical performance.
Recovery expectations
As mentioned, your website traffic and SEO will take a short-term hit. However, provided the migration has been properly prepared and executed, traffic generally recovers after about 3 months. After 6 to 12 months, SEO performance can show a considerable improvement on previous levels.
Here’s a rundown of what to expect over the first 12 months after migration:
- Weeks 1-2: An initial traffic drop of between 20% and 50% is normal during the first week or two.
- Months 1-2: Your website traffic may reach its lowest figure before starting to recover.
- Months 3-6: A successful migration usually achieves full recovery by this point.
- Months 6-12: Traffic patterns should stabilise, and may exceed pre-migration levels.
Content optimisation
Once the dust has settled, it’s time to carry out another content audit. Your monitoring data will reveal which keywords the new site is ranking for. Find out which content is successfully leading to conversions, and where the website content is falling down.
To attract more organic traffic, weave keywords into your page copy and product descriptions, then back up those keywords with metadata. Most importantly, create content which is genuinely helpful to the website user.
Remember, Google rewards high-quality content. Your organic SEO rankings will continue to improve if you consistently update the new website with helpful, people-first content which meets the needs of the user.
Conclusion
Domain migration is always going to be a high-risk operation. When you consider the drop in rankings, disruption to domain authority, website traffic loss and decline in online sales, there’s a lot at stake.
Proper planning, execution and testing are crucial. They help ensure the losses are minimal and the disruption is temporary. If in doubt, seek the help of experts. At Pumpkin, our SEO and technical teams have years of experience at migrating ecommerce websites to new domains, without screwing up the SEO authority from the old site. Get in touch with us for a chat.
