So, you’re a website owner or a digital marketer looking to upgrade your hosting platform. You’ve invested your time and resources to attract and engage your visitors. Your pages are ranking well in SERPs.
But the results aren’t as impactful as you’d have liked.
- No significant surge in traffic.
- No boost in conversions.
You can change things around this time, but this year, you’ll focus on the essential element of your online presence: your Website migration plan.
A good plan remains crucial for the transition to another host, as you need to protect your SEO rankings. This allows you to migrate to WordPress and achieve the required stability and functionality. And if you’re not accustomed to the technicalities of WordPress, you must hire the external help of custom WordPress development services to get the job done for you.
Website migration is a big challenge but can also create several possibilities. There are various advantages to migrating, such as enhanced SEO tools and seamless user experience.
However, it presents a significant challenge: how can one transform from one platform to another without compromising its search engine performance?
The team of experts at Mavlers has delivered over 5,000 WordPress projects, keeping SEO performance intact and improving it. They have a team of 100+ experienced professionals and have deployed dedicated resources over 3,000 times.
If you’re ready to embark on a successful website migration journey, we’ll follow the Table of Contents.
Step-by-step guide to migrate your website to WordPress without SEO loss
By the end of this blog, you’ll have all the necessary information to make an informed decision about migrating to WordPress. Let’s dive right into the key aspects of website migration.
Step-by-step guide to migrate your website to WordPress without SEO loss
Here is a foolproof step-by-step guide recommended by top experts who offer custom WordPress development services.
Let’s get started with it.
Step 1: Pre-migration planning and SEO audit
- Ask yourself why you want to migrate to another platform.
- Keeping the reasons in mind, conduct a comprehensive SEO audit.
- Then, export a list of top-performing pages using Google Analytics or Google Search Console.
- Make a list of the pages that have high-quality backlinks and high traffic.
- Use the existing key metrics like organic traffic, keyword rankings, and backlink profiles to benchmark the post-migration status.
- Create a sitemap of your existing website to compare the total indexed pages.
Step 2: Set up your WordPress environment
- Choose the right hosting provider for your WordPress that offers performance, speed, and SEO optimization.
- Installed and configured WordPress site using SEO-friendly themes and plugins like Yoast SEO, Redirection, etc.
- Create a staging environment for your new website and test it without affecting the live content.
Step 3: Content and data migration
- Use popular migration plugins like All-in-One WP Migration and Duplicator. Manual migration has pros and cons. So, assign the tasks you wish to conduct using automated tools and the ones you need to do manually.
- Migrate all the text content, images, and media files using optimized filenames.
- Preserve the metadata and SEO elements of title tags, meta descriptions, and H1 to H6 tags.
- Ensure your page is optimized for dynamic content.
Step 4: Create 301 redirects for old URLs
- Use the Redirection plugin or .htaccess file to map and set up your redirects.
- Ensure that you avoid 404 errors while redirecting your URLs.
Now, here are a few post-migration checklists.
Step 5: Monitor and optimize site performance
- Crawl your new website using tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, SEMrush, etc., to check for missing metadata or broken links.
- Test your new website’s speed and performance using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTMetrix.
Step 6: Submit the new website to search engines
- Update your XML sitemap and robots.txt file to check for follow and nofollow tags.
- Then, submit the new sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster to help your pages rank easily.
Step 7: Monitor keyword rankings and traffic
- Track your website’s performance in 4-6 weeks after migration.
- Analyze your website’s rankings and check for drops and the latest traffic trends.
- Identify the crawl errors to ensure all your web pages get indexed correctly.
Best practices for SEO-friendly WordPress migration
Here are a few best practices to ensure your migration technique doesn’t affect your website’s SEO.
- Maintain consistency in your URL structures.
- Optimize your site’s architecture for internal linking for easy navigation.
- Ensure that your website is mobile-friendly and has a responsive design.
- Enhance your website’s security with SSL certificates. Ensure that HTTPS is set up for your domains and subdomains.
- Implement structured data markup (schema) to help your readers understand your content better.
Common SEO mistakes to avoid during website migration
Here are a few common SEO mistakes we commit unwillingly during web migration.
- We often ignore the importance of 301 redirects.
- We sometimes don’t pay heed to mobile optimization.
- We forget to test for broken links or missing images and alt tags.
- We miss submitting a sitemap to Google Search Console to ensure that all our pages are indexed.
Tools and resources for a smooth migration
Using the right tools can ease your migration process and help you avoid common SEO mistakes.
We have already mentioned a few of these tools in the blog content above wherever required. Based on their functionalities, here are a few must-have tools in your arsenal.
SEO Audit Tools
- Google Search Console: to provide insights into site performance, indexing status, and crawl errors.
- Ahrefs: to offer in-depth site audits, backlink analysis, and keyword tracking.
- SEMrush: to conduct an SEO audit and competitor analysis.
Migration Plugins
- All-in-One WP Migration plugin to transfer your website without requiring complex setups.
- Duplicator plugin to copy paste your entire site.
Speed Optimization Tools
- WP Rocket: to improve your website’s overall loading speed and performance
- Google PageSpeed Insights: to offer detailed insights into the website’s speed and the errors that must be fixed.
Performance Testing Tools
- GTMetrix: to analyze your website’s performance and detect areas that need improvement.
- Pingdom: to generate detailed website performance reports and help you fix speed-related errors.
Key Takeaways
You regularly need to check your website performance using analytical tools after migration. Get into the habit of changing your site’s content frequently, improve the SEO of your site, and make sure the site is mobile-friendly. Your online visibility will increase when you use quality content and social media to communicate with your audience.
Website transition is not always easy, but it offers a unique chance to improve the site’s SEO. If you don’t make mistakes and use appropriate tools, migration could be as effective as planned for your site’s long-term sustainability and ranking within the search engine.
Remember that migration is not just about changing your site’s location. It’s also about making your site more capable of succeeding online.
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