Launching a new website or redesigning your existing one can be a game-changer for your business. But without careful planning, it can also cause your Google rankings to plummet, and that’s something no business wants.
Take the popular e-commerce platform WooCommerce as an example. When it tried migrating to Woo.com, it saw a 90% drop in organic visibility, which resulted in its return to the original domain.
As you can see, website migration can fail for websites of any size. Not having a proven migration strategy in place, you can easily lose your rankings, website traffic, and, worst of all, revenue. Because of this, we recommend working with an SEO agency that is familiar with website migrations. But if you decide to go solo, we’ve gathered seven steps to help you prevent losing your well-warned ranking, traffic, and revenue.
7 Steps To Avoid Your Website From Losing Rankings
A new website should be an upgrade, not a step backwards. With that in mind, we’ve gathered seven important steps you should follow so your website doesn’t have to lose all your well-earned organic rankings during a redesign or migration.
1. Conduct an SEO Audit Beforehand
An SEO audit lays the foundation for a successful website redesign or migration. Think of it as taking inventory of everything that’s working on your current site. It also gives you the opportunity to weed out hidden issues that are negatively affecting your website.
Key elements of an SEO audit include:
- Identifying high-performing pages: These pages likely drive a large share of your traffic. Ensure their content and SEO elements are preserved.
- Analysing backlinks: Backlinks are essential for building authority. Redirecting pages with backlinks ensures you don’t lose valuable link equity.
- Documenting metadata: Title tags, descriptions, and headers help maintain search visibility.
2. Ensure URL Structure Consistency
Your URL structure is one of the most important components of your website. Search engines and users rely on these URLs to navigate and index your content. Changing them without a plan can lead to broken links (404s), resulting in lost traffic and significant drops in rankings.
What to do:
- Map old URLs to new ones: Use 301 redirects to ensure any link equity from the old URL is passed to the new one.
- Test your redirects: A small error can send visitors to non-existent pages, causing frustration and bounce rates to soar. (The average ‘normal’ bounce rate will depend on your industry, but the higher it is, the less likely Google will rank your website well.)
3. Preserve On-Page SEO
On-page SEO, including meta titles, descriptions, and keywords, is the backbone of your site’s search visibility, as web crawlers use them to identify the page content accurately. If these elements aren’t carried over during a redesign or migration, Google won’t know how to match your website to user search intent.
Steps to take:
- Back up existing metadata: Use tools like Screaming Frog to export metadata before migration.
- Optimise during migration: Treat this as an opportunity to update and improve outdated content, keeping keywords in mind.
4. Don’t Forget Analytics and Tracking
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is your lifeline to understanding your website traffic and performance. It helps you monitor user engagement, understand your customer journey through your site, and track revenue. It can be a complex tool to use and understand, so we recommend GA4 training so you can confidently set up every metric that aligns with your business goals.
Make sure to:
- Transfer tracking codes: Verify that Google Analytics and other tracking tools are correctly implemented on the new site.
- Check goals and events: Check that your Key Events, such as form submissions or downloads, are working properly.
5. Test Everything in a Staging Environment
A staging environment is your chance to catch and fix issues before your new site goes live. Without thorough testing, even small problems can snowball into bigger ones post-launch.
What to check:
- Broken links and 404 errors: These can disrupt user experience and hurt your SEO.
- Functionality: Test forms, navigation, and key features to check everything works seamlessly.
- Mobile responsiveness: With 64% of users using mobile for search, mobile responsiveness is critical for high ranking.
6. Submit Your New Sitemap Immediately
Once your new site is live, submit an updated XML sitemap to Google Search Console straight away. This helps search engines understand your site’s structure and index all its pages.
Steps to follow:
- Generate a new sitemap: Use tools or your CMS to create a fresh XML sitemap.
- Submit it to search engines: Upload it to Google Search Console and monitor indexing status.
7. Monitor Traffic and Rankings Post-Launch
After your new site goes live, it’s important to keep a close eye on performance. This way, you spot and fix any issues before they cause lasting damage to your rankings. Though, keep in mind that it can take an average of 6 months for organic rankings to stabilise.
What to monitor:
- Google Analytics: Look for unexpected dips in traffic or unusual patterns.
- Search Console: Track indexing, crawl errors, and ranking performance.
- Keyword rankings: Regularly check rankings for key terms to identify potential drops.
A Little Planning Prevents Big Problems
A new website should be a fresh start for your business, not a source of headaches. By planning ahead and focusing on SEO, you can avoid common mistakes so your site maintains its Google rankings.
We specialise in helping businesses navigate website redesigns and migrations without sacrificing their rankings or traffic. As part of our migration strategy, we work directly with you and your web development team to create and implement redirect maps to ensure your launch and post-launch go off without a hitch.
Don’t leave it to chance – protect the hard work you’ve put into your online presence.
