How effective migration & onsite SEO got this small business site’s redesign a Google page-1 boost in search presence.
Opportunity
• Business: improve search presence & brand visibility in Google with a redesigned WordPress site and new store location opening
• SEO: minimize risk of moving to a redesigned site architecture (new URL structure), clean up onsite issues (technical SEO), optimize for keywords, improve search performance and site speed
The Way Forward
November 2017-January 2018: A Chicago-based eyeglasses & sunglasses boutique, D/Vision Optical, wanted to overhaul their WordPress site to time with their new downtown store opening. I worked with a designer and developer to A) mitigate the redesign’s impact on their existing Google rankings, as well as B) identify and capitalize on SEO opportunities with a new URL structure and site content.
This small migration from one WordPress installation to another fit my step-1 SEO consulting package perfectly: WordPress plugins can help make it pretty “seamless,” if not simple, to ensure you don’t drop in search results with a site migration that does all or any of the following…
• Revises URL structure
• Adds/revises onpage content
• Impacts site speed & performance
I can help with larger moves, too, like domain migrations (old.com > new.com) and e-commerce platform migrations (WordPress > Shopify), but this one was fairly straightforward — an updated look & feel and better positioning of their designer/brand pages. So I worked to keep SEO labor costs contained and with an understanding of how to work most efficiently using Google Drive tools (a site audit spreadsheet especially) and WP plugins, it all fit in a small packaged scope of work.
So what was involved? Everything from keyword optimization to 301 redirects to preserve link value to site speed analysis. For smaller sites especially, I think it’s critical to both identify “big picture” strategy to tangibly improve search performance, AND ensure SEO checks are complete with a precise audit that captures all of the needed work in actionable steps.
From early November to mid-January we took this client to top-5 results (and #1 store result) for its business critical searches “eyeglasses chicago” and “designer eyeglasses chicago”, from #9 and #19 respectively (11/17 SEM Rush data).
Client: DVOptical.com
Services: Migration SEO, WordPress (Onsite Package)