Don’t lose ranking when migrating to a new website. Follow these 48 steps before, during, and after launch, and ensure your core websites pass with the Google search console.
| What | How | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Select the best domain structure | Secure related ccTLDs relevant to the geo locations that have been identified as offering potential. Consider also grabbing and parking on variations of your brand within related geo-locations. | |
| Secure related social assets | Ensure all social assets related to brand are claimed. | |
| SSL Certification Setting | Get, configure and test the TLS certificate using SHA-2 for SSL. | Server |
| Current site crawling - with design impact | Crawl the site to identify and fix any internal broken links & the current Web structure before moving. Ensure links between all ccTLDs are in place to encourage crawling. Ensure no forced redirection is applied to users - instead allow interstitials to support user wayfinding. Ensure a universal footer that contains clear links between each site ccTLD type. | Stage Environment |
| Localise site content before move | I.e. as needed; Store locations Meta content Navigation Images Currency conversion Phone numbers Emails etc. | Stage Environment |
| Google / search engine crawling | Ensure site does not block Googlebot appearing from the US, Google will simply not be able to access your content. | Stage Environment |
| keyword research | Complete keyword research and apply to site pages along with forward content planning. | SEO |
| New Web setting w/ updated internal links | Set the new Web version to make the changes, test & update the links on a stage environment, to point to the URLs (pages & resources such as images, js, pdfs, etc. too) with correct GEO reference and cross reference | Stage Environment |
| New XML Sitemap Generation | Generate a new XML Sitemap with the URLs to be uploaded in the HTTPs NZ/Int Google Search Console Profile once the site is moved | XML Sitemap Generator |
| Robots.txt preparation | Refresh the robots.txt setting in the new domain with the relevant changes and ensure major bots e.g. Google, Bing etc. are not blocked from crawling site pages, JSS, CSS | Robots.txt |
| Campaigns updates preparation | Prepare changes on any ads, emailing or affiliates campaigns to start pointing to the URLs versions as needed when the migration is done | Campaigns Platforms |
| URLs Parameters Configuration | If URLs parameters are handled through the Google Search Console the existing configuration should be replicated in the HTTPs NZ/Int site profile | Google Search Console |
| eCDN Configuration Preparation | If a eCDN is used verify that they will be able to properly serve the https domain version of the site and handle SSL when the migration is done | eCDN Provider |
| Web Analytics Configuration Preparation | Make sure that the existing Web Analytics configuration will also monitor the traffic | Web Analytics Platform |
| Alternate Href | Making sure all current webstie are point to the current tag for country. Removing Duplicate website. | |
| During Launch | ||
| HTTPS site launch | Publish the validated https site version live | Production Environment |
| New version Web structure validation | Verify that the URL structure on the HTTPS site version | Production Environment |
| New version canonicalization | Ensure that there is only one true URL for each page - www vs non-www, slash vs. without slash, etc. in the new version | Production Environment |
| Web Analytics Configuration | Annotate the migration date in your Web Analytics platform & verify that the configuration is set to track the https Web version | Web Analytics Platform |
| SSL Server Configuration Validation | Verify the SSL configuration of your Web Server. | Production Environment, SSL Test |
| Robots.txt Update | Refresh the robots.txt setting in the new domain with the relevant changes and ensure major bots e.g. Google, Bing etc. are not blocked from crawling site pages, JSS, CSS | Robots.txt |
| Rankings Monitoring | Start monitoring the site rankings in parallel with the https domain | Rank tracking software |
| Current top site pages & queries identification | Identify the top pages -and related queries- attracting organic search visibility & traffic to be prioritized when validating & monitoring the site performance | Google Search Console & Google Analytics |
| Google Search Console Registration + Geolocate | Register both domains in Google Search Console. Use geo targeting option of the main search engines webmaster account and specify target country. | Google Search Console |
| Local optimisation | New location(s) are created and submitted to appropriate local directories | GMB, AppleMaps, Bing etc. |
| Backlinks | Start actively getting new backlinks to new top category pages. | |
| After Launch | ||
| Crawling validation | Crawl the site to verify that the URLs are accessible by all priority search engines, linked and served without errors, erroneous noindexations & canonicalizations & redirects | Production Environment |
| XML Sitemap Release & Submission | Upload & Verify the generated XML sitemap with the NZ/Int URL versions in the https Google Search Console profile | Google Search Console |
| Official external links update | Update official external links pointing to the site to reflect all cTLDs versions (Social Media profiles partner sites, etc.) | Official Presence in External Platforms |
| Ads & 3rd-Party Extension Validation | Verify that any plugins like social buttons, ads & 3rd party code are correctly working in the HTTPS URLs versions along with pointing to correct geo-locations. Scan your Website to look for non-secure content with https://www.jitbit.com/sslcheck/ as well as using https://www.whynopadlock.com/ | Ads & Extensions Platforms |
| Campaigns update Execution | Implement the relevant ads, emailing and affiliate campaigns changes to correctly refer to correct web version | Campaigns Platforms |
| Crawling & Indexation Monitoring | Monitor the indexation, visibility & errors of all site versions | Google Search Console |
| Rankings & Traffic Monitoring | Monitor new site versions traffic and rankings activity | Web Analytics & Rank tracking Platforms |
| Robots.txt configuration validation | Verify the robots.txt setting across all domain to make sure the configuration was properly updated | Robots.txt |
| Local optimisation | New location(s) are created and submitted to appropriate local directories | GMB, AppleMaps, Bing etc. |
| Core Vitals | ||
| Largest Content Full Paint | Tools | |
| Core Web Vitals will become a ranking Factor 2021. So you have time to work on these issues below. But, as mentino at the beginning of assessment your content loads super slow cause issues with Google crawling your pages. So, I would work on these issues sooner or later. Read what Google says Update Google roll out this June Largest Contentful Paint need to be at 1.5 to pass Google’s update This is the largest contentful element painted within the viewport. | Website developers Prioritize your issues: We recommend fixing everything labeled "Poor" first, then prioritize your work either by issues that affect the most URLs, or by issues that affect your most important URLs. URLs labeled "Needs improvement" could be improved, but are less important to fix than Poor URLs. We recommend reading the web.dev fast loading guidelines and the Web Fundamentals performance pages on developers.google.com for theory and guidelines on improving page speed. Test your fixes using the PageSpeed Insights testing tool (or the Chrome Lighthouse tool, if you want to use an in-browser tool). When you think a particular issue is fixed, click Start Tracking on the issue details page in the Search Console Core Web Vitals report. | |
| CLS | ||
| Cumulative Layout Shift - Ways to fix Element on the page are shift when loading on Mobile Setting width and height as absolute Set inline CSS element Server push - CSS Perload style CSS | ||
| LCP | ||
| Largest Contentful Paint - Ways to fix Remove Blocking JavaScripts “with the files” Remove CSS “within the files” Audit CSS and Javascript that don’t need load Server Push Images - Optimize - proper size | ||