A domain migration checklist is an essential tool for any business planning to migrate or update their website or web-based service. With a well-defined checklist, organizations are better equipped to perform a successful and orderly transition that minimizes disruption and downtime.
This is an important step in any domain migration process because it allows you to determine the overall goals and objectives for the project. Reasons for migrating may include a new website design, an upgrade to current technology, or a desire to improve customer experience. Taking the time to understand why you’re making the move will help you to better plan and execute a successful migration.
Once you’ve determined why you’re migrating, it's important to pick an appropriate domain name for your new site. Consider factors like brand recognition and keyword relevance when selecting a domain, as well as ensuring that the domain is available.
Before making the switch from one domain to another, it’s important to launch your new website or service on the new domain in order to ensure that everything is functioning correctly and any bugs have been worked out prior to going live with your switchover.
Once the new site has been tested and is ready to go live, it’s time to set a date for when you will begin the migration process. Make sure to give yourself enough time to execute all of the necessary steps while also ensuring that your customers don't experience any downtime or disruption in service.
Before making the switch from one domain to another, it’s important to create a map of both sites so that you can easily identify which pages need to be redirected on the old domain and which pages are being moved over to the new domain. This is an essential step for mapping out how users will move between the old and new sites.
To ensure that your visitors don’t experience any broken links, it’s important to manually compile all of the necessary 301 redirects from the old site to the new site. Make sure that each redirect is placed properly so that visitors are automatically taken to the correct page on the new domain when they try to access a page on the old one.
Once all of your preparations have been made, you can begin making the move by changing DNS records and setting up server configurations if needed. It’s essential to make sure everything is in place before going live with your switchover.
After moving to the new domain it’s vitally important to thoroughly test the newly migrated site in order to ensure that everything is functioning correctly and there are no issues with broken links or other problems. It’s best practice to test both on desktop and mobile devices, as well as testing any third-party services such as email or payment processing.
Once your migration is complete, you’ll want to inform Google by submitting an updated sitemap so that it can begin re-indexing your pages on the new domain. This will help ensure that your pages show up correctly in search results moving forward.
After the migration is complete, it’s important to keep an eye on things in case any issues arise or pages begin to break down over time. You may need to update some redirects or make other changes in order to ensure everything is working correctly. Doing so can save you from a lot of headaches down the line.
A domain name is a unique address for a website or online service, such as “example.com.”
When picking a new domain, consider factors like brand recognition and keyword relevance while ensuring that the domain is available.
Redirects can be set up manually by compiling all of the necessary 301 redirects from the old site to the new site and making sure that each redirect is placed properly so that visitors are automatically taken to the correct page on the new domain when they try to access a page on the old one.
After migrating a domain, it’s important to thoroughly test the new site, inform Google by submitting an updated sitemap, and keep an eye on things in case any issues arise or pages begin to break down over time. Doing so can help ensure your visitors have a seamless experience when accessing the new website.
A domain migration checklist is an invaluable tool for anyone looking to switch from one domain name to another. It helps ensure that the transition process is smooth and efficient and can help avoid any issues or disruptions in service for customers. The checklist should include mapping out both sites and putting together a redirect map, manually compiling 301 redirects, setting up DNS records and server configurations, testing on desktop and mobile devices, informing Google of the new sitemap, as well as keeping an eye on things in case any issues arise after the migration has gone live.
downloads
