{"id":8527,"date":"2022-02-01T14:15:04","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T14:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/01\/what-are-the-top-seo-considerations-for-merging-sites\/"},"modified":"2022-02-01T14:15:04","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T14:15:04","slug":"what-are-the-top-seo-considerations-for-merging-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/01\/what-are-the-top-seo-considerations-for-merging-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are The Top SEO Considerations For Merging Sites?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Today\u2019s Ask An SEO question is regarding the all-too-familiar challenges of site consolidation and migration.<\/p>\n

Migrations<\/a> and consolidations can be daunting and scary but are often necessary nonetheless.<\/p>\n

They can also be a great benefit to your website if done properly.<\/p>\n

The question comes from Merrill in Portland, who wrote in:\n<\/p>\n

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\u201cI have two domains for the same narrow, audience running on WordPress, each with many years of history and consistent traffic.<\/p>\n

One has about 2,000 views per month; the other 500.<\/p>\n

One site started as a home for podcasts (there are now over 700) and the other was a blog and a link out to a store.<\/p>\n

Since both sites are intended for the same audience, I don\u2019t think it makes sense to continue with this segmented structure.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m considering creating a new domain and putting the content from both of these under the new domain and using a LMS like Kajabi to put the podcast, blog, email list, store, etc. under one roof and simplify the administration and \u201cget credit\u201d for the combined traffic and page views.<\/p>\n

My hope is this will improve my rankings overall. What are the top 3 items I should focus on as I consider this migration?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Great question, Merrill.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to take off my SEO hat for a minute and tell you that the number one thing you should consider when doing this migration is your users.<\/p>\n

Does this make sense for them?<\/p>\n

From what you wrote, it sounds like a typical user would expect to see all of this content on one domain, so I would let that be my main driver.<\/p>\n

From the SEO side, we can help you get the most \u201ccredit\u201d or \u201cauthority\u201d out of a variety of solutions, so it\u2019s important to make sure we\u2019re doing this for the right reasons: users!<\/p>\n

You mention a new, third domain name.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what your existing domain names are or if they make sense, but if they do I\u2019d consider keeping one.<\/p>\n

Moving to a third domain won\u2019t really hurt your SEO long term (it may take longer to start but will be fine in the long run) but it can come with unforeseen issues.<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s a new domain, you\u2019ll need to research who owned it before and what type of content was there.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible that the domain could have been used for spam in the past<\/a> (or something else that would put your business at risk today).<\/p>\n

Regardless of what domain you choose to host it all on, there are a couple of things you need to keep in mind as you start your migration and consolidation.<\/p>\n

1. The Redirect Plan<\/h2>\n

This is where most sites fail at migrations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

No matter how well planned out, somehow they always miss or improperly configure some sort of redirect.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to ensure 1-to-1 redirects for all URLs and URL variants.<\/p>\n

This might even mean updating older redirects that are currently in place (depending on your tech setup).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s too easy for things to fall through the cracks.<\/p>\n

Many people use a Screaming Frog crawl<\/a> to get a list of URLs, but that might not account for unlinked landing pages and such, for example.<\/p>\n

Always start by doing an export from the CMS.<\/p>\n

2. Content Mapping<\/h2>\n

Depending on the sites you are migrating, you might have some similar content on both of them.<\/p>\n

Now, duplicate content<\/a> isn\u2019t a \u201cpenalty\u201d or big deal in the way many SEOs talk about it. But it\u2019s still not best for users.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll want to plan ahead which content will get rewritten or retired, and which URLs the once duplicate content will live on.<\/p>\n

Chances are good that one of those URLs has better SEO signals pointing to it than the other.<\/p>\n

3. All The Tech Issues<\/h2>\n

Once you migrate, you\u2019ll need to make sure all of this is updated properly:<\/p>\n