Open source alternatives to proprietary platforms offer benefits for developers and users alike.
There are two choices when it comes to building a website. You can choose an open source platform like Drupal or WordPress, or a proprietary platform overseen by a company…
Web accessibility is the practice of designing and building web solutions that everyone can use, no matter what limitations they have. This means that users with low or no vision, color blindness, trouble with motor skills, or inability to hear properly can use any accessible website or application.
Selwyn Polit has created a fantastic Drupal 9 and 10 developer reference guide called Drupal at your fingertips. The book is a reference guide that explains the various APIs within Drupal and examples of code for using them. The book's contents are available online, and all of the content is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, making it available to share and modify with attribution. You can find the Drupal at your fingertips book online at: https://selwynpolit.github.io/d9book/ and its source at https://github.com/selwynpolit/d9book/tree/gh-pages.
Website migrations are never an easy decision and we get it. The fear of their SEO rankings being negatively affected often holds site owners back from migrating their CMS or upgrading from an older version. After all, it has been a long and hard process to get your website to the top of Google's search result pages, and you don't want all that effort to go to waste.
However, this common concern can be addressed and mitigated before and during the migration process. With meticulous planning and a systematic migration approach, a website migration will not affect your SEO. Instead, with a CMS like Drupal that offers SEO and performance optimization techniques, your SEO ranking should see an upward trend.
In this article, we’ll discuss why a website migration to Drupal 9 does not have to mean sacrificing your SEO ranking. We'll go through some of the best practices and tips as well as what you need to do if you see a drop in ranking after the migration.
Most of our clients migrate/upgrade their CMS to Drupal 9 for one big reason: to fuel their business growth! Drupal 9 offers the high-performance tools and features needed to take your business to the next level.
Let’s get started with understanding why migrating your CMS to Drupal is important, especially in terms of SEO:
A migration involves moving and mapping all your website's content, data, and functionality from an old version to a newer one. It's like charting a new course to a brighter future. And they are never going to be identical. A CMS migration when done right cannot be a cause for your SEO ranking to get affected.
Ideally, a website redesign or CMS migration is risk-free when no URL or structural changes are expected. But let’s give you a few reasons when you should be concerned:
We cannot emphasize enough how important an SEO audit is before a migration.
Just like you would thoroughly examine and fix your car before a big road trip to ensure a smooth and safe journey, an SEO audit can help you identify and avoid potential technical issues or SEO problems before a migration. It also allows you to plan for redirects, establish a baseline for measuring the impact on SEO performance and ensure current best practices.
Your ideal Drupal agency should provide you with a comprehensive SEO audit checklist before planning the CMS migration. Read this article to find out how to evaluate a Drupal partner for your next project.
Here are some of the most significant elements that are analyzed during an SEO audit:
Before you begin the migration process, make sure to create a full backup of your website to ensure that you have a copy of all your website's files and data.
Benchmarking old rankings is an important step when migrating a website to a new domain or URL structure. It helps you understand how your website is currently performing in search engines and identify any potential issues that may affect your SEO efforts after the migration.
It helps you monitor any changes in organic traffic after the migration and allows you to identify any issues that may be affecting your SEO efforts.
Try to keep the same URL structure of your website, if possible. This will help to maintain the authority of your website and avoid any broken links
On-page optimization is crucial when migrating a website to ensure that your site is optimized for search engines and user experience. Here are some steps to take for on-page optimization during a website migration:
Drupal is a popular content management system (CMS) that provides several SEO modules that can help with website migration. Here are some SEO modules you may want to consider when migrating a Drupal website:
It is important to test all contact forms, thank you pages, and conversion codes while migrating a website. Here are some tips to help you ensure that these elements are working correctly after the migration:
Update your Sitemap.xml and Robots.txt files to reflect any changes in your website's URL structure. Read more about sitemaps and Drupal’s XML sitemap modules here.
Monitoring a website after migration is an important step to ensure that everything is functioning correctly and to identify any issues that may arise. Here are some steps you can take to monitor your Drupal 9 website’s performance after migration:
We know already mentioned this in our Do’s but we can’t stress enough how important this step is! Even after the website migration, it is recommended not to delete your old site immediately. There are several reasons why you should keep your old site for a while. Like backup and recovery, content comparison and redirects.
It's important to thoroughly test and review the new site before pushing it live to ensure that it is functioning correctly and there are no errors or issues that could harm your SEO. By taking the time to test and review the new site, you can identify and fix any potential issues before they impact your rankings and traffic. Make sure you have completed these activities before pushing it to live:
To minimize the potential negative impact of a website migration, it is generally advisable to avoid scheduling it during peak traffic periods when the site is experiencing its highest levels of user activity. This is because any disruptions to the site's functionality or accessibility during these times could lead to a poor user experience and potentially harm your search engine rankings or revenue. Instead, consider scheduling the migration during a time when traffic levels are typically lower, such as weekends or overnight, to minimize the risk of disruption and ensure a smoother transition for your users.
