Website migration might be dangerous but also necessary to solve problems.
Search engine rankings loss and website component loss are just a few of the problems you could experience. Hurt.
You’re fearless, tech-savvy, and ready for the task, even with the possible technical difficulties.
And with our website migration checklist, we’re here to help you reduce the risks. Along with tips from SEO experts to maintain your transfer SEO-friendly, we’ll discuss the most important steps to take while migrating a website.
You can also personalize your unique checklist at the bottom of the page according to the requirements of your website.
But first, some basic information.
What Is Website Migration?
Website migration refers to the process of making significant changes to a website’s structure, design, location, or even the underlying platform it runs on. It’s essentially moving your website from one place to another, be it a different server, a new domain name, or even a completely new content management system.
A WordPress website can be moved to a new server or location, upgraded to new technology, updated, or its content reorganized, among many other things.
The migration of WordPress has numerous justifications. If you want improved security and performance, you may choose to switch to a new content management system (CMS). Or perhaps you want to move hosting servers to grow your website and company.
For example, you want to migrate from other platforms like Blogger, Shopify, Squarespace, Joomla, Gumroad, and others to WordPress for your website.
Here are some of the common reasons for website migration:
- Moving to a new web hosting provider for better performance or features
- Changing the domain name of the website
- Redesigning the website’s layout and user experience
- Upgrading the website’s content management system
- Making significant changes to the website’s content structure
It’s important to note that website migration can be a complex process, and if not done carefully, it can negatively impact your website’s search engine ranking and user traffic.
If you’re considering migrating your website, it’s important to do your research and plan carefully. There are many resources available online that can help you with the website migration process.
Additionally, migration may occur during a site modify to improve user experience. Modifying the site’s navigation and structure is another option. Careful WordPress migration is also necessary when moving your website from HTTP to HTTPS.
Changing your domain name is an additional justification for moving your WordPress website. Suppose you are going to rebrand and use a different name for your website. You’ll then have to move your website.
Now, let’s examine how moving your website may impact its placement on search engine results pages.
How Does Migration Impact WordPress SEO?
Your website will undergo a significant shift when you migrate to WordPress, which may affect your site’s SEO.
Correctly executed, relocation can be beneficial. For example, upgrading to a quicker hosting provider might increase keyword rankings and enhance WordPress speed.
But even the smallest mistakes can result in a host of SEO-related problems, including missing material, broken links, and dropped ranks.
The website migration checklist is useful in this situation. You can check that everything is operating as it should by going through it step by step.
Let’s examine each item on the checklist for migrating websites.
Checklist for Website Migration: Ready Your Site for Move
You must consider several considerations before beginning the process of migrating your website.
Here are a few things to check off your checklist before transferring your WordPress website.
1: Arrange the Migration and Let the Users Know
When deciding to move your WordPress website, it’s critical to schedule the transfer and make advance plans.
To begin with, you can make goals. For instance, only inquire as to why and whether everything is prepared for the website move.
The next step is to choose a specific time to transfer website assets. When there is little traffic, that is the ideal time to accomplish it. There will undoubtedly be a decrease in traffic when you transfer the site because there will be a brief outage.
Migrating websites during periods of high traffic is therefore recommended as best practice. To determine the ideal time to complete the migration, you can track website traffic using a plugin like Monster Insights.
Notifying your users is also the best course of action once you’ve decided on a migration time. In this manner, your viewers will be aware that your website is unavailable in advance. It will contribute to credibility and trust growth.
You can send push notifications, display a popup notice on the website, or send emails to users informing them of the move.
2: Switch to maintenance mode on your WordPress website
It’s essential to put the website in maintenance mode before beginning the transfer. This will let users know that your website is now unavailable but will be back up soon.
You can enter maintenance mode for your website in a few different ways.
When you’re prepared to migrate, you can utilize SeedProd to make a unique maintenance mode page and activate it on your website.
The greatest landing page builder and WordPress theme is SeedProd. There are pre-made templates available, and a drag-and-drop builder is included. In addition, there are numerous customization choices for changing the maintenance mode.
3: Make a WordPress website backup
Creating a new backup of your website is another crucial task for the website transfer checklist. This way, you’ll have an updated version of your website in case something goes wrong with the migrating process.
WordPress backups will shield your important information and help with site recovery if a migration fails.
