Search engine optimization (SEO) has flourished into one of the prevalent buzzwords in the market for ecommerce business websites. A major concern to SEO practices is replatforming. Improved functionality, faster load times, additional control over the pages or whatever other reason for the replatforming, the new site is only helpful in generating sales if it is driving customer traffic. This article will guide you through the replatforming process to minimize the impact on SEO rankings.
Why is your SEO at risk?
Google and other search engines include the use of algorithms for ranking the page of websites. These algorithms integrate both the factors that are on-site and off-site. If there is a change on the website then there is a high probability that it will impact the rankings.
Checklist of pre-replatforming
One strategy will not serve every website. Structure of the website, present performance and goals are what strategies are based on. Since these factors differ from business to business, the strategies will have to be tweaked and customized accordingly. To-do list for pre-replatforming to minimize SEO impact while replatforming is as follows:
- Install the page redirects
- Minimize on-page changes
- Monitor the plagiarized content
- Track 404 errors
- Test the speed of the site
- Ensure it’s mobile-friendly
Before Migration
- Goals and project plan – goals have to be appropriate and achievable. For the project to be successful, a benchmark and a baseline is required. While replatforming, it is vital to take SEO into consideration and appropriate time management, checklist, quality control and quantity control plan.
- The architecture of content and information – Alterations to the architecture of information, sitemap and complete plan of content in redesigning are essential. It is mandatory to make sure that the relevant pages that are carrying the SEO value are not misplaced. It is recommended to initiate the redesign with a map and work on requisites for the new plan of the site as the further redesigning considering SEO will be based on it.
- On-page optimization – Maintaining the intent of the content is essential. You can work for protecting the optimization at the level of particular elements – URL, title, meta description, body and so on. The site is to be optimized and updated before the launch.
- Redirects – Make sure that all the pages have links pointing to them and are redirected appropriately without any 404 error pages.
Launch
At the time of launch, it is important to follow the checklist and control the quality of the project.
- Check redirects – The first thing to do after the launch is to make sure that the old site is performing 301 redirects to the new website. In case of 404, supplementary redirects should be applied rapidly.
- Code and performance validation – Make sure the website is performing well, the landing page is welcoming, the user experience is great and it’s mobile-friendly. Page speed tools can be useful to find the areas for optimization.
Monitoring
Lastly, it is of the highest importance to ensure that the website is effectively monitored to ensure that the site is running in an efficient way.
