Common Website Migration Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
 Website Migration
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Why Build or Redesign your Website?
Having a well-designed website is essential for any business today. It’s often the first impression potential customers have of your brand. A
professional, functional,
and mobile-friendly site not only builds credibility but also ensures visitors can easily find the information they need—whether it's to
learn more about your services, make a purchase,
or get in touch. Your website should work as a 24/7 representative that reflects your brand identity and drives results.
Redesigning a website becomes necessary when it starts to feel outdated, loads slowly, or no longer supports your current goals.
Technology, design trends, and user expectations change quickly—what worked five years ago might now be hurting your traffic and
conversions.
A strategic redesign improves performance, user experience, and SEO, making your site more effective at turning visitors into customers.
It’s an investment that helps your business grow online.
Why Build or Redesign your Website?
Having a well-designed website is essential for any business today. It’s often the first impression potential customers have of your brand. A
professional, functional,
and mobile-friendly site not only builds credibility but also ensures visitors can easily find the information they need—whether it's to
learn more about your services, make a purchase,
or get in touch. Your website should work as a 24/7 representative that reflects your brand identity and drives results.
Redesigning a website becomes necessary when it starts to feel outdated, loads slowly, or no longer supports your current goals.
Technology, design trends, and user expectations change quickly—what worked five years ago might now be hurting your traffic and
conversions.
A strategic redesign improves performance, user experience, and SEO, making your site more effective at turning visitors into customers.
It’s an investment that helps your business grow online.
SERVICES
Website for the company - is its representation in the network, a powerful marketing tool, an effective advertising platform, image factor,
user-friendly tool for interaction with customers and partners.
Web Development
Custom websites built for speed, style, and function.
Common Website Migration Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Website migration can be a rewarding process when done correctly, offering better performance, enhanced security, or improved user
experience. However, it is a complex task that can lead to a series of SEO, usability, and technical issues if not managed properly. The
last thing you want is for your hard work to be undone by avoidable mistakes that negatively impact your site’s search rankings and user
experience.
In this guide, we’ll explore the most common website migration mistakes and offer practical tips to help you avoid them. Whether you’re
migrating to a new domain, platform, hosting provider, or CMS, this article will help ensure that your migration is as smooth and successful
as possible.
1. Not Performing a Pre-Migration SEO Audit
The Mistake:
One of the most common mistakes during a website migration is failing to conduct a pre-migration SEO audit. Without understanding your
current SEO performance, it’s hard to measure the success of the migration or identify what needs to be preserved.
Why It’s a Problem:
Without an SEO audit, you might lose valuable insights into which pages are performing well in search engines, what your current backlink
profile looks like, and which content needs to be updated or improved. This can result in losing traffic and rankings post-migration.
How to Avoid It:
Conduct a Full SEO Audit: Analyze your current website’s SEO performance by reviewing Google Analytics, Search Console, and
third-party SEO tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush.
Track Keyword Rankings: Record the keywords and pages that are driving traffic, so you can ensure they are properly
redirected or optimized during the migration.
Backlink Audit: Review your backlinks and ensure they are accounted for in your migration plan. Losing backlinks can
severely affect your site's authority.
2. Changing Too Many Things at Once
The Mistake:
Trying to change too many aspects of your website during the migration—like switching hosting providers, updating your design, and changing
your URL structure—can overwhelm your team and introduce unnecessary risks.
Why It’s a Problem:
Changing multiple things at once increases the likelihood of something going wrong. For instance, a new design might not be mobile-friendly,
a new host might cause speed issues, or changing the URL structure without proper planning might result in broken links and a loss of SEO
value.
How to Avoid It:
Make Gradual Changes: If possible, avoid making drastic changes all at once. Prioritize the migration aspects that are
essential, such as moving to a new hosting provider or updating your CMS, and leave the design overhaul for later.
Test New Features on a Staging Environment: Always test changes in a staging environment before going live to ensure there
are no negative side effects.
3. Failing to Set Up 301 Redirects Correctly
The Mistake:
Not setting up proper 301 redirects or failing to map old URLs to the new ones can be disastrous for SEO. A 301 redirect is a permanent
redirect from an old URL to a new one, telling search engines that the page has moved permanently and transferring SEO value.
Why It’s a Problem:
Without 301 redirects, visitors and search engines may encounter 404 errors or the wrong page, leading to lost traffic, reduced rankings,
and a poor user experience.
How to Avoid It:
Map Old URLs to New URLs: Before the migration, create a list of all your old URLs and map them to the corresponding new
URLs. This ensures that all traffic and SEO value are properly transferred.
Test Redirects: After implementing the redirects, test them using tools like Screaming Frog to ensure they work correctly
and don’t result in redirect loops or errors.
