Developing Website Content Migration Strategy
Content migration is transferring all content (pages, articles, media, users) from old platform to new. Without clear strategy, migration turns into chaos: lost pages, broken links, missing files.
Strategy Development Stages
1. Content inventory — what exactly needs to migrate and how much.
2. Structure analysis — how content is organized on old platform and how it should be on new.
3. Content mapping — correspondence between old and new types, fields, categories.
4. Transfer method selection — automatic (scripts), semi-automatic (export/import), manual.
5. URL strategy — keep old URLs or create 301 redirects.
6. Validation — check data integrity after transfer.
Inventory: What to Migrate
Content:
├── Pages (N items, types: landing, about, contacts...)
├── Articles/Posts (N items, categories, tags)
├── Media files (images, documents, videos) — volume GB
├── Users (N accounts + password hashes)
├── Comments (N items)
├── CMS settings and configuration
└── Forms and their data
SEO data:
├── Meta title/description for each page
├── OG tags
├── Canonical URL
└── Robots.txt rules
Technical data:
├── Redirects (old .htaccess / nginx rules)
├── Temporary links in content (internal URLs)
└── Analytics data (GA property, goals)
Transfer Strategies by Complexity
Big Bang migration — transfer everything at once. Suitable for small sites (up to 500 pages). Risk: no rollback option without significant downtime if something goes wrong.
Phased migration — transfer by sections or content types:
- Month 1: static pages and contacts
- Month 2: blog/news
- Month 3: product catalog
- Month 4: users and historical data
Parallel operation (A/B migration) — old and new sites run simultaneously. New content created directly on new platform, old gradually transferred. Traffic redirected by section via nginx.
URL Strategy
Option A: Preserve URLs — new platform uses same URL patterns. No redirects needed, no SEO weight loss. Harder to implement with CMS change.
Option B: New URLs with 301 redirects — each old URL redirects to new. Requires complete URL mapping (CSV file of correspondences).
Option C: Hybrid — category structure preserved, page internal IDs change. Redirects only for changed URLs.
Strategy Document
Strategy fixed in decision table:
| Content Type | Transfer Method | Responsible | Deadline | URL Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main pages | Manual (30 items) | Copywriter | Week 1 | Preserve |
| Blog (500 posts) | Python script | Developer | Week 2-3 | 301 redirects |
| Media files (15GB) | rsync + S3 | DevOps | Week 2 | New URLs |
| Users | SQL migration | Developer | Week 4 | — |
Risk Assessment
| Risk | Probability | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| SEO ranking loss | High | Complete URL mapping + 301 redirects |
| Media loss | Medium | Checksum verification after copy |
| Broken internal links | High | Script to replace URLs in content |
| Format incompatibility | Medium | Test on staging before production |
Rollback Plan
For each stage, must have success criteria and rollback plan:
- Success criteria: 100% pages accessible, no 404s, SEO metadata in place
- Rollback trigger: more than 5% pages with errors after 24 hours
- Rollback: switch DNS to old server (set TTL 300 before migration)
Execution Time
Developing content migration strategy (document + mapping table + test plan) — 3–5 working days.