Many people underestimate the consequences of launching a new website, and how this can negatively affect your search engine rankings when not handled correctly. In these slides Robin tells us how to avoid these negative consequences.

1. 7 Steps to migrate your SEO strategy
Robin Neyt
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2. Hi! I’m Robin.
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3. I work at Wijs
A digital Agency in Ghent/Gent
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4. ‣ Situation
‣ What’s the problem?
‣ A blueprint
‣ Start: the new website
‣ Before the launch
‣ Launch of the website
‣ What if it goes wrong?
Tweet-style Summary
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5. Situation
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6. ‣ Everybody wants a new website
‣ It should be bigger, better, fancier,...
‣ Nobody thinks about the consequences!
Situation
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7. What’s the problem?
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8. ‣ website that’s been around for quite a while
‣ has a lot of domain authority
‣ has a lot of unique backlinks
‣ is top of mind with customers
All this can be lost easily
What’s the problem?
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9. We need a strategy!
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10. ‣ Think first, act later! (Usually goes wrong...)
‣ Create a masterplan!
‣ Follow it to the letter! (Usually goes wrong...)
‣ Put it to the test!
‣ Keep a close eye on the results!
How should we tackle the problem?
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11. A blueprint for the masterplan
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12. Start: The new website
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13. It should be bigger, better, fancier...
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14. Watch out for exotic
functionality!
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15. The website should also be SEO friendly
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16. ‣ Ideal moment for a new keyword research
‣ Use keyword research to create new site architecture
‣ Visitor point of view
‣ Not too much jargon
‣ Visitor has a problem and searches for a solution
Keyword Research
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17. ‣ Don’t lose good functionality that was present in the previous website
‣ If it works, don’t break it (Your IT is going to love this)
‣ Just make it better
‣ Now is the time to make adjustments
‣ Costs, timing, campaigns,...
‣ Make sure web copy is ready in time
‣ Don’t do everything last minute!
Requirements
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18. ‣ Search Engine Friendly URLs
Bad URL: http://www.site.be/index.php?id=25&cat=42
SEF URL: http://www.site.be/category/subcategory/page/
‣ Use keywords in the URLs
‣ Avoid excessive use of JavaScript and CSS
‣ Make sure goals/conversions are tracked
Technical requirements
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19. ‣ URL
‣ Title <title>
‣ H1
‣ Menu item in navigation
Should be possible to edit all items individually
On-page elements
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20. ‣ Make sure goals/conversions are tracked
‣ Prepare event tracking
‣ Make sure every form has an unique thank you page → different URLs
‣ Monitor the performance of the new website
‣ After a few weeks → enough data to evaluate the migration
Conversion tracking
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21. Before the launch
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22. Create a redirect plan!
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23. ‣ Create overview of the current site structure
‣ Determine the most important pages of the current website
‣ Different tools you can use
Site structure
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24. ‣ Check the URLs of the top landing pages
(e-commerce, leads)
‣ Check the URLs of the pages with most pageviews (traffic)
Google Analytics
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25. High amount of pages?
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26. Sort pages by authority!
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27. ‣ Use a tool like Open Site Explorer
‣ www.opensiteexplorer.org
Check page authority to determine value
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28. ‣ Merge the important URLs from your current site
‣ Both the ones you selected and the top landing pages in
Analytics
‣ As specific as possible
‣ Keep number of consecutive redirects to a minimum
301 redirects to the corresponding pages on the new website
Combine all data
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29. Don’t forget 301 redirect from
non www to www
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30. ‣ Too many URLs to redirect everything manually
→ Time & cost efficiency
‣ Check new vs old URL structure → Try to automate
Example:
Old URL: www.site.be/blog/webshops/ and www.site.be/blog/shopping/
New URL: www.site.be/blog/e-commerce/
‣ If not possible → Redirect to parent category
What with blog posts?
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31. ‣ Everything in detail → Costs a lot of money
‣ Only the top pages → Chance you’ll miss traffic
‣ Don’t forget about
‣ active campaigns, newsletters, affiliates, offline
campaigns, backlinks, tools
301 redirects: The dilemma
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32. Tips & tricks
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33. ‣ Don’t launch the new website in phases
→ Not efficient for IT and marketing
‣ Make checklists
‣ Meetings & progress check
‣ Continuous follow-up
‣ Marketing & IT have to work as 1 team
Tips & tricks
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34. Launch of the website
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35. ‣ Be sure everything is prepared and ready
‣ Checklists ready
‣ Launch on Monday or Tuesday
‣ Preferably in the morning
‣ Whole team ready to monitor and take action
Launch of the website
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36. ‣ Do a manual check of the redirects
‣ Header check to make sure the right type of redirect is used
‣ Monitor Google Webmaster Tools for spider problems and crawl errors
‣ Pause the Adwords campaigns and change destination URLs
Launch of the website
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37. Header check
http://www.seoconsultants.com
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38. Google Webmaster Tools
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39. What if it goes wrong?
Don’t blame each other :)
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40. ‣ Normal after a site migration
‣ May not last forever
‣ Check 301 redirects
‣ 301 redirects point to the right pages?
‣ Check web copy: copied? Not SEO friendly?
‣ Is staging website online and indexed?
‣ Old website still online?
‣ Some products/services no longer exist?
Drop in rankings?
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41. ‣ Analytics setup is OK?
‣ Goals are implemented correctly?
‣ E-commerce is activated?
‣ E-commerce transaction code is implemented?
‣ Certain products/services no longer exist?
Drop in leads/sales?
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42. What you need to remember
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43. ‣ List the most important pages
‣ New website must be SEO friendly
‣ 301 redirects & optimization
‣ Planning is the key to success!
‣ Prepare the launch
‣ Use checklists
‣ Follow-up of the launch is essential!
‣ Testing!
What you need to remember
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44. Questions?
Robin Neyt
robin.neyt@wijs.be
Twitter.com/RobinNeyt
woensdag 29 mei 13