Our Website Migration Checklist for Success
There can be a “host” of questions when it comes to website migration. Where are my files located? What is an A record? Why is TTL important? We’ve created a website migration checklist to help you break down your uncertainty and feel confident about your migration process.
So, what is a website migration and why is it serious?
Migrating a website includes making changes to the website’s structure, location, or technology. This can be for technical purposes or for design/UX reasons. A few technical reasons you may be migrating a website for include:
- Moving website files to a new server – switching your website hosting provider can be driven by cost or website performance.
- Switching the domain – recently acquired or completed a rebrand?
- Creating a new website on a new framework or CMS – switching from ecommerce like Shopify or Magento to WordPress?
As you prepare to migrate your precious website, it is important to understand the risks and what you can do to mitigate them as much as possible.
Website Migration Checklist
- Identify your project timeline and end date. Work backwards when establishing timelines and due dates for the following actions.
- Make sure you have access to editing the DNS for your domain
- Note – your DNS records live with your Nameservers. If you cannot edit your DNS records, check the Nameservers to determine if you can switch them so you gain access to managing the DNS.
- Benchmark your current website
- Save keyword rankings
- Save website speed reports
- Arguably the most import step – Make a copy of your current website and upload the files to your new server/host.
- Website hosting provider options include Nexcess, Bluehost, InMotion, HostGator, to name a few
- Once your website files are copied to your new server, block access/indexing to your new website. It is important to prevent search engines from crawling your website until it is “live” and the migration is finished. You can achieve this through a few different routes:
- Add a “noindex” tag to the website
- Set a password protection on the new website
- Block search engines within the Robots.txt file – block Google with a “disallow” directive
- Review your new website for any errors, missing pages, broken plugins, broken scripts, etc.
- Identify if any URL redirects are needed once the new website is published.
Now you are ready to officially migrate your website! Each website and domain set up is unique, but the basics for taking your newly migrated website “live” include:
- Update the master domain on your new website in the backend platform and/or server settings– whether the website is built in Shopify, WordPress, Magento, or another platform.
- Update the A record in the DNS
- The new IP address or value set for your domain should point to your new website host. You can find this IP address in your hosting account.
- TTL – Before you click save, change the TTL values to the LOWEST possible number of seconds or minutes. This allows for the DNS changes to start changing sooner, instead of waiting around for several hours before your A record change starts to propagate.
- What is propagation? It is the period of waiting time while every DNS server in the world updates the record it has saved for the IP associated with your domain. This can take up to 48 hours in some cases or as fast as 30 minutes.
- SSL – You may need to re-install your SSL certificate after the A record has propagated. Check to make sure your website is loading successfully with the https version.
- Enable indexing/follow on your new website
- Remove any blocks set to prevent search engines from finding your website.
- Review Google Analytics to ensure data is still being tracked properly.
- After a couple days, audit your website speed again to ensure no issues have occurred as the result of the migration.
- When ready, cancel your old hosting plan. Do not forget this step! It will cost you…literally.
If you changed your website domain completely compared to your old website, there are a series of additional steps you need to follow! Example changing domain from websitexample.com TO webexample.com .
- Submit a domain change request to Google Search Console. This tells Google you have the same website and want to maintain your rankings but the domain of your website has changed. You can keep all your historical data in one account this way rather than creating a new Search Console account for the new domain.
- Make sure your old domain is redirecting to the new one.
Quick Tips for a Successful Website Migration
- Schedule your DNS and record changes at a time when your website is known to have low traffic to minimize the impact if something goes wrong.
- Avoid changing your Nameservers AND the A record on the same day. First update the Nameservers and ensure all DNS records are correct. Schedule a time a day or teo later to update the IP address to point to your new host.
- Website migration is messy and a serious task – it is important to prepare for the worst and be prepared with a backup plan!
Still unsure where to start? Our team of experts are ready to help illuminate the way through the dark forest of website migration. Call or email us to start a conversation about your needs for a website migration!
project manager
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Faith Hagen
Faith graduated from the University of Sioux Falls in 2018 with a Business Administration and Marketing degree. Her passion for creativity has driven her to explore interior design and teaching before finding her niche in digital marketing. She is passionate about meshing creativity and technology to develop campaign strategies and building websites. Faith has experience delivering WordPress and Magento website projects and is considered the expert on the team in content creation/writing. In her free time, Faith enjoys watching sports, spending time outdoors, and playing with her dog, Thor.