A harder website to maintain
The website has become difficult to maintain.
Performance is difficult to improve.
WEBSITE MIGRATION
Move the website withoutlosing what already matters.
Changing platform can solve real problems. It can improve maintainability, performance, editing, hosting flexibility or the technical foundation of the website.
But migration introduces risk too. Content can disappear. URLs can change. Forms can break. Tracking can stop working. Redirects can be missed. Search visibility can be affected.
MiBanana plans website migrations around what needs to move, what needs to change and what needs to be protected.
What is a website migration?
Migration means changing something fundamental about how the website runs. This can mean moving between CMSs; from a page builder to a custom frontend; from WordPress to Astro; between hosting providers; from a monolithic CMS to headless architecture; from a proprietary platform to a client-controlled setup; to a modern development stack; changing domain structure; or replacing an existing site with a redesigned one.
Why businesses migrate
A platform that no longer fits
The current CMS no longer fits the team.
Hosting or deployment is restrictive.
A need for greater flexibility
The website depends too heavily on one supplier.
The technology is no longer appropriate.
A stronger long-term foundation
A redesign is already happening.
The organisation needs a cleaner long-term foundation.
Migration is not just copying pages
Content and discovery
Bring the information structure along with the pages.
- Page content, URLs and metadata
- Images, documents and downloads
- Blog content, categories and tags
- Multilingual content
Journeys and connections
Keep important tasks and connected services in view.
- Forms, redirects and navigation
- CRM integrations, consent tools and APIs
- CMS users and workflows
Measurement and infrastructure
Account for the technical signals around the website.
- Analytics, tracking and Search Console
- Structured data and internal links
- DNS and email-related DNS records
Define what must survive
Before development begins, establish what exists and what matters.
- Important pages and existing URLs
- Search landing pages and content to preserve
- Forms, downloads and integrations
- Analytics, tracking and structured data
- Redirects and multilingual relationships
- CMS requirements
- Domain and DNS configuration
- Business-critical functionality
Keep, improve, redirect or retire
Keep
Content and functionality that still serve a clear purpose.
Improve
Assets that remain valuable but need updating or restructuring.
Redirect
URLs that should no longer exist but still need a clear destination.
Retire
Content or functionality with no continuing business value.
URLs and redirects
Existing URLs may already have search visibility, external links, bookmarks and campaign history. Where practical, valuable URLs should remain unchanged. When URLs genuinely need to change, redirects should be planned deliberately.
01Current website
Understand the pages, URLs and systems already in use.
02Review and map
Keep useful paths. Plan destinations for URLs that change.
03New website
Test redirects and important journeys before launch.
Website migration and SEO
A migration can change many signals at once. Depending on the migration, we may review indexable URLs, important landing pages, URL changes, redirect mapping, internal links, titles and descriptions, canonical URLs, robots directives, XML sitemaps, structured data, multilingual signals, Search Console and crawlability.
Migration planning reduces avoidable mistakes. It does not guarantee unchanged rankings or traffic.
Content, CMS and hosting all need a plan
Content migration
Some content can be moved programmatically. Some requires manual restructuring. Some needs rewriting. Some should not be migrated.
The method depends on content volume, source and destination CMS, data quality, languages and required fields.
CMS migration
Choose the CMS around what people need to manage. For suitable MiBanana Astro business websites, TinaCMS is the normal default. More advanced editorial permissions or application-style content may justify another CMS.
Hosting migration
A hosting move may still affect DNS, SSL, caching, CDN, environment variables, forms, APIs, webhooks, analytics and scheduled tasks.
Domain, DNS and email safety
Identify relevant DNS records before changes. Email-related records such as MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC should not be changed accidentally.
Redesign or migration?
Migration without redesign
Appropriate when the design and content remain suitable but the underlying platform needs to change.
Redesign without migration
Appropriate when the current platform is still suitable but the experience needs improvement.
Redesign and migration together
Appropriate when both the visible website and architecture have become limiting.
How Website Migration works
- 01
Understand the reason for moving.
- 02
Inventory the current website.
- 03
Define what stays, changes or disappears.
- 04
Design the migration architecture.
- 05
Map URLs and redirects.
- 06
Build and migrate.
- 07
Test before launch.
- 08
Launch in a controlled way.
- 09
Validate after launch.
- 10
Handover.
Your website should remain under your control.
MiBanana’s preferred delivery model gives the client control of important project-specific infrastructure. The client’s website should not depend on MiBanana continuing to own the accounts required to keep it alive.
Website Migration projects typically start from €4,000.
Scope may be affected by the scale of the migration and the amount of work needed to move safely.
- Number of URLs and content volume
- CMS complexity and data migration
- Redirect requirements and redesign
- Languages, forms and integrations
- Analytics and custom functionality
- Hosting and DNS changes
- Editorial workflow
- Search migration requirements
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Straightforward answers about website migration.
A significant change to the platform, CMS, hosting, architecture, domain structure or another fundamental part of how the website operates.
A migration can affect search visibility. Careful inventory, URL planning, redirect mapping, technical validation and post-launch checks reduce avoidable problems.
No, but useful existing URLs should not be changed without a reason.
Yes, where content migration is included in scope.
Yes.
Yes, where Astro is appropriate for the website.
Usually the new website can be developed and tested separately while the current website remains live.
They need to be identified and rebuilt or reconnected where required.
Yes, in some cases.
Potentially, but migration alone does not guarantee performance.
Historical analytics data normally remains in the analytics platform itself.
Where DNS changes form part of the project, yes.
It should not if email-related DNS records are identified and preserved correctly.
Yes, where a CMS is included.
No.
WEBSITE MIGRATION
Move because there is a good reason to move.
A website migration should leave the business with a better foundation, not simply a different platform.
Tell us what is limiting the current website, what needs to survive and what needs to work better.
