Site migration/ CMS/domain site structure change-no access to search console

[bgvsiteadmin]

Hi everyone,

We are migrating an old site under a bigger umbrella (our main domain). As mentioned in the title, We'll perform CMS migration, domain change, and site structure change. Now, the major problem is that we can't get into google search console for the old site. The site still has old GA code, so google search console verification using this method is not possible, also there is no way developers will be able to add GTM or edit DNS setting (not to bother you with the reason why). Now, my dilemma is :

1. Do we need access to old search console to notify Google about the domain name change or this could be done from our main site (old site will become a part of) search console

2. We are setting up 301 redirects from old to the new domain (not perfect 1:1 redirect ). Once migration is done does anything else needs to be done with the old domain (it will become obsolete)?

3.The main site, Site-map... Should I create a new sitemap with newly added pages or update the current one.

4. if you have anything else please add:)

Thank you!

[effectdigital]

You wanna' be really careful here. From the sounds of it you had a collection of 'web pages' under an old umbrella site (which contains loads of other stuff too) and you are 'extracting' those web pages and turning them into a new website. For most intents and purposes, a domain 'is' a website

If the old site is staying live with other stuff still on it, and only part of it is migrating - obviously you DON'T want to tell Google that the whole umbrella site is 'becoming' a much narrower site on a new domain. That's inaccurate information, and will kill off the main site's performance

Another issue. Currently your 'site section' which will become its own site, is receiving SEO authority through the main domain's backlinks, then transferred through the internal link structure. If the old site is staying live, most of it won't be redirected to the new 'extract' site. The internal linking from the main site will also be gone, which means a performance reset for those section of URLs is quite darn likely

There is some potential, that I got this exactly the wrong way around. Maybe you are saying that a previously external site is coming 'under' the big umbrella. That would be much easier to deal with!

In this second scenario, yes I'd recommend telling Google that one whole domain is becoming part of another domain using the domain migration tool within search console. I have seen migration projects succeed without this, but I've also seen Google's algos throw wobblies so... Yeah, I'd say do it to be safe

The old domain needs to still exist, with a hosting package - in order to perform your redirects. Redirects are handled by the .htaccess or web.config file(s) and they need hosting to live on. Without it, all your redirects will die. If you don't keep the redirects live for 6-12 months, prepare to lose some SEO authority as it won't have all translated across by then

Your new pages, regardless of whether they are on an external or internal domain, should be listed in an XML sitemap. Wherever they are moving to, that domain's XML sitemap needs to have the newly spawned URLs in

Hope that helps

[bgvsiteadmin]

Thank you for a detailed response.

It's a second scenario. Domain/hosting will stay stays for old domain and all redirects will point to relevant destination pages in our main website. We already performed a massive hybrid migration (main site ) that delivered a CMS change, site structure/URL change and content cut without losing any traffic (we actually gained north of 30% increase in post-migration period). Migration was done over 3 month period and it was done right. This time, the project was conceived and nearly finished in the bubble and got into my attention way too late.

[effectdigital]

If your architecture is changing, (e.g: from non-www to www, then from HTTP to HTTPS) - just be careful that your developer's logic doesn't start 'stacking' redirect rules

You want to avoid this:

A) user requests http://oldsite.com/category/information

B) 301 Redirect to - http://newsite.com/category/information

C) 301 Redirect to - https://newsite.com/category/information

D) 301 Redirect to - https://www.newsite.com/category/information

Keep your redirects **strictly origin to final destination, and you'll probably be ok! **In the case of my example the redirect should go straight from A to D, not from A to B (hope that makes sense)

Install this Chrome extension so that you can see redirect paths in your Chrome extension buttons menu. It's very, very handy for testing redirects