12 Tips for Site Migrations: Top Insights from Industry Experts

Site migrations are a necessary yet often daunting task for any business, particularly for large brands that generate a majority of their revenue online and with millions of pages to move.

But don't worry — whether you're dealing with a platform shift, domain migration, or a complete redesign, we've gathered key insights and actionable advice from experts at top brands across the US and EMEA to help make your site migrations as smooth and successful as possible.

Before the migration: Setting the stage for success

1. Clarify the type of migration and why it’s needed

There are multiple types of migrations for a variety of goals. For example, a domain migration involves switching from one domain to another, while a platform migration focuses on changing platforms (e.g., from one CMS to another). Sometimes, these changes happen together and will require extra planning if so. Knowing exactly what you’re dealing with, and why, will help you define your path forward.

For example, when the popular sportswear brand On began their top-level domain migration in 2023, "It was a branding reason,” said SEO Team Lead Max Woelfle. “Initially the brand was known as On Running. We do so much more than running shoes.”

2. Get early involvement from the SEO team

If not planned carefully, site migrations can result in a significant negative impact across all channels, organic in particular. Your SEO team should be involved as early as possible, not as an afterthought.

The SEO team will be able to produce, organize, and prioritize the URLs, content, and assets that must be accounted for throughout the migration. Their input will make sure that the right considerations are built into the migration timeline and strategy. When SEO is only brought in toward the end, it results in rushed decisions or last-minute additions that can impact the site’s long-term performance.

3. Set realistic expectations with stakeholders

Whether you're migrating an entire website, switching platforms, or changing domains, clear communication with stakeholders is essential.

Migration projects will often involve numerous cross-functional teams, including engineering for the technical tasks, performance marketing for paid media URLs and content, product managers for prioritization and management of timelines and implementations, and even executives for high-level timelines, risk measurement, and value estimates.

4. Create a detailed checklist and roadmap

Migrations are complex projects. Build a comprehensive checklist to keep things organized. It should include all steps, from discovery and taxonomy analysis to development and QA. Be sure to get stakeholder buy-in to finalize what teams should be responsible for which tasks.

During the migration: Staying on track

5. Maintain clear, consistent communication

It’s important to keep everyone aligned and informed. Setting up a recurrent meeting where key stakeholders can share updates and ask questions will be necessary to ensure this alignment.

6. Be disciplined with documentation

As you progress, be diligent in preserving artifacts (designs, product features) and documenting every decision along the way. This can make a big difference when issues arise down the line or when teams need to revisit decisions.

Implementation tips: Getting the details right

7. Pre-launch preparations

Before launching your new site, take advantage of tools like Botify Analytics to crawl and analyze your old website. You can also monitor your log files to catch any crawl issues with LogAnalyzer.

8. Consistency is key

When migrating, consistency is king. Canonicals, sitemaps, schema, and internal linking should all point to the same URLs they used to. Implement single-hop 301 redirects to move users and crawlers from the old URLs to the new ones.

9. Crawl the new site

Crawl your new site to identify any gaps in technical or content metrics. Using Botify can help make this process seamless by crawling your staging site to reveal any content discrepancies or technical issues.

Final checks before going live

10. Launch, but with caution

When it’s time to launch, remove any blocks to the new site to allow users and search engines to access it. Test that your redirects are functioning correctly, and verify that your canonicalization is intact.

11. Monitor time-sensitive KPIs to measure success

After the migration, be prepared for fluctuations in traffic and rankings. The more comprehensive your post-launch monitoring, the quicker you can identify and resolve issues. Focus on traffic, impressions, and indexed URLs in the weeks following the launch.

12. Track business metrics

Beyond traffic and rankings, track your business KPIs, such as revenue, order volume, and channel performance, because these ultimately determine the success of the migration.

The bottom line

Site migrations are complex, but with the right approach, they don’t have to be overwhelming. By getting SEO involved early, setting clear expectations with stakeholders, creating detailed checklists, and keeping an eye on your technical requirements, you can have smooth (as possible) migration and avoid common pitfalls.