如何阻止SEO灾难在网站迁移

经过数周数月的准备，你就可以出发了;您已经做了所有需要做的事情，以确保新站点的设计和开发已经完美地结合在一起，您很高兴能够继续前进。所以你按下启动按钮(因为它是这样运作的，对吧?你恐惧地看了看，然后停了一下，因为每个人都知道网站重新启动有时会导致最初的有机流量下降。你认为这是正常的。但是几天、几周、几个月之后，流量还是没有恢复，恐慌开始了……这对任何重新启动网站的人来说都是一个潜在的现实。在对新设计和新特性的兴奋中，并不是每个人都考虑到如果不进行有效的计划可能会发生的后果，尤其是从SEO的角度。为了尽可能减少任何潜在的灾难，有一个简单的循序渐进的过程，你应该遵循，以确保上市前，中，后的阶段顺利进行，并改善你的长期SEO战略。什么是网站迁移?令人惊讶的是，谷歌对于移动站点和它所涉及的内容并不是很具体。它们有两个页面:一个用于有URL更改的站点移动，另一个用于没有URL更改的站点移动。但实际上，它可以变得更加详细和复杂。让我们来看看网站迁移的一些含义，以及它可能涉及的内容:您正在改变域名，并计划从一个域名迁移到另一个域名，例如在一个重新品牌的过程中;您正在走向国际，并要求更改TLD(顶级域名)，例如从。co。您需要地理特定的TLDs和子文件夹，例如:.com/uk， .com/fr， .com/ca;您将进行结构更改，例如更改内部链接，更改网站层次结构，改变用户的旅程;你从HTTP, HTTPS正在改变;你要改变CMS(内容管理系统)或你目前平台;你是完全重新设计一个网站,你正在改变手机设置运用AMP(加速移动页)或PWA(进步的Web应用程序);你会通过内容变化如添加/删除页面,介绍新语言,巩固页面。在开始迁移之前要注意什么?每个迁移都是不同的，但是在您接触网站之前，有一些事情您需要注意:制定您的策略–你需要这么做吗?为什么?你希望达到什么目标?你的目标是什么?谁将参与这个项目?让他们尽早参与进来。不管你喜欢与否，你都不能独自完成。请确保您与相关的利益相关者进行了沟通，以了解it将如何影响他们，以及他们将如何帮助最小化中断。他们参与得越早越好。获得专业的SEO咨询，以帮助你–下面列出的许多任务将涉及到搜索引擎优化专家在网站重新启动之前，期间和之后。获得专业的用户体验和CRO咨询，以帮助您–您还需要遵循用户体验的重要元素，例如某些设计更改将对用户参与产生什么样的影响，以及它将如何影响转化率。外表不能代表一切。在所有令人兴奋的视觉效果中，确保它不会带来可用性或SEO成本。当然，也可以加点风格，但不要太夸张。让每个人都参加考试。所有的涉众都应该帮助进行测试。如果您已经设置了开发站点，并且可以进行测试，那么这也适用。在启动后留出时间修复bug和错误;不，你不能放松后，你做了你的位址迁移不是一个解决方案罚款–如果您正在遭受任何算法惩罚，它将不会在迁移过程中消失。这需要手动修复。永远不要在高峰季节迁移你的站点–因此，如果您的繁忙时期是圣诞节，那么在您使用诸如尖叫的青蛙SEO Spider和SitebulbCompile一个所有url的列表并添加流量性能(访问、跳出率、退出率、检查失效链接;检查失效页面;确保所有相关页面都能被搜索引擎访问;确保所有页面都能被人类访问(盲人用户、移动用户、浏览器兼容性)。编译新url的列表。规划新的URL结构和站点层次结构/体系结构。对每个页面进行关键字研究。列出你最常用的关键字并加以说明

After many weeks and months of preparations, you are ready to go; you’ve done everything that you needed to do to make sure that the design and development of the new site has been put together perfectly and you are happy to move forward.So you press the launch button (because that’s how it works, right?), you sit back and congratulate yourself and your colleagues on relaunching the new website successfully……only to see the organic traffic has plummeted.You look in fear, but then stop for a second because everyone knows that a site relaunch can sometimes cause an initial slump in organic traffic. You assume that it’s normal.But after days, weeks and months, the traffic doesn’t recover, and panic sets in…This is a potential reality for anyone who is relaunching a website. Amidst all the excitement with the new design and new features, not everyone thinks about the consequences that could happen if you don’t plan it effectively, especially from an SEO perspective.In order to minimise any potential disasters, there’s a simple step-by-step process that you should follow in order to make sure that the periods before, during, and after the launch go smoothly and to better your long-term SEO strategy.What Qualifies as Website Migration?Google is surprisingly not very specific about moving sites and what it involves. They have two pages: one for site moves with URL changes and one without URL changes.But it can actually get a lot more detailed and complex than that.Let’s look at some of meanings of website migration and what it can involve:you are changing domains and are planning to move from one domain to another e.g. during a rebrand;you are going international and require to change the TLD (Top Level Domain) e.g. from .co.uk to globally recognised .com;you want geo-specific TLDs and sub-folders e.g. .com/uk, .com/fr, .com/ca;you are going to undertake structural changes e.g. changing the internal linking, changing the site hierarchy, changing the user journey;you are changing from HTTP to HTTPS;you are going to change the CMS (content management system) or platform you are currently on;you are redesigning a website completely;you are changing the mobile setup by applying AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) or PWA (Progressive Web Apps);you are going through content changes e.g. adding/removing pages, introducing new languages, consolidating pages.What to be Aware of Before Starting the MigrationEvery migration is different, but there are some things that you need to be aware of before you even touch the website:Work out your strategy – Do you need to do this? Why? What are you hoping to achieve? What are your objectives?Who is going to be involved in this project? Get them involved as early as possible – whether you like it or not, you can’t do it alone. Make sure you talk to the relevant stakeholders to understand how it can impact them and how they can help to minimise disruptions. And the earlier they can be involved, the better.Get professional SEO consultations to help you – much of the tasks listed below will involve someone with SEO expertise before, during and after the site has relaunched.Get professional UX and CRO consultations to help you – you also need to follow the important elements of UX e.g. what kind of impacts certain design changes are going to have on user engagement and how it will affect conversion rates.Looks aren’t everything – in the middle of all the excitement about building something visually stunning, make sure it doesn’t come at a usability or SEO cost. Sure, add a bit of flair and style to it, but don’t go over the top.Get everyone to test – all the stakeholders should help with testing. This also applies if you have the development site already set up and are available to test.Put time aside for fixing bugs and errors after launch – no, you can’t relax after you’ve done your bitSite migration is not a solution for penalty – if you are suffering from any algorithmic penalties, it will not disappear during the migration. This will need to be fixed manually.Never migrate your site during peak seasons – so if your busy period is Christmas, then don’t migrate the site between October and JanuaryBefore You Rebuild Your WebsiteCrawl all URLs using tools like Screaming Frog SEO Spider and SitebulbCompile a list of all the URLs and add traffic performance (visits, bounce rates, exit rates, conversion) to use as a benchmark post-launch;Eliminate any duplicate/low quality contents by redirects or improving them;Check for broken links;Check for broken pages;Make sure all the relevant pages are accessible to search engines;Make sure all the pages are accessible to humans (blind users, mobile users, browser compatibility).Compile the list of the new URLs.Plan out your new URL structures and site hierarchy/architecture.Carry out keyword research for every single page.Compile a list of your top keywords and note their rankings.Update or create new content for the new pages and include relevant keywords.Map out the 301 redirects from old to new URLs (and avoid redirect chains) in a spreadsheet.Identify and compile a list of your most important backlinks.Measure the page speed using tools like GTmetrix and WebPageTest.org.Set-up the new social media profiles if you are rebranding the name.Register and configure the new domain in Google Search Console.Carry out usability testing to prevent bad experiences from happening on new site.Plan your relaunch campaign – “hey we launched a new website” should happen soon after the launch rather than later. Who can help you with that? Current customers/clients/suppliers/bloggers/PRs etc.During the RedesignBlock development site with meta noindex tag or robots.txt to prevent duplication issues on Google.Make sure web analytics are implemented and tested on all pages.Publish the new URLs and content on the development site.Add/update title tags, meta description and alt texts to new pages.Add Google Tag Manager.Add any necessary retargeting and remarketing codes e.g. Facebook Pixels and Google Remarketing.Set up and verify your new Google Search Console account.Remove or update internal links which are pointing to broken or removed pages.Update your XML sitemaps and have it ready to submit on Google Search Console.Update all canonical tags and self-canonicalize all new pages.Update all internal links.Update your robots.txt.Create a custom 404 page.Crawl the site and verify that all 301 redirects are working.Add schema to create rich snippets opportunities.Add Open Graph fields for further rich media experience.Ask the relevant stakeholders to help with testing.When nearing the relaunch, attempt to organize usability testing for small amount of traffic or by using focus groups to iron out any issues.Ensure the site is compatible on most popular browsers and mobile devices.Ensure the site is accessible to visually-impaired users.After the RelaunchSubmit a change of address via Google Search Console.Submit new XML sitemap.Update all social media bios with new URLs.Crawl the new site and check that the redirects are working, all internal and external links are working, and fix any 404 pages.Crawl the list of URLs that you have extracted originally and verify their redirects.Add annotations on Google Analytics to make sure you know when the site has relaunched and subsequent changes.Update backlinks with new URLs by contacting those who have linked to you.Continuously monitor the web traffic, engagement and conversion as well as page speed.Test the mobile friendliness of your site using the Mobile Usability feature of Google Search Console.Benchmark those performance metrics against the old site.Reach to the authoritative sites that link to you and ask them to update the link to the new site.Monitor the indexed page count via Google Search Console and using the site: search on Google.Monitor your search rankings over time.Keep control of the old domain just in case of any issues.Organize new usability testings of the new site.Launch your relaunch campaign.Choosing to Migrate or NotRelaunching can be a good thing as it allows you to deliver the best user experience possible for your audience, a chance to refresh your brand and improve the bottom-line for your clients.But that is only if you do it for the right reason and you plan the site migration properly.You know the old saying by Benjamin Franklin: “if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”.If you plan and execute your relaunch successfully, this will give you the best chance of catching any problems as early as possible and to make the process a smooth one.Because you do not want to go through the headache of a botched migration.Featured image via DepositPhotos.