What is a website migration & why do you need one?

You’ve been through the painful slog of developing your next website – but you’re almost there! So, what’s going to happen to your existing website? You need to migrate it.

It’s at this stage we’ve had our fair share of blank looks from clients when we say these words, so we’re here to explain a little more about what a website migration is and why it’s so important for your SEO. So…

 What is a website migration? 

A website migration redirects all of your old webpages to new pages to reduce any negative impact on your rankings caused by moving or changing your site.

Why site migrations are so important:

Not carrying out a migration (or doing it incorrectly) could mean the near total loss of your rankings and traffic, which can all add up to one massive chunk of lost business when your new site goes live.

It’s critical you carry one out, so no pressure.

Let’s explain…

Just imagine that you own a bricks and mortar shop and you moved premises. How are people going to know how to find your new digs?

• You put a ‘We’ve moved!’ sign in the window

• You set up forwarding of your post

• You redirect your phone number

• You update your business details with the council/HRMC/sandwich man

Your website needs the same treatment.

The moment you switch on your new site every one of those old pages no longer exist. But in Google? They’re still there. And if someone clicks on those pages in the search results? They’ll be met with a dead end; an empty shop with no idea of where to go next.

Not migrating is the equivalent of burning your shop to the ground and starting elsewhere under a new identity, not the most helpful thing if you’re looking to grow your business.

Website Migrations – The Upsides:

Website migrations have 2 awesome advantages:

• People can still reach your website from old links, meaning no loss of traffic or business. Everyone who visited that old shop can still find you.

• From an SEO perspective the authority your old website built up is carried over meaning website 2.0 doesn’t see you starting from scratch.

Website Migrations – The Downsides:

If we’re honest website migrations can be notoriously fiddly, complicated and time consuming depending on the size of a website and how it links up with your new creation. However, a good playlist and copious coffee help the process. All we can say is that you need an expert to handle it. We’ll talk about this in more detail in a future post.

For now though if you have burning questions then drop us a message.