So you’ve decided it’s the right time to move your website to a new domain?
It’s a smart move that many businesses have made in recent months, and for good reason!
However, while a website migration can be a highly beneficial measure, it can also be a tricky one, particularly if your website contains a great deal of content and content features.
Keep reading for a detailed guide on how to organize your site’s content successfully through a website migration checklist.
Complete Your New Host, DNS Setup and Backup
Before you can even begin to think about website server migration, you need to have your new host and DNS setup. This includes ensuring that all the necessary DNS records are in place and propagated throughout the internet.
Once that’s done, backup your website by choosing the right cloud server and you can start the process of actually moving your website.
Prepare Redirects List
One of the most important is creating a redirect plan when migrating content from one website to another. This will ensure that your visitors can find your new site and that your search engine ranking isn’t impacted negatively.
To create a redirect plan, you’ll need to first create a list of all of the pages on your current site. Then, for each page, you’ll need to determine where it should redirect to on your new site. This can be a daunting task, but it’s important to take the time to do it right.
Have a Well-thought SEO Structure
When migrating your website to a new platform, it is important to have a well-thought-out SEO structure in place to ensure a successful transition. This means keeping the same page slug and avoiding any changes that would require a redirect. Be sure to update your robots.txt file to reflect any changes in your website’s structure.
Redirect all old URLs to their new counterparts using 301 redirects. This will help preserve your website’s SEO. And don’t forget to submit your new sitemap to Google and other search engines to ensure they are aware of the changes to your website.
Test Your Website
To ensure a successful website migration, it is important to test your website before launching the new site. This will help to identify any potential issues that could affect the performance of your website. Ensure that all links on your website are working correctly.
Check if your website loads quickly and correctly on all devices and make sure all content on your website is correct and up-to-date. If you have a shopping cart, test your website’s checkout process to ensure that it is working correctly.
Setup Analytics
Create a new profile in your analytics tool for the new website. This will help you to track and compare data from the old and your new site.
Then set up filters to include only traffic from the new site. This will help to ensure that you are only looking at data from the new site and not the old one.
Finally, make sure to track all key metrics and goals that you want to track on the new site.
Be Guided By a Website Migration Checklist
If you are considering migrating your website to a new platform, be sure to use a checklist to guide your process. This will ensure that you don’t overlook any important steps in the migration process. Once you’ve completed your website migration checklist, your website will be ready for its new home.
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