SVETLANA YONCHEVA Evolution of digital marketing.pdf
The SEO Guide to Migrate International Websites #SMProfs
1. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
THE SEO GUIDE
TO MIGRATE
INTERNATIONAL
WEBSITES
#INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
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Moving sites like moving houses can be a pain
3. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI#INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
Both require a lot of work
You want
to take your
belongings with you
without leaving,
breaking, losing
anything
important
You want to
update your details,
to refer and be found
in your new
address
You want to
correctly reorganize
your belongings in
your new location
fast
4. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI#INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
…That can be shockingly similar!
You want
to take your
belongings with you
without leaving,
breaking, losing
anything
important
You want to
update your details,
to refer and be found
in your new
address
You want to
correctly reorganize
your belongings in
your new location
fast
URLS 301-REDIRECT URLS
LINKS & CONFIGURATION
UPDATE
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Without proper SEO support Web migrations in
general can have painful traffic consequences too
BEFORE AFTER
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However, with proper SEO support Web migrations
in general can provide traffic growth opportunities…
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Like when you move to a new, bigger, better place
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Migrations will also increase in complexity based on the
required level of change depending on their type & goal
Different URLs,
Same Domain
Different Protocol,
Same Domain
Different Domain Name,
Same Type
Same URL
Redesign or CMS
migration while
keeping URL
structure
HTTPS Swaps
Product rebranding,
area renaming or
structural content
changes
Company
rebranding,
acquisition or Web
consolidation
Internal expansion
or consolidation
Different Domain
Name and Type
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International Web migrations are those w/ a higher
complexity due to more factors to be changed
Geolocalization
signals of Web
property
Geolocated
Link Popularity
Relevance
towards localized
search behavior
Internal expansion
or consolidation
Different Domain
Name and Type
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It’s really like moving houses, the further you
go, the more complex it becomes
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They can also end-up with painful traffic consequences
if these factors are not taken into consideration
ccTLD gTLD
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But if correctly executed, can consolidate a site authority
across its international markets and facilitate its growth
ccTLD gTLD
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It’s then critical to start by assessing if you
really need an international Web migration
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A migration can be necessary in some international Web
scenarios based on the current & desired Web structure
To start targeting
international audiences
.com/au/.au
To decrease complexity and
consolidate popularity
.com/au/.au
.com/us/
.com/uk/
.com/it/.it
.com/fr/.fr
To consolidate unprofitable
international versions
.com/es/.es
.com/es/.mx
.com/es/.ar
1 2 3
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The 1st scenario
happens when
the already
existing market
is targeted with
a ccTLD that
can’t be reused
to launch
another one
Don’t
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Option B
.au
.com/us/
.com/uk/
Option A
.au
.com
.uk
Option C
.com/au/.au
.com/us/
.com/uk/
This scenario has its own specific alternatives too
To start targeting international audiences
1
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Option A
.au
.com
.uk
Avoiding the migration of the current site while
releasing independent domains for each new market
* Better to not lose current market status by avoid migrating the used ccTLD
* Better for higher geolocation by using ccTLDs for new markets
* Worse to grow overall link popularity faster with independent properties
* Not recommended when starting in competitive markets where having an
established link profile will be a higher advantage than using a ccTLD with no links
1
To start targeting international audiences
20. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
1
Avoiding the migration of the current site while
enabling a single gTLD w/ subdirectories
* Will also avoid losing any current market status by keeping the existing ccTLD
* Better to grow overall link popularity faster by starting to use a single gTLD with
geolocated subdirectories for additional markets
* Not recommended either when starting in competitive markets where having an
established link profile will be a higher advantage than using a ccTLD with no links
.au
.com/us/
.com/uk/
Option B
To start targeting international audiences
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1
Or migrating the current site to a gTLD
to consolidate all of the international versions
.com/au/.au
.com/us/
.com/fr/
Option C
* Will migrate the current ccTLD to a geolocalized subdirectory in a gTLD, so
might lose rankings for the current market in the short term
* Better to grow overall link popularity faster by starting to use a single
gTLD with geolocated subdirectories for all markets
* Recommended when starting in more competitive markets where having an
established link profile will be a higher advantage than using a ccTLD with
no links
To start targeting international audiences
22. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
Another scenario
happens when
lowering costs
while consolidating
popularity with a
single gTLD w/
geolocalized
subdirectories
instead of many
ccTLDs
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Or when you identify
that the value of
targeting different
countries doesn’t
compensate since user
behavior is very similar
and you could instead
target the language
24. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI#internationalmigrations at #IntSSBCN by @aleyda from @orainti#INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
For each scenario is
key to take
international SEO
factors into
consideration…
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The pros & cons of the international Web structure
to be replaced and the one to be used in each context
Yes
Country Language
Are your top
competitors
using ccTLDs?
