5 reasons you lose traffic after a website migration

5 REASONS YOU LOSE TRAFFIC AFTER A WEBSITE MIGRATION

@DANIELBIANCHINI

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

@DANIELBIANCHINI

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

@DANIELBIANCHINI

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

@DANIELBIANCHINI

We have lost lots of traffic and the board are going nuts!

@DANIELBIANCHINI

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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@DANIELBIANCHINI

• 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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@DANIELBIANCHINI

5.LOST ALL TRAFFIC

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Migration Day!WTF Happened….

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HOW TO PREVENT IT?

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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