I’ve had the unique experience of making full URL and brand migrations for multiple companies (including nine figure ones). The larger ones are different than a smaller brand because there’s more moving parts, and at least one was in a regulated industry adding to the complexity.
How To Migrate A URL To A New Domain For SEO
But in each instance we maintained or grew SEO traffic, specifically new non-branded keywords. The following instructions are what we do as a baseline when changing URLs and we don’t want to lose SEO traffic or potentially damage other marketing channels.
How To Migrate A URL To A New Domain For SEO
Note: Each site has unique variables and instances. The guide below does not account for a new CMS system which may not be set up the same as your current. These changes are often overlooked and can result in a loss of revenue from SEO, affiliate, and other channels.
How To Migrate A URL To A New Domain For SEO
Here’s the checklist for migrating to a new URL and changing brands while keeping SEO in tact:
- Crawl the website and map out every page and URL with the categories. All quality SEO spiders do this.
- Once the spider is done, add landing pages into the list.
- Landing pages are used by email, affiliate managers, PPC, and other channels. If you don’t move them then these channels can get damaged.
- Now look at your database to see how many pages there are in total. It should match exactly to the new site if you’re not pruning.
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- Pruning could involve additional redirects, combining content, or deleting pages.
- Check for backlinks when pruning, sometimes there are amazing ones and you don’t want to lose them because the page didn’t have SEO traffic.
- There could be some excessive pages or outliers, so don’t panic if you miss a couple that don’t have traffic and/or are thin content.
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- Any page that is vital traffic wise should have the keywords the page shows up for in a separate document. Watch and see…
- Once the spider is done, add landing pages into the list.
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How To Migrate A URL To A New Domain For SEO
How To Migrate A URL To A New Domain For SEO
