Replatforming offers many benefits for ecommerce businesses, including greater scalability, performance, cost-efficiency, and more. But replatforming mistakes can put your revenue at risk.
A poor replatform can result in:
- A loss of over $1MM a month in organic revenue
- Long-term declines in organic ranking
- Extreme drops in site traffic
Don’t fall victim to the risks of replatforming. Here are three of the top revenue-risking replatforming mistakes – and how you can avoid them:
- Sending Google the wrong signals
- Flying blind with improper tracking
- Setting and forgetting your website post-launch
Replatforming Mistake #1: Sending Google the Wrong Signals
Is your URL structure changing as a result of your replatform? You might be sending Google the wrong signals about which pages to send users to. You don’t want to do this on URLs with SEO value.
What makes a URL have SEO value? URLs with SEO value are those that:
- Have ranking keywords
- Have backlinks
- Drive traffic
If you don’t give Google the proper signals to understand new versus old URLs, your website’s visibility is at risk.
By avoiding this replatforming mistake, you 1) create a better user experience for customers by not giving them a “page not found” error and 2) provide Google with the information it needs to understand your new site structure and keep your site in front of searchers. All you have to do is redirect all of your pages that have updated URLs.
Replatforming Mistake #2: Flying Blind With Improper Tracking
Often, dev sites don’t include your live site’s real tracking code to avoid errors in reporting. Instead, many dev sites have a unique tracking setup for troubleshooting.
Sometimes, businesses make the replatforming mistake of launching their new site with the tracking code for their dev site instead of their live site. Other times, teams forget to include the tracking code before launching.
If you don’t have the right tracking code in place, you immediately lose visibility into your site’s performance. This will make it harder to make data-driven business decisions.
In the hours before launching the replatformed site, your team should verify all tracking code. Once the new site is live, confirm that data is being tracked as expected, and monitor performance for any irregularities that could indicate a tracking error.
Replatforming Mistake #3: Setting & Forgetting Post-Launch
When brands make the replatforming mistake of setting and forgetting their website after launching, there are typically three main issues.
1. The version pushed live doesn’t have all the fixes
This is often tied to underestimating the time needed to launch and consequently rushing the launch before all needed updates are completed. This can trigger multiple issues, from broken site features to unpredictable SEO impacts.
2. Forgetting to unblock your site
Picture this: You just finished replatform. But you just realized you aren’t getting new traffic or showing up in SERPs. Now, you’re starting to panic. You realize you forgot to give Google access to your new site!
When a replatform is underway, it’s important to block Google from indexing your site. Otherwise, pages that are under construction might show in search results. When you’re ready to launch, you need to grant Google access to your site again.
3. Your new site is slow when stress-tested with traffic
Unfortunately, dev site speed isn’t representative of your live site. In some cases, this can cause a false sense of security that the new site will be faster than the old site. Make sure you test your site speed again after you launch.
Avoid Lost Revenue When Replatforming by Knowing the Risks
Let’s recap. Three of the top replatforming mistakes are:
- Sending Google the wrong signals
- Flying blind with improper tracking
- Setting and forgetting your website post-launch
When you replatform with us as your guide, you won’t risk your long-term organic revenue. To explore the difference that comes with having a guide to help you navigate your replatform, book a meeting today.
