Website migration (or site migration) is the process of implementing one or several major changes to your site that aims to improve its online presence, SEO, and user experience.
There are six main types of changes that can occur during site migrations or relaunches, these include:
1. Platform Changes: Websites can be built from a multitude of CMS platforms (WordPress, Magento), and each comes with its own unique services and drawbacks. Your business might decide to migrate onto another platform and take advantage of these benefits. For example, your company might choose to move from WordPress to Shopify and take advantage of the various streamlined eCommerce services and simplified web page templates on the CMS platform.
2. Site Location Changes: This is in relation to changing the URL of a website. Site location changes can range from making a protocol change (HTTP to HTTPS) or moving to a new domain name.
3. Structural Changes: Moving to a new platform usually means a change to your URL structure as well. Be sure to review this carefully, as this can affect how a potential customer may move through your website as users might have a hard time understanding the change in URL.
4. Design Changes: Along with more technical alterations like a change in hosting provider like WordPress, a company can take this opportunity to upgrade the user experience of their site.
5. Content Changes: Content is key for your website to draw in conversions and for Google to understand your business. You may need to revise your content to ensure everything is still relevant or if it needs to be updated or even removed.
6. Hybrid Changes: These are a mix of changes listed above. For example, a platform transfer might also necessitate structural and content changes as well to meet the new requirements of the platform.