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CMS migration: move to a modern CMS without losing your search rankings

We move your content, media, users and URLs to a modern CMS, map every old address to its new one and watch rankings for 30 days after launch. Typical migrations take four to eight weeks.

Typical timeline
4–8 weeks
Your quote
Fixed, in writing
Good for
Sites on WordPress, Sitecore, Drupal, Adobe AEM or a CMS that is out of support.

Who it’s for, and who it isn’t

A good fit
  • Sites on WordPress, Sitecore, Drupal, Adobe AEM or a CMS that is out of support.
  • Your CMS version is out of support
  • Editors avoid making changes
Probably not for you
  • Sites that also need a full redesign with new content (we scope that as a rebuild)
  • Moves with no access to the old system or its data

What changes

✕BeforeAn old CMS only one person knows how to edit, and plugins nobody dares update.
✓AfterA fast, modern CMS your team edits freely, with every ranking URL redirected.
For the people using it
  • Pages that load fast on any phone
  • Nothing they bookmarked stops working
For your business
  • Search traffic kept through the move
  • Editors trained before launch day
The guide

How to migrate a CMS without losing rankings

A CMS migration moves your content, media, users and URLs from one platform to another. The risk is not the content itself; it is the search rankings and links attached to every old address.

We inventory every page, map each URL to its new home, run automated content migrations on staging and check every redirect before launch. After go-live we watch rankings and crawl errors for 30 days.

Signs you need this

  • Your CMS version is out of support
  • Editors avoid making changes
  • Plugins can’t be updated without breaking something
  • Licence fees keep rising
Try it · Migration size

How big is your CMS migration?

Drag to the number of your pages Google has indexed. Search “site:yourdomain.com” to check.

600
2020,000
690
redirects to map and test
3
full trial migrations
8 wk
typical timeline
A planned, rehearsed move

Every indexed URL gets a mapped redirect, tested on staging before launch and watched for 30 days after.

Redirect count includes media and legacy aliases, typically ~15% more than indexed pages.

What’s included

Scope, price and timeline are fixed in writing before work starts.

  1. 01Content and media inventory
  2. 02URL map and 301 redirects
  3. 03Automated content migration
  4. 04Editor training
  5. 05Post-launch ranking watch

How it works

  1. Weeks 1–2

    Audit

    Inventory of content, data, integrations and every live URL.

  2. Weeks 2–3

    Map

    Every page, field and redirect mapped to the new platform.

  3. Build

    Rehearse

    Full trial migrations on staging until the numbers reconcile.

  4. Cutover

    Switch over

    A planned window with a tested rollback, agreed in advance.

  5. 30 days

    Hypercare

    Daily checks on traffic, errors and data after launch.

Risks we remove

What usually goes wrong with website & cms migration projects, and what we do about it.

01

Losing search traffic

A complete redirect map, tested on staging before launch.

02

Content lost or mangled

Scripted migration with side-by-side comparison of old and new pages.

03

Editors stuck on launch day

Editor training before launch, with guides for every page type.

Worked example

A typical CMS migration

A membership body runs an out-of-support CMS with 1,800 indexed pages. Weeks one and two inventory every page, asset and URL; week three maps them to the new content model.

Weeks four to six run scripted migrations on staging until counts and spot checks reconcile. Cutover happens in a planned window, followed by 30 days of daily crawl and ranking checks.

An illustrative example of how we would run this kind of project, not a client case study.

Technology we use
WordPressSitecoreDrupalNext.jsSanityContentfulUmbraco
Have a project like this?

Common target platforms

WordPressHeadless (Sanity, Contentful)Enterprise CMS (Sitecore XM Cloud, Umbraco)
Best forFamiliar editingSpeed and flexibilityLarge teams and workflows
Licence costNoneUsage-basedHigher
UpkeepPlugin updatesLowManaged or self-hosted
Free quote · no obligation

Talk to a Website and CMS migration specialist this week.

Leave your email and a line about what you need. We reply with questions or a price range. Prefer to talk? Book a free 30-minute call.

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Website & CMS migration: questions, answered

Will we lose search traffic?
A short dip is common while pages are re-indexed. With a complete redirect map and preserved content, rankings typically recover within weeks.
Can content be migrated automatically?
Mostly. We script the move for structured content and handle complex pages by hand, then compare old and new side by side.
Which CMS should we move to?
It depends on your editors and integrations. Common choices are Sanity, Contentful, Umbraco and Sitecore XM Cloud.
How does pricing work?
After a free scoping call you get a written proposal setting out the scope, the cost and a planned timeline, so you know what you are agreeing to before work starts.
Do I own what you build?
Yes. Code, designs, content and accounts are yours from day one, in accounts you control.

Another question? Email us or book a free call.

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