What are the best practices to maintain SEO during CMS migration?

1 Audit your current site

Before you migrate, you need to know the current state of your site's SEO. You should audit your site's structure, content, keywords, links, metadata, speed, and analytics. This will help you identify what works well, what needs improvement, and what can be removed or consolidated. You should also create a list of all your URLs and map them to the new ones. This will help you plan your redirection strategy and avoid broken links and 404 errors.

3 Test your new site

Before you launch your new site, you should test it thoroughly to ensure that it works as expected and that it preserves your SEO. You should test your new site's functionality, design, usability, and performance on different devices and browsers. You should also test your new site's SEO by checking your URLs, redirects, metadata, content, links, speed, and analytics. You should use tools like Screaming Frog, Google Search Console, and Google Analytics to crawl and analyze your new site and compare it with your old one.

5 Optimize your new site

After you launch your new site, you should not stop working on your SEO. You should continue to optimize your new site by adding and updating content, keywords, links, metadata, and other elements. You should also monitor your site's analytics and SEO metrics and measure the results of your migration. You should also look for opportunities to improve your site's speed, usability, and conversion rate. You should also keep an eye on your competitors and industry trends and adjust your SEO strategy accordingly.

6 Communicate with your audience

One of the most important aspects of maintaining SEO during CMS migration is communicating with your audience. You should inform your visitors, customers, and subscribers about your migration and how it will affect them. You should also provide them with clear and helpful information on how to access and use your new site. You should also solicit their feedback and address their questions and concerns. You should also use social media, email, and other channels to promote your new site and encourage your audience to visit and engage with it.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?