What to Know:
– A study conducted by DeepCrawl analyzed 149 SEO migration projects to determine the average time it takes to complete a migration.
– The study found that the average time for an SEO migration is 3.4 months.
– The study also found that the average time for a migration to start showing positive results is 4.3 months.
– The study identified several factors that can impact the duration of an SEO migration, including the size of the website, the number of URLs, and the complexity of the migration.
The Full Story:
SEO migrations are complex projects that involve moving a website from one domain or platform to another while maintaining or improving its search engine rankings. These migrations can be time-consuming and require careful planning and execution. To provide better estimations and communications with non-SEO stakeholders, it is important to have a clear understanding of how long an SEO migration should take.
A recent study conducted by DeepCrawl analyzed 149 SEO migration projects to determine the average time it takes to complete a migration. The study found that the average time for an SEO migration is 3.4 months. This includes the planning, execution, and monitoring phases of the migration.
The study also found that the average time for a migration to start showing positive results is 4.3 months. This means that it takes an additional month after the migration is completed for the website to start seeing improvements in its search engine rankings.
The study identified several factors that can impact the duration of an SEO migration. One of the main factors is the size of the website. Larger websites with more pages and content tend to take longer to migrate. The study found that websites with less than 10,000 URLs took an average of 2.6 months to migrate, while websites with more than 100,000 URLs took an average of 4.9 months.
The complexity of the migration is another factor that can impact the duration. Migrations that involve changes to the website’s structure, URL structure, or content require more time and effort to complete. The study found that migrations that involved changes to the website’s structure took an average of 4.1 months, while migrations that only involved changes to the website’s content took an average of 2.9 months.
In addition to the duration of the migration, the study also looked at the impact of the migration on search engine rankings. The study found that 62% of the websites experienced a drop in rankings immediately after the migration. However, the majority of these websites were able to recover their rankings within 3 months. Only 6% of the websites experienced a permanent drop in rankings.
The study also found that the impact of the migration on organic traffic varied depending on the website. While some websites experienced a temporary drop in traffic, others saw an immediate increase in traffic after the migration. The study found that 40% of the websites saw an increase in organic traffic within 3 months of the migration.
Overall, the study provides valuable insights into the duration and impact of SEO migrations. It highlights the importance of careful planning and execution to ensure a successful migration. By understanding the average time it takes to complete a migration and the factors that can impact the duration, SEO professionals can provide better estimations and communications with non-SEO stakeholders of their migration projects.
Original article: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/study-how-long-should-seo-migration-take/492050/