Things to consider before website migration

Let’s start from the basics.What is website migration after all ? Website migration can be described as migrating or moving a website from one web host to another one. All the integral files are moved from one host to the other host. This involves lot of hard work not only for the developer, but also for the search engine optimizer who works hard to build the presence of website.

Website migration can be done smoothly by following the given fundamentals:-

1. Calculate the risk factors- When we are migrating a website, there are number of risks involved. There is the risk of losing traffic, loss in revenue and loss of keyword rankings. So, it’s vital one needs to calculate and assess the risks factors.
2. Have a backup- It’s a known fact that a small bug can cause lot of issues. It’s hence important that your old website has a good backup.
3. Redirection of URL is important- It’s very important to redirect each and every URL to new URL. If there is no redirection than the user will get lost and hence redirection is an important thing to be considered.
4. Logical hierarchy- It’s vital to use a logical hierarchy. One can replicate hierarchy also by following the trail of on-page breadcrumb. Every breadcrumb should go to a resultant page.
5. Canonicalization- One needs to ensure that different avatar of the pages exists on the website. In case of multiple URLs, it's important to place a canonical tag to shift the SEO value to the more important page.
6. Content should not be missed- A successful migration is one where there is no loss of content while shifting from old site to new site.
7. The new site launch- One needs to get the site 100% on UAT. It’s important that an incomplete site is not launched. One needs to check the parameters of UAT related to URLs, and breadcrumbs and several other factors before the final site is made live.

After the site migration, one needs to take care of the fact that Google will reindex every page of every site that link to you and this may lead to fall in traffic, but generally from the third month or so things would come to normal situation.