Handle 404 Errors: Set up custom 404 pages for any URLs that no longer exist, and monitor your Google Search Console for
404 errors after the migration.
4. Ignoring Mobile Optimization
The Mistake:
Forgetting to check that your website is mobile-friendly after migration can result in a significant drop in user engagement and rankings.
Mobile optimization is a key ranking factor for Google, and an unoptimized mobile site can cause a negative user experience.
Why It’s a Problem:
With the rise in mobile usage, not having a mobile-optimized website can severely impact your SEO rankings and user experience. A
non-responsive website may result in users leaving your site, which can increase your bounce rate.
How to Avoid It:
Test Mobile Usability: Use tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check if your site is optimized for mobile devices.
Ensure that all elements of your site, including images, text, and buttons, are easy to navigate on smaller screens.
Responsive Design: Make sure your website uses a responsive design that adapts to various screen sizes. This is not only
better for user experience but also a ranking factor for SEO.
5. Forgetting to Update External Links and Business Listings
The Mistake:
After migrating, many businesses forget to update external links, social media profiles, and online business listings with the new domain or
URL structure. This can result in lost traffic and brand confusion.
Why It’s a Problem:
External links, social media, and business directories play a significant role in your SEO. If these links point to old or broken URLs, it
can lead to a decrease in referral traffic, broken links, and confusion for customers or search engines.
How to Avoid It:
Update External Links: Reach out to high-authority websites linking to your old domain and ask them to update their links
to point to the new domain or URL structure.
Update Business Listings: Ensure your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) and URL are updated on all online business listings
and directories like Google My Business, Yelp, and other industry-specific platforms.
Social Media Profiles: Update your social media profiles with the correct website link to ensure users are directed to the
right place.
6. Not Testing the Site Post-Migration
The Mistake:
After migrating your website, it’s a huge mistake to go live without thoroughly testing everything. Failing to check for broken links,
missing images, or functional issues can result in a poor user experience and SEO penalties.
Why It’s a Problem:
Testing ensures that everything works correctly and that you catch any issues before they affect your users or SEO. Without proper testing,
you risk having a broken website that frustrates users and search engines.
How to Avoid It:
Test All Pages and Features: After migration, go through your website to check for any missing content, broken links, or
functionality issues. Test forms, buttons, checkout processes (for eCommerce sites), and internal linking.
Cross-Browser and Device Testing: Ensure that your website works properly across different browsers (Chrome, Firefox,
Safari) and devices (desktop, tablet, mobile).
Use SEO Tools: Tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb can help you identify broken links, duplicate content, and other
issues that may affect SEO.
7. Not Informing Google About the Domain or URL Change
The Mistake:
Failing to inform Google (and other search engines) about your domain or URL change can cause indexing problems and a drop in rankings. This
is especially important if you’re changing your domain name.
Why It’s a Problem:
Without notifying search engines, they may not recognize that your website has changed, resulting in indexing issues and SEO penalties.
Google might treat the migration as a new website, which can lead to lost rankings.
How to Avoid It:
Use the Change of Address Tool: If you’re changing your domain name, use the Change of Address tool in Google Search
Console to inform Google of the new domain.
Submit a New Sitemap: After the migration, update your sitemap with the new URLs and submit it to Google Search Console and
Bing Webmaster Tools.
Monitor Indexing Status: Keep an eye on your indexing status in Google Search Console to ensure that all pages are being
indexed correctly.
8. Neglecting to Set Up Proper Analytics Tracking
The Mistake:
Another common mistake is neglecting to set up proper analytics tracking during the migration. Without tracking, you won’t be able to
measure the success of the migration or identify any issues.
Why It’s a Problem:
Without tracking, you won’t know if the migration was successful or if there are any performance issues affecting your site’s traffic or
conversion rate. Analytics tracking is crucial to monitor post-migration performance and make adjustments as needed.
How to Avoid It:
Set Up Google Analytics and Tag Manager: Ensure that your Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager accounts are properly set
up to track traffic and events on your new site.
Monitor Metrics: Continuously monitor key metrics like organic traffic, bounce rate, page load speed, and conversions after
the migration to ensure everything is running smoothly.
Conclusion
Website migration can be a complex and challenging process, but by avoiding common mistakes and following best practices, you can ensure SEO
success and protect your site’s rankings. Remember to conduct a pre-migration audit, set up proper redirects, test your site thoroughly, and
keep search engines informed. By paying attention to the details and carefully planning your migration, you can achieve a seamless
transition with minimal impact on your traffic and rankings.
By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can mitigate risks and avoid pitfalls that could otherwise hinder your SEO performance
and user experience.
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