Let’s get straight to the point. If you notice a drop in your SEO ranking after a migration:
A successful migration process starts with an in-depth analysis of your current website’s structure, content, and code to identify any potential SEO risks. During this analysis, you should also consider factors such as which CMS version you are currently running, the cost and timeline of the migration process, and how to ensure that your SEO rankings remain intact during the transition. Keep checking your index status in the search console to make sure everything is in order once the migration is complete. Finally, it always helps to communicate regularly with your new hosting provider to ensure that all the performance issues are taken care of in a timely manner.
A CMS migration does not have to negatively impact your SEO ranking. In fact, a migration to Drupal 9 (or 10), can potentially increase your SEO rankings due to the improved speed and performance of your website. If you’re looking for a 100% Drupal-first company that specializes in Drupal migrations, then look no further than Specbee. Our certified experts have completed numerous successful migrations to Drupal 9 and can help ensure that your website remains SEO-friendly. Contact us today for a free consultation and find out how we can help you migrate with ease.
Author: Shefali Shetty
Meet Shefali Shetty, Director of Marketing at Specbee. An enthusiast for Drupal, she enjoys exploring and writing about the powerhouse. While not working or actively contributing back to the Drupal project, you can find her watching YouTube videos trying to learn to play the Ukulele :)
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Drupal has come a long way since its inception as a content management system (CMS) in 2001. Over the years, Drupal has continued to evolve and improve, positioning itself as a top choice for organisations looking to build a dynamic and engaging online presence.
One of the most significant changes in Drupal's evolution has been its focus on becoming more user-friendly for content editors. In this blog, we’ll explore some of the biggest changes that have occurred from Drupal changing its positioning to being more user-focused.
Drupal has long been known as a powerful and flexible content management system (CMS), but it’s also well known for its complexity. In the early days of Drupal, creating and managing content required a deep understanding of the platform, its architecture and many intricacies, making it challenging for non-technical users to navigate.
However, over the years, Drupal has made significant changes to become more user-friendly and accessible for content editors. In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at the evolution of Drupal and the changes that Drupal and the community have made to create a more accessible platform for content editors.
Today we are talking about Valhalla Content Hub with Shane Thomas.
For show notes visit: www.talkingDrupal.com/388
TopicsShane Thomas - www.codekarate.com/ @smthomas3
HostsNic Laflin - www.nLighteneddevelopment.com @nicxvan John Picozzi - www.epam.com @johnpicozzi Jacob Rockowitz - www.jrockowitz.com @jrockowitz
MOTW CorrespondentMartin Anderson-Clutz - @mandclu Entity Share You configure one site to be the Server that provides the entities, and content types or bundles will be available, and in which languages.
"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts," said Aristotle. It is especially relevant while talking about a free software ecosystem.
In functional logic, it is helpful to break up things into smaller units so that it becomes manageable. There would be more focus, and bugs are easy to be identified.
The non-core modules that follow the strict guidelines for quality code are the building blocks contributing to Drupal's greatness. The insistence on quality is what binds these compartments seamlessly. Each team has its role. But their collective can touch in many ways than these individual parts could deliver.
The synergy between different constituent units is paramount in a loosely knit community formed based on superior technology and grand philosophy. Entities working in this space should constantly meet in some way or another and be able to share their ideas to achieve this synergy. The DrupalCons and DrupalCamps are always facilitating this catchup game.
DrupalCon Pittsburgh Early Bird Registration is now open and is available through April 02. But the deadline to apply for a scholarship will end tomorrow. Early Bird Registration for the 6th annual DrupalCamp Ruhr will also end tomorrow. DrupalCamp Florida is now over, and here is a look back. Read our interview with Melissa Bent and April Sides, published as part of DrupalCamp Florida. DrupalSouth (New Zealand and Australia) has called for paper submissions for their upcoming event in Wellington. They have opened registrations for the camp, and the first 50 registrants will get an early bird offer. If you are eager to attend Drupal training, you can consider registering for the training sessions at DrupalCamp New Jersey. Fan tickets are available for DrupalCamp Poland. Here is a list of current sponsors for Drupal Developer Days Vienna. Some sponsoring slots for the NERD Summit might still be open. The four-day DrupalCamping Wolfsburg, fashioned as a BAR Camp, has limited tickets, and those interested could rush for registration.
This March, we have the DrupalCamp NJ and the NERD Summit coming up. MidCamp is in April. DrupalSouth Wellington, The Stanford WebCamp, DrupalCamp Ruhr, and DrupalCamp Poland will follow in May. Not soon after, we have the first annual DrupalCon of this year in Pittsburgh by the beginning of June, just after the DrupalJam. In the same month, we have Drupal Camp Asheville and Drupal Developer Days Vienna. Let these gatherings be an excellent start for your Drupal journey if you are new to the community. For those already here, it is time to synergize with the rest. That is for this week. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Sebin A. Jacob
Editor-in-Chief, The Drop Times