Your website can be backed up in some ways. The simplest method is to use a plugin such as Duplicator. It is incredibly user-friendly and the greatest backup plugin for WordPress. All you have to do is make a new package, choose the storage location, and decide which files to backup.
Additionally, you can manually create backups by uploading site files using an FTP client, backing up databases, or utilizing the cPanel in your WordPress hosting.
4: Do an SEO Audit for Your Website
Before migrating, you should next assess the SEO health of the website. This helps in identifying any problems that might occur during the migrating procedure.
An audit may uncover problems such as missing alt attributes for photos or missing SEO titles for your pages. When the website is moved, these mistakes may negatively impact your SEO.
With the All-in-One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin, you can conduct an SEO audit directly from within your WordPress dashboard. The greatest WordPress SEO plugin helps with performing a complete SEO audit and highlights important problems that require attention.
SEO Analyzer tool is another option available to you. It helps identify important mistakes on your website and is completely free to use.
5: Turn off the firewall, redirect plugins, and caching
Turning off any firewall, redirection, and caching plugins is an essential step in the migration process. Throughout the transfer process, some tools and plugins may cause problems.
For example, if these tools are not disabled, you can encounter 500 Internal Server errors or 403 Forbidden messages. Similar to this, requests made for site files during the migration process can be blocked by a firewall plugin, which can result in problems.
To deactivate a plugin in WordPress, go to Plugins » Installed Plugins and select the ‘Deactivate’ option for each plugin.
6: Keep Your New Website from Being Indexed by Search Engines
Make sure search engines don’t index the new site before the migration if you are migrating your website to a new domain or content management system (like WordPress).
In this manner, the search results from Google and other search engines won’t display both versions.
Go to Settings » Reading in WordPress, then select ‘Search Engine Visibility’ and uncheck the item.
In addition, you can use an SEO plugin like AIOSEO to prevent search engines from indexing particular sites and articles.
For every piece of content, it provides Robots.txt settings where you can activate the “No Index” feature.
7: Verify that the new web host is pointed to by your domain.
You must point the domain to the new host if you are migrating your website to a different web hosting provider.
You must update the DNS or Domain Name System, records to accomplish that. Your domain name and the new servers that will host your website are connected thanks to these records.
Currently, the procedure for changing the DNS settings will vary based on the domain registrar or hosting company you are using.
8: Verify that WordPress is set up on your website
When you move a website, WordPress is frequently pre-installed on WordPress hosting services.
If WordPress isn’t included in your hosting package, you may easily add it.
Keep in mind that the installation process for WordPress will vary depending on the hosting provider you choose. Additionally, you can manually install it using an FTP client or cPanel, or you can use auto-installers.
9: Configure and Examine Redirects While Changing to a New Domain
If you’ve moved to a new domain, you’ll then need to set up redirection.
In this manner, users will immediately be redirected to the new website when they enter the old one.
Using All in One SEO (AIOSEO) is a straightforward method for configuring 301 redirects in WordPress. It provides a robust redirection manager that you can use to both set up and complete site redirects.
10: Verify that the New Website Can Be Crawled and Indexed.
You should take down any barriers that might prevent visitors and search engine crawlers from seeing your new website as the migration process draws to a close.
For example, you should uninstall any settings you set to prevent search engines from finding your new domain, such as noindex. Search engines can then index and crawl your website to display it in the search results.
Google Search Console can be used to determine whether or not your website is being indexed.
It provides a Crawl Stats report that displays your site’s crawl queries. If you see a drop, you should check the settings on your website since they may be preventing crawlers from seeing your content.
11: Examine the Site’s General Functionality
Once the migration process is finished, you should check to make sure your website is operating correctly.
For example, if you redesigned your website, check to ensure that all of the buttons, menus, links, and other components work as they should.
In addition, you may test if every field on various WordPress forms is functional by filling them out. To test its functionality, consider posting a comment on blog entries.
If you run an online store, try adding items to your cart, checking out, seeing each product page, and clicking the links to make sure everything is as it should be.
12: Examine any 404 errors
The 404 error is one of the most frequent issues you may see following a website migration.
A 404-error message appears when a user tries to access a webpage that is not there. When a website is moved to a new content management system (CMS) or hosting provider, the former domain becomes inoperable.
404 error tracking may be easily done using the AIOSEO plugin. You may easily set up redirection to swiftly correct 404 issues by tracking them down with its redirection manager.
