SEO preservation for Shopify migrations

Protect your SEO during Shopify migration

Organic traffic often represents a significant portion of ecommerce revenue. Losing rankings during a platform migration can cost months of recovery time and substantial revenue. Starcodia applies a structured SEO preservation process to every Shopify migration to protect the organic visibility you have built.

Why SEO preservation is critical for migrations

Platform migrations are high-risk moments for SEO. Without proper handling:

URLs change. Different platforms use different URL structures. Without redirects, search engines lose track of your content and drop pages from results.

Backlink value is lost. External links pointing to your old URLs become broken. The authority those links provided disappears unless redirects pass the value to new URLs.

Content can be lost. Page content, metadata and structured data may not migrate automatically. Missing or changed content affects relevance signals.

Technical issues compound. Canonicalization errors, duplicate content, crawl errors and indexation problems can pile up during migration, each damaging rankings.

With proper SEO preservation, migrations can be neutral or even positive for organic visibility. The new platform may offer better performance, improved structured data and enhanced technical SEO capabilities.

What SEO preservation for Shopify migrations includes

Starcodia's SEO preservation process covers the full scope of migration SEO work:

URL inventory and mapping. Every URL on your current site is inventoried, including products, collections, pages, blog posts and any other indexed content. Each URL is mapped to its Shopify equivalent with attention to URL structure differences between platforms.

301 redirect implementation. Comprehensive redirects are configured in Shopify to route old URLs to new URLs. High-traffic and high-value pages receive individual attention. Redirect chains are avoided.

Metadata migration. Title tags, meta descriptions and open graph tags are migrated to Shopify. Where platform differences require adjustments, metadata is reviewed and optimized for the new structure.

Content migration. Page content, product descriptions, collection descriptions and blog posts are migrated with proper formatting. Content gaps are identified and addressed.

Structured data. Schema markup is implemented on the new Shopify site including product schema, organization schema, breadcrumbs and FAQ schema where relevant.

Technical SEO configuration. Robots.txt, XML sitemaps, canonical tags and hreflang tags (for international) are properly configured on Shopify.

Search Console preparation. Google Search Console is prepared for the migration with domain property setup, sitemap submission and change of address notification where applicable.

Post-launch monitoring. After migration, crawl errors, indexation, ranking changes and traffic are monitored with rapid response to any issues.

How Starcodia handles SEO preservation

  1. Pre-migration audit. Inventory all indexed URLs, identify high-value pages, document current rankings and traffic for baseline comparison.
  2. URL mapping. Map every old URL to its Shopify equivalent, handling URL structure differences between platforms.
  3. Redirect configuration. Build and test redirect rules in Shopify before launch.
  4. Metadata and content migration. Migrate and verify metadata and content on the new site.
  5. Pre-launch testing. Test redirects, crawl the staging site for errors, verify structured data.
  6. Launch execution. Execute the migration with DNS cutover and redirect activation.
  7. Post-launch monitoring. Monitor Search Console for errors, track rankings and traffic, fix any issues quickly.

SEO risks Starcodia addresses during migration

URL structure changes. WooCommerce uses /product/, Magento uses catalog/product/, Shopify uses /products/. Starcodia maps every URL pattern to its Shopify equivalent.

Pagination changes. How collection pagination works differs between platforms. Proper handling prevents duplicate content and crawl issues.

Filter URLs. Faceted navigation creates filtered URLs that may or may not be indexed. Starcodia handles these appropriately for Shopify's architecture.

Variant URLs. Product variant handling differs between platforms. Variant URLs are mapped to prevent broken links and duplicate content.

Speak with Starcodia about SEO preservation

If you are planning a Shopify migration and want to protect your organic visibility, Starcodia can assess your current SEO footprint and plan appropriate preservation work.

Discuss SEO preservation

Frequently Asked Questions

With proper SEO preservation work, organic visibility can be protected through a migration. We implement URL mapping, redirects and metadata migration to minimize ranking disruption.
301 redirects tell search engines that a page has permanently moved. Every URL from your old platform is mapped to the equivalent Shopify URL and configured in Shopify to redirect automatically.
Backlinks continue to pass authority when proper 301 redirects are in place. We ensure all pages with significant backlinks have redirects configured.
With proper SEO preservation, most sites see rankings stabilize within 4-8 weeks after migration. Some fluctuation is normal as search engines recrawl the site.