A migration is the highest-risk routine job in this field. Everything already works, a business depends on it, and the only visible outcome of doing it well is that nothing happens.
What the work involves
A full inventory first
Every URL, every content type, every integration and every scheduled job. What nobody inventories is what gets left behind.
A redirect map
Old URL to new URL, every row filled, tested on staging. This one spreadsheet is the difference between a migration and a traffic loss.
Scripted data migration
Content and records moved by a repeatable script, run and verified several times, not copied by hand the night before.
Parallel running
Where the risk justifies it, both systems run side by side until the new one is proven, so rollback is a decision rather than an emergency.
A launch runbook
Who does what, in what order, with a rollback plan that has actually been tested. Launch night is not the time to improvise.
Monitoring afterwards
Crawl errors, index coverage, error rates and conversions watched daily for the first month while everything settles.
Questions we get asked
Will we lose search rankings?
A short dip while search engines recrawl is normal and recovers in weeks. A lasting loss means the redirect map had gaps, which is preventable rather than bad luck.
Can we keep trading during the migration?
Yes, with staged cutover and, where needed, parallel running. It costs more and it is usually worth it for a store.
How long does it take?
Three to ten weeks for most, driven by data volume and integration count rather than by page count.
Our old agency will not hand over access.
Common and solvable. Domain and hosting can be reclaimed as the registered owner. We have done it before and nothing starts until you control your own assets.
Tell us what it has to do
Send the requirement, however roughly it is written. You get back the questions we would need answered, the integrations we would test first, and a realistic range.