13: Check Performance Using a Speed Test
The next thing on your website migration checklist is to check your WordPress site’s performance. For websites that load more quickly, this is especially helpful if you switch to a new hosting provider.
For instance, if you’ve switched to the quickest hosting company, you should experience an increase in speed.
You might start by using one of several website performance test tools available. To test the speed of your website, for example, Google provides a free tool called PageSpeed Insights.
14: Perform another SEO Audit to Look for Mistakes
Conducting another SEO audit of your website is a recommended practice after the migration procedure is over.
You will be able to identify any problems that may have arisen during the move in this manner.
For example, you should investigate any broken links that require maintenance, any missing SEO titles from your material, and any other technical concerns.
15: Monitor Traffic, Conversions, and Keyword Positions
You should monitor the new site’s keyword rankings, traffic, and conversions after transferring it to a new content management system or web hosting platform.
Monitoring keyword positions can enable you to determine whether rankings are rising or falling.
The market is flooded with SEO rank tracker tools. SEMrush can be used, for example, to track keyword ranks. The SEO tool displays positional changes in addition to other essential indicators.
16: Verify That Your Former Hosting Has Closed
Closing the previous domain hosting account is the last task on the checklist after the transfer is finished. In this manner, search engines like Google and others will recognize this as the new website to be indexed.
But before you close the old hosting account, make sure you set up 301 redirects and make sure they are functioning. Should a redirect be malfunctioning, it can be promptly rectified.
Once everything is in order, terminate the previous hosting account.
After your site has been moved, users will be able to view and access all of the information.
Conclusion
Although migrating a website can seem like a difficult undertaking, it can go smoothly and successfully with proper strategy and execution. Businesses may make sure that their website migration efforts are successful and lead to a smooth transition to a new online presence by following the thorough website migration checklist mentioned above.
We hope that this post has given you more knowledge about the website migration checklist and the necessary actions. See our comprehensive WordPress beginner’s guide and when managed WordPress hosting is necessary.
FAQS (Frequently Asked Questions)
Why is a website migration checklist necessary?
A website migration involves transferring all or part of a website’s content, design, and functionality from one platform or domain to another. Without proper planning and execution, migrations can result in broken links, loss of SEO rankings, and user experience issues.
A checklist serves as a comprehensive guide to ensure that every aspect of the migration process is accounted for. It helps in minimizing potential risks and ensures a smooth transition to the new website environment.
What should be included in a website migration checklist?
A website migration checklist should cover various aspects of the migration process, including pre-migration preparation, content migration, technical setup, testing, and post-migration tasks. Key components may include:
- Pre-migration assessment and planning
- Backup of existing website data
- Selection of a new hosting provider or platform
- Domain setup and redirection
- Content migration strategy
- URL mapping and redirection
- Testing across different devices and browsers
- SEO considerations and 301 redirects
- Monitoring and resolving post-migration issues
- Communication with stakeholders and users
How can I ensure a successful website migration using the checklist?
To ensure a successful website migration, it’s essential to follow the checklist meticulously and allocate sufficient time for each task. Conduct thorough testing at every stage of the migration process to identify and address any issues promptly.
Additionally, communicate effectively with all stakeholders, including team members, clients, and users, to manage expectations and gather feedback. Regular monitoring post-migration is crucial to detect and resolve any unforeseen issues promptly.
What are some common pitfalls to avoid during website migration?
Several common pitfalls can derail a website migration if not addressed properly. These include:
- Inadequate planning and preparation
- Failure to backup essential data before migration
- Incorrect URL mapping and redirection
- Overlooking SEO considerations and 301 redirects
- Ignoring user experience and accessibility issues
- Lack of thorough testing across different devices and browsers
- Poor communication with stakeholders
- Insufficient post-migration monitoring and support
By identifying and addressing these pitfalls proactively, you can minimize risks and ensure a smoother migration process.
Can I use a website migration checklist for different types of migrations?
Yes, a website migration checklist can be adapted for various types of migrations, including platform migrations, domain migrations, and content migrations. While specific tasks may vary depending on the nature of the migration, the fundamental principles of planning, execution, testing, and monitoring remain consistent.
Customize the checklist to suit the specific requirements of your migration project, and ensure that all relevant stakeholders are involved in the process to maximize its effectiveness.
