SEO migrations
A change of domain, CMS or URL structure without losing the traffic you spent years earning.
Book a 30-min call →I teach the migrations class in the BigSEO Academy SEO Master and the Asdrubal SEO Technical SEO Master. At Softonic, a site with millions of visits a day, we moved the languages from subdomains to the main domain and then to their own ccTLDs linked with hreflang. With the next core update, the main domain went past the traffic it had before.
What I do
A migration is won before it launches
Almost every drop after a migration could have been seen coming: URLs that brought traffic and have no destination, new templates with less content, internal links that disappear or a new site Google cannot see because everything depends on JavaScript. That is why half the work is in the inventory and in reviewing the new site before it goes out.
And not every migration is technical. A migration also decides which content you take with you: if you move weak content, like unreviewed translations, to the main domain, you can lower the quality of the whole site at the next core update. A good migration asks which content is worth taking along.
- 01 URLs with traffic or links and no destination I cross analytics, Search Console, external links and logs so that no URL that contributes is left without a redirect.
- 02 Redirects to the homepage or in chains Mass redirects to the homepage and chains of hops are among the most common causes of drops that do not recover.
- 03 Poorer new templates If the new site has less text, fewer internal links or less structured data than the old one, the design has already lost traffic before launch.
- 04 JavaScript on the new site I check in staging what Google sees rendered: content, links and metadata.
- 05 What still points to the old site Canonicals, hreflang, sitemaps and internal links that keep pointing to old URLs after launch.
- 06 Which content is worth taking Not everything that exists helps: carrying weak content over to the new site can lower the quality of the whole site.
I've done it before
Worth reading first: Google Quality: what it is, how it measures it and how long a site takes to recover
How we work
From the first call to results
- When it is decided
Call and access
What changes, why and when. You give me access to Search Console, analytics, logs and the test environment of the new site.
- Before
Inventory and baseline
Every URL that brings traffic or links or is indexed, plus the starting traffic and rankings by page type.
- Before
Redirect map
Each old URL with its destination, one by one, and a decision for those with no equivalent.
- Before launch
Staging review
I review the new site: indexability, canonicals, hreflang, internal linking, structured data and what Google sees if everything depends on JavaScript.
- Launch day
Supported launch
I check redirects, robots.txt, sitemaps and Search Console as soon as it goes live, and we fix anything that fails right away.
- Following weeks
Monitoring
Indexing, rankings and traffic by page type, with alerts to catch any broken redirect in time.
It is the same methodology in every project: a business goal, a diagnosis by page type, absolute key results and a weekly review. I explain it in full in this post
Deliverables
What you take away
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URL inventory
Every URL that brings traffic or links today or is indexed, pulled from crawling, Search Console, analytics and logs.
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Redirect map
Each old URL with its new destination, one to one and without chains. Those with no equivalent are decided case by case.
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Staging review
Before launch I review the new site: indexability, canonicals, hreflang, internal linking, structured data and performance.
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Supported launch
On the day of the change I check redirects, robots.txt and sitemaps, and that Google starts crawling the new site.
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Post-launch monitoring
I watch indexing, rankings and traffic by page type over the following weeks and fix whatever drifts.
How you can hire me
Full migration
From the inventory to the post-launch monitoring: the recommended format if the migration is not designed yet.
Migration review
I review the plan and the redirect map you already have before launch, or diagnose a migration that has already gone live and lost traffic.
In ongoing work, you choose how involved I get
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Guided consulting
Regular sessions with your team. I set the priorities, review what has been done and measure the results. Your team executes.
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Hands-on support
On top of that, I review changes before they ship and I am in your Slack or Teams for day-to-day questions.
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Inside your team
Almost like an implant: I join your tools, write and prioritize the tickets myself, take part in planning and do the SEO QA of what ships.
We adjust it to the project and it can change along the way: some projects start guided and end with me inside the team, and the other way round.
Fixed price based on the number of URLs, the templates that change and the format. I send you the proposal in writing after the first call.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Can't find your question? Email me at [email protected] and I'll reply within 24 hours.
When should I bring you in?
As early as possible, ideally when the migration is decided and before the new site is designed. Many problems (URLs that disappear, templates without content, JavaScript Google cannot see) are cheap to avoid in design and expensive to fix after launch.
Is it normal to lose traffic after a migration?
There are usually a few weeks of movement while Google crawls and reprocesses the new URLs. What is not normal is a drop that does not recover, and it almost always comes from badly built redirects, content that gets lost or pages that stop being linked.
What types of migration do you handle?
Changes of domain, CMS or platform, URL structure, HTTP to HTTPS, merging several sites into one or the reverse, and changes to the international structure (subdomains, subdirectories or ccTLDs).
Who implements the redirects?
Your development team or your vendor. I give them the map, check that it is implemented correctly before and after launch, and answer their questions.
When shouldn't you hire me?
If your site has few pages and little traffic. A good checklist may be enough. If the migration goes live tomorrow and there is no room to change anything.
How much does it cost?
It depends on the number of URLs, how many templates change and whether the migration is only technical or also involves content. I send you a fixed proposal after the first call.