Migrating to new Windows Server

[srbello]

Hello,

We are migrating an existing website to a new Windows 2016 Server.  Please advise or direct us to any good resources for advice on important configurations for the server primarily with respect to SEO.

For example, is it important to ensure Pinging is enabled on server?

Or are there good IIS add ons / features we should ensure we use, like URL rewrite?

Thank you in advance for your response!

[KaneJamison]

Hi - I'm not familiar with the 2016 edition, however there's a few posts out there discussing older Windows servers issues. Historically speaking, IIS causes SEO headaches, but they can be fixed or mitigated with proactive efforts to do so.

Here is a post worth reading on the topic, but it won't cover newer concerns that might have been addressed since it was posted in 2011:

• https://moz.com/blog/what-every-seo-should-know-about-iis

Windows also publishes what they call the IIS SEO Toolkit which most SEOs have had good things to say about: https://www.iis.net/downloads/microsoft/search-engine-optimization-toolkit

Here are two blog posts talking about how to use the IIS SEO Toolkit:

• https://builtvisible.com/how-to-install-and-use-iis-seo-toolkit/
• https://www.distilled.net/blog/seo/microsoft-iis-seo-toolkit-seo-tips-and-tricks/

In regards to your question on pinging - are you talking about pinging external servers when new content is published? I wouldn't call that a major SEO concern, but let me know if you mean something else.

I'll send a tweet seeing if anyone else can weigh in on your questions that has more recent experience than me.

[srbello]

Hey thanks for the detailed response!  I am not sure that IIS SEO Toolkit works for IIS 10.  However, I will look into it.