Common Website Migration Issues and Solutions

Website migration is typically beneficial for SEO, but it can also lead to significant traffic losses if not executed correctly. In this article, we will explore 11 common reasons why website migrations can negatively impact your traffic and provide solutions to address these issues.

1. Changes to Canonical Tags If your website experiences a drop in traffic after migration, check if the issue is related to canonical tags. Inspect pages that have lost traffic and ensure that the canonical URLs are correctly set. Common problems with canonical tags include pointing to irrelevant pages, coding errors (e.g., missing trailing slashes), or referencing outdated URLs.
2. Robots.txt and Non-Indexed Content Examine your robots.txt file and the pages that lost traffic. Verify if these pages are set to be indexed. Indexing issues can contribute to traffic loss. Utilize search engine tools like those provided by Yandex and Google to assess and fix problems with your robots.txt file.
3. Loss of Metadata During migration, your website may lose essential metadata such as title tags and meta descriptions. This can occur due to data transfer issues. Employ web crawlers to scan your site after migration and compare the new data with the old metadata to identify discrepancies.
4. Page Loading Speed Reduction Changing hosting providers during migration can lead to slower page loading speeds. Investigate pages that experienced a traffic drop to assess any speed losses. Faster page loading is crucial for retaining visitors and maintaining SEO rankings.
5. Check Internal Links Internal links play a vital role in keeping users on your site and distributing link equity across pages. Verify that internal links are properly maintained during migration to avoid traffic loss.
6. Content Accessibility Issues Use tools like Yandex Webmaster and Google Search Console to identify and address content accessibility issues. These tools provide insights into pages that search engines could not index, pages with errors, pages intentionally excluded from indexing, and pages actively appearing in search results. Resolve errors as recommended by the Search Console.
7. Broken Redirects Properly planned 301 redirects are essential for a smooth website migration. Failure to implement redirects correctly can lead to traffic loss as search engines and users struggle to find the new location of your content. Tools like ScreamingFrog and ComparseR can help identify and rectify redirect loop or chain issues.
8. Loss of Backlinks Backlinks are a critical ranking factor in search engines. A well-established website with numerous backlinks will typically enjoy higher organic search rankings. Ensure that your backlinks remain intact during the migration process to maintain your site’s authority.
9. Hosting Problems Changing hosting providers or servers can introduce various issues, including firewall restrictions, challenging-to-crawl JavaScript, slow loading times, and country-specific limitations. Monitor the performance and accessibility of your site after migration and address any hosting-related problems promptly.
10. Image URL Handling If your website receives traffic from image search, ensure that image URLs are correctly redirected during migration. Confirm that image paths lead to the correct files and that they reference your new domain. If you use a Content Delivery Network (CDN), update its settings to reflect the new site.
11. Search Algorithm Updates Sometimes, traffic loss coincides with search engine algorithm updates. Keep an eye on SEO news and adapt your strategies to align with any changes introduced by search engines like Yandex or Google.

Recovering from Traffic Loss Collecting and comparing data before and after a website migration is crucial for monitoring changes. Platforms like Google Analytics offer annotation features to help you track events and issues associated with your website migration. By staying vigilant and addressing migration-related issues promptly, you can minimize traffic loss and ensure a smooth transition for your website.