Yes
Yes
USE
CCTLDS
No
No
USE GEOLOCALIZED
SUBDIRECTORIES
YesNo
USE
SUBDIRECTORIES
USE SUB-
DOMAINS
No
WHAT’S YOUR INTERNATIONAL TARGET?
Is the domain
authority of your
competition
higher?
Is the domain
authority of your
competition
higher?
Do you need
a flatter &
differentiated
structure?
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As well as the ranked domains link popularity
in the target markets to be competitive
serpchecker
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The country and language source of your existing
links vs. your competitors in each target market
Cognitiveseo
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The content to be kept & changed based on relevance
& localisation for the old vs. new audience behavior
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The different
geolocation signals
used by Google
that you should
also include and/or
modify
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/182192?hl=en&ref_topic=2370587
31. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTIhttps://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/182192?hl=en&ref_topic=2370587
The configurations
Google doesn’t
officially use and
you should also be
aware of
32. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
… and how Google
crawls
internationally, to
avoid unnecessary
blockage, redirects
or unsupported
configurations
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6144055?hl=en&ref_topic=2370587
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After assessing
these factors:
Does it still makes
sense to migrate
to achieve your
international SEO
goals?
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If so, continue with the process by identifying which are
the affected URLs based on the Web migration scope
nine.com.au/ ten.com/au/
Nine Ten
news.nine.com.au/ ten.com/au/news/
… …
ten.com/nz/
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The international assessment will drive the SEO
configuration and validation during the Web migration
Pages Crawlability (HTTP Status, Robots.txt)
Content Indexability (Canonicalization, meta robots)
301-Redirects
SSL Certificate
Pages Content Relevance
Pages Internal linking
Pages Speed
nine.com.au/ ten.com/au/
Home Page
Category Page
Sub-Category Page
Product Page
Main Blog Page
Blog Category Page
Blog post
For Each Page
Verify
XML Sitemaps
GSC Configuration
Old vs. New Geolocation (GSC, hreflang)
Old vs. New content localization
Old vs. New link popularity for target market
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Without forgetting to identify any SEO aspects to both
keep and improve when doing the migration
Old New
Thin, Duplicate Content
Slow Speed
Hierarchical Navigation
Relevant Titles
Page specific, expanded Content
Fast Speed
Hierarchical Navigation
Relevant Titles
To Keep
To Improve
301-Redirects
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Make sure you
have capacity
and flexibility
to implement all
this before
moving ahead
with the
process
#INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
SEO
Design & UX
Marketing
Development
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Once you have validated it, is then actually time
to start with the international Web migration
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Crawl all the affected URLs and gather their SEO
metrics: indexability, traffic, rankings, external links..
Deepcrawl
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Identify orphaned pages, to avoid missing any
important URLs that you need to migrate
Deepcrawl
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So you can easily consolidate all the information of the
top pages to be prioritised in the Web migration
Top Pages Technical Configuration Relevance Popularity Traffic Ranked Queries
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To assess well if they should be kept or not, and where
they should be 301-redirected in the new location
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Which of these actually spark joy by bringing value:
conversions, traffic, rankings & links?
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Leave them out
Were they typos and didn’t existed nor
brought rankings, links, traffic?
301-redirect to
parent category
Did they existed but were not indexable,
didn’t brought rankings, links & traffic?
301-redirect to new
page version
Did they existed, were indexable and
brought or have potential to bring
rankings, links & traffic?
