- 1 SEO migrations are high-risk by default, virtually no URL stayed the same, which means rankings can collapse overnight if the process is unmanaged.
- 2 Integrating SEO before development starts, keyword research, information architecture, technical requirements, and a redirect plan, is what protects organic visibility.
- 3 When done right, a migration doesn't just hold rankings, traffic nearly doubled in the months after Cyclobility's launch.
Since 2021, Depends SEO agency has been the trusted partner of Cyclobility for complex SEO challenges. In 2023, Cyclobility decided to move to a new website, which required migrating two existing websites, webshop.cyclobility.be and cyclobility.be, onto a single platform. This was no standard migration: SEO was integrated into the new website from day one, as it should be.
Objective
Improve the online visibility and user experience of the Cyclobility website by successfully consolidating two existing websites into one optimized platform, completed by the end of May 2023.
Challenge
The biggest challenge was undoubtedly preserving the existing rankings. Virtually no URL remained the same, which makes SEO migrations like this inherently high-stakes. A single misstep in the redirect plan or technical setup can erase months, or years, of accumulated organic authority overnight.
Approach
1. Keyword Research
We started with comprehensive keyword research, which gave us valuable insights into the various products and services and how our target audience searches for them. Keywords were clustered based on search volume, spelling variations, and search intent.
2. Competitor Analysis
In parallel with the keyword research, we conducted a competitor analysis. We identified which keywords competitors were ranking for through a keyword gap analysis and evaluated their link profiles.
3. Information Architecture
Using these insights as a foundation, we developed the website's information architecture. We determined which (new) pages needed to be created, which (sub)categories were required, and what menu structure we would use.
4. SEO Requirements for Development
Before development of the new website began, we sat down with the developers to align on SEO requirements. Technical SEO lays a solid foundation for a website, essential for future growth. This covered:
- A correctly configured
robots.txt - An effective
sitemap.xml - The implementation of structured data
5. Redirect Plan
The next step was drafting a migration plan. A clearly defined migration plan ensures that existing SEO value is preserved at the moment the new website goes live. Within this plan, tasks were assigned (for example to the IT partner) and clearly documented.
6. Website Migration
Throughout the migration process, we closely monitored everything and ensured smooth, efficient communication between all parties involved. Attention was also given to setting up the necessary tracking via Google Tag Manager, including configuring conversion tracking for completed contact forms and registering clicks on phone numbers. After the migration, we continued monitoring the website for technical SEO issues and visibility.
Results
The results of this SEO migration were impressive. Typically, the hope after a website migration is simply to maintain existing rankings, but in our case, we started ranking for significantly more keywords shortly after the migration. Traffic nearly doubled in the months that followed.