5 reasons you lose traffic after a website migration
TRANSCRIPT
5 REASONS YOU LOSE TRAFFIC AFTER A WEBSITE MIGRATION
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MORE & MORE BRANDS ARE GOING THROUGH
WEBSITE MIGRATIONS
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REPLATFORMING CHANGING CMS PROVIDER
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SITE REFRESH NEW LOOK & FEEL / ARCHITECTURE
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DOMAIN BRAND MOVE NEW URL / BRAND/
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WEBSITE MIGRATIONS ARE NOT EASY
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5 REASONS YOU LOSE TRAFFIC & HOW YOU CAN PREVENT IT FROM HAPPENING
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1.LACK OF RESPECT FOR REDIRECTS
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REDIRECTS ARE A BASIC REQUIREMENT OF
WEBSITE MIGRATIONS
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~188K ERRORS
WTF?
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• SEO’S BOUGHT INTO THE PROCESS LATE
• DEVELOPMENT TEAM FEEL THEY HAVE IT HANDLED
• INCORRECT/POOR IMPLEMENTATION
•MULTIPLE-HOP REDIRECTS
HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?
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HOW TO PREVENT IT?
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WITH THE DEVELOPERGO & MAKE FRIENDS
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TEST! TEST! TEST!
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2.GOOGLE TAKING TIME TO RECOGNISE REDIRECTS
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Speed of decline reduced 3 weeks after
redirect implementation
All URLs 1-2-1 redirecting correctly
Speed of indexation matched old domain decline for one week
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Visibility returned to the same levels pre
migration in six weeks.Or did it?
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HOW TO PREVENT IT?
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Use GSC website
address tool
Upload new XML sitemaps to new and old GSC account.
Use the Fetch as Google
feature to try and speed up the process.
Regularly review the XML
sitemap for slow indexing
sections.
WAITING FOR GOOGLE
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3.REMOVAL OF PAGES FROM THE WEBSITE
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• CHANGE WEBSITE ARCHITECTURE
• USER JOURNEY
• REMOVAL OF ARCHAIC CONTENT - E .G. BLOG POSTS
• REMOVAL OF CONTENT DUE TO MINIMAL CONVERSIONS
PROVIDES OPPORTUNITY
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I am going to remove X pages during the migration as they are not converting.
@DANIELBIANCHINI
I am going to remove X pages during the migration as they are not converting.
By doing so you will lose X% of traffic across all channels with the likelihood of losing organic visibility, which in turn will affect
conversion.
@DANIELBIANCHINI
I am going to remove X pages during the migration as they are not converting.
By doing so you will lose X% of traffic across all channels with the likelihood of losing organic visibility,
which in turn will affect conversion.
That’s fine, as they are not converting directly and therefore the traffic is not qualified.
@DANIELBIANCHINI
That’s fine, as they are not converting directly and therefore the traffic is not qualified.
By doing so you will lose X% of traffic across all channels with the likelihood of losing organic visibility,
which in turn will affect conversion.
But this will also have an impact on your assisted conversions, I would suggest that we combine these pages where possible.
@DANIELBIANCHINI
That’s fine, as they are not converting directly and therefore the traffic is not qualified.
But this will also have an impact on your assisted conversions, I would suggest that we combine these
pages where possible.
I understand, but I am going ahead.
@DANIELBIANCHINI
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We have lost lots of traffic and the board are going nuts!
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We have lost lots of traffic and the board are going nuts!
Face palm! – How are the conversions?
@DANIELBIANCHINI
We have lost lots of traffic and the board are going nuts!
Face palm! – How are the conversions?
Down, WTF!
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HOW TO PREVENT IT?
@DANIELBIANCHINI
• IMPACT ON KEY METRICS SUCH AS CONVERSION / TRAFFIC
• POTENTIAL IMPACT ON SEARCH ENGINE VISIBILITY
• FIND ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS WHERE POSSIBLE
•MAKE A NOTE OF WHO’S DECISION IT WAS
RESEARCH!
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4.CRAWLERS BEING BLOCKED THROUGH ROBOTS.TXT & NOINDEX TAGS
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• SITE:[INSERT DOMAIN] INURL:STAGING.
• SITE:[INSERT DOMAIN] INURL:DEV.
• SITE:[INSERT DOMAIN] INURL:UAT.
STAGING SITE HELL!
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HOW TO PREVENT IT?
CHECK ROBOTS.TXT & NOINDEX ON LAUNCH
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5.LOST ALL TRAFFIC
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Migration Day!WTF Happened….
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HOW TO PREVENT IT?
@DANIELBIANCHINI
FIRST OPTION
Ensure GA code is within GTM but not
published
Publish GTM tag on launch.
1. 2.
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Create GA account for
staging environment
Publish GTM tag containing
staging environment
UA.
Annotate in GA to highlight the
change in website.
On launch. Replace test tag with live
account details.
SECOND OPTION1. 2. 3. 4.
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AND THAT’S ALL FOLKS
THANK
YOU@DANIELBIANCHINI
DANIEL BIANCHINI