Define rules for
their migration to
give the best
possible search
and user
experience,
based on
importance
46. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
This is also a
great
opportunity to
prune your site,
and avoid
bringing old
errors to the new
one
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Follow the “should
you prune or
optimize a page
from your site”
flowchart
http://bit.ly/contentpruningseo
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Establish what to keep or to improve in the technical,
content and geolocation of the old vs new URLs
Old Pages Titles, Descriptions & H1s New Pages Titles, Descriptions & H1s
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Defining also new pages to create in order to keep
the rankings of old terms if you’re also rebranding
301-Redirect
9 News
is now
10 News
ten.com/au/9news/ Links to
9 News
Latest Australian
News
10 News
Latest Australian
News
nine.com.au/9news/ ten.com/au/10news/
Nine Ten
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While targeting the transactional and new branded
queries with the to be migrated pages
Old Pages
New Pages
Legacy Pages
Old Localized
Queries
Transactional
Queries and
New Localized
Queries
Transactional
Queries and
Old Localized
Queries
51. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
Verify that you’re not leaving anything out before
testing the international Web migration
The change is
needed to better
achieve your
international seo
goal
You have taken into
consideration all the
relevant Web
properties URLs
You have
correctly
mapped each old
URL to a new
relevant
destination
The new URL
destinations are
correctly configured
from a technical
perspective
The
new URL
destinations
content is
relevant to the
targeted
queries
The new URL
destinations will
keep the
international Web
configuration of
the old ones
52. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
Once the changes are defined, release them
to validate in a closed test environment
Deepcrawl, Sitbulb, Screaming Frog, Ryte, Botify, OnCrawl
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Validate the changes by manually comparing first the
top old vs. new types of pages in the test environment
Pages Crawlability (HTTP Status, Robots.txt)
Content Indexability (Canonicalization, meta robots)
301-Redirects
SSL Certificate
Pages Content Relevance
Pages Internal linking
Pages Speed
Home Page
Category Page
Sub-Category Page
Product Page
Main Blog Page
Blog Category Page
Blog post
For Each Page
Verify
XML Sitemaps
GSC Configuration
test.nine.com.au/ test.ten.com/au/
Old vs. New Geolocation (GSC, hreflang)
Old vs. New content localization
Old vs. New link popularity for target market
54. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
List crawl the old URLs to check if the 301-redirects have
been set as specified & go to the relevant new locations
Deepcrawl, Sitbulb, Screaming Frog, Ryte, Botify, OnCrawl
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Do a full audit of the new Web destination in test to
check if the pages are completely optimised as expected
Deepcrawl, Sitbulb, Screaming Frog, Ryte, Botify, OnCrawl
56. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
Pay specific attention here to the canonicalisation
and hreflang annotations configuration
Deepcrawl, Sitbulb, Screaming Frog, Ryte, Botify, OnCrawl
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It’s all working as expected? If so it’s then time to move
on and release the international Web migration
#INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
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If the migration will take a bit, return a 503 HTTP status
to tell Google there’s a maintenance going on
https://yoast.com/http-503-site-maintenance-seo/
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Do a list crawl of all of the old Websites URLs again to
verify that they’re correctly 301-redirecting as expected
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Look again for and fix any non-301 redirects, loops,
chains, or anything going to incorrect URLs
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Prioritise to fix high-traffic pages w/ 301-redirects going
to wrong or non-indexable pages and redirects chains
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Crawl the new web location and make sure is not
only accessible but optimised as recommended
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Look for pages that are
blocked, no-indexed,
linking, canonicalising
or referring in hreflang
tags to old URLs
64. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
Remember to set
analytics & search
console for the
new international
properties before
releasing too
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Use a Web monitoring service to send alerts if there are
changes in the new pages SEO related configurations
Little Warden, ContentKing
69. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
Follow-up & compare the new vs. old locations main
ranked queries & pages, as well as SERP features
Little Warden, ContentKing
Last 28 Days
15 Days Before and After the Migration
new website locationold website location
70. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
Check the trend of your top queries for the target
markets, organising them in groups to facilitate analysis
SEOmonitor
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Track your old & new sites vs. your competitors to check
your visibility share before and after the migration
SEOmonitor
72. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
If for some reason the evolution is not the expected one,
identify the non-performing pages to audit them again
SEOmonitor
New site has not completely regained top 3 rankings
Searchmetrics
73. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
Still lacking links to be competitive? Request an update
to the most authoritative linking sites to your new pages
SEOmonitorahrefs, majestic, pitchbox, kerboo
74. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
It’s about aligning SEO through the international Web
migration while focusing to achieve the expected goal
Pages Crawlability (HTTP Status, Robots.txt)
Content Indexability (Canonicalization, meta robots)
301-Redirects
SSL Certificate
Pages Content Relevance
Pages Internal linking
Pages Speed
nine.com.au/ ten.com/au/
Home Page
Category Page
Sub-Category Page
Product Page
Main Blog Page
Blog Category Page
Blog post
For Each Page
Verify
XML Sitemaps
GSC Configuration
Old vs. New Geolocation (GSC, hreflang)
Old vs. New content localization
Old vs. New link popularity for target market
75. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
Moving internationally requires a lot of work..
#INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
76. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
…but can be positive in the relevant scenarios to
better target and compete in international markets
77. #INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
*SEO Consultant & Founder at Orainti
*SEO Speaker at +100 Events in +20 countries
*Author “SEO. Las Claves Esenciales.”
*Crawling Mondays YouTube SEO Video Series Host
*Blogger in Search Engine Land & Search Engine Journal
*Featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Huffington Post
*European Search Personality of the Year in 2018
Thanks
#INTERNATIONALWEBMIGRATIONS AT #SMPROFS BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI