A Website Migration involves moving a site and its files from one web host to another and redirecting all your old web pages.
Website Migration can be for simple hosting changes to complete website overhauls. However, SEO professionals consider a migration to be an event where substantial changes to a website can impact the site’s visibility on search engines.
Why Do You Need a Website Migration?
There are various types of migrations and reasons to migrate:
- Changing web hosts
Among the simplest of all site migrations, a host change requires migrating the site’s files and database to a new server.
Reasons to change include outgrowing a host’s capabilities, finding a more cost-effective solution, or dissatisfaction with disk space, bandwidth allotments, website admin features, and downtime.
- Changing domain name
If you need to change a domain to rebrand or update your URL, you have to migrate your site to its new location.
Technically, migration is relatively easy. However, once you receive the new domain, it is essential to make sure that:
- Your server answers to that domain.
- There are no side effects, such as 404 errors and bugs.
- The migration doesn’t negatively impact your organic traffic.
- Google and your users can find your new domain, so there is no significant drop in site traffic. Solutions include maintaining hosting or using Cloudflare for the old domain to automatically send users to your new site.
- Changing web platform
Site migration may be required when moving a website to a new ecommerce or content management platform (CMS). The new platform may improve functionality, have crucial eCommerce capabilities, etc.
The process can be complex if, for instance, the platform requires new templates for all your old content.
- Updating your platform
You may need to migrate your site even if you aren’t changing platforms. For example, if a platform releases a product upgrade over time. Upgrades can be minor, such as bug fixes, small new features, etc.
Or a platform may release a major version of an update. A site may have to be migrated from the old platform to the new version in such cases.
- Redesigning your website
A website redesign does not have to result in a site migration if you keep all your information and just update the design. However, more than that may involve new domains, hosts, and platforms, which requires site migration.
Before migrating, don’t forget to do a complete website backup should anything go wrong during the transition!
