New look. New messaging. New experience. A website redesign project represents a prime opportunity to not only rethink your college or university’s brand and presentation but also how you connect with prospective students, attract faculty and industry partners, and engage your current student body.
A successful redesign is about more than just new visuals and copy to convey your message — it’s a complex, detailed undertaking. A major component of this process is migrating content from the old website to the new one. Content migration may seem like a simple copy-paste job but it involves a detailed, multipart strategy that takes into account everything from the sitemap to templates to redirects and can stretch from the start of the redesign until after the site’s launch.
We’re breaking down what content migration entails and how to properly plan for and implement a successful one. We’ll also cover the role SEO plays throughout so that you can successfully translate your school’s brand to the new interface and maintain, if not boost, your organic search presence.
What is content migration?
Not every website redesign project involves content migration. Some simply retain the same information architecture structure and platform, and the project focuses on refreshing the look and copy. Users, in this case, return to the site to see something different, but the general structure and experience remain unchanged.
Most projects, however, require some degree of content migration—or, for a proper definition, the process of transferring a website to a new platform or location and/or restructuring its current information architecture and URLs. Reasons include one or more of the following:
- Updating the domain name: For example, changing the root domain entirely or migrating from HTTP to the more secure HTTPS protocol.
- Updating the information architecture: For example, you’ve decided to switch from several subdomains, each with its own look and navigation, to a folder-based structure with a more uniform appearance and user experience. Or, you want to elevate certain pages of content or add entirely new content areas.
- Updating the content management system (CMS): You’re switching from an older platform or customized site builder to something modular, progressive, and standardized, like WordPress.
Within these broader actions, content migration requires you to think about:
- Where pages will be located, if certain pages are still necessary, or if multiple pages should be merged into one
- Expanding or reworking existing content—including branding, copy, and visual presentation—and the assets like images and videos needed to make this happen
- How users access information, including what they click on, what they don’t, and how the architecture and experience can incorporate these requests
- Accessibility and skim-ability of your website—including developing a friendly experience for all users that requires minimal onsite searching
- How your site currently performs in organic search, including what you should preserve and what should be reworked to capitalize on user inquiry
- Your content and experience in relation to your search, regional, and program-area competitors.
With this framework established, here are some other things to keep in mind as you get started.
- Take inventory of your content early on: Determine what’s needed and what can go, and translate your existing URL structure to your new information architecture and sitemap.
- Think about user experience: Visual upgrades dazzle, but your prospects really want to learn about your institution, picture themselves on campus, and apply to your programs.
- Implement 301 redirects throughout your site: Through all its years up in the digital space, your college or university’s website has grown its authority. Search engines like Google recognize this—but they also know when older content gets taken down and something unfamiliar emerges. 301 redirects connect your established pages with your new content, thus helping preserve your ranks and visibility and meet prospects where they are.
- Translate the old content to the new interface: Don’t scrape, paste, and call it a day. Think about the structure of each page and how prospects and current students will find and review information, and utilize your new templates and components to deliver what they need at every stage of their journey.
Making a website content migration checklist
So, with these points in mind, where do you begin? Make a plan factoring in the following:
Site architecture and redirects
If you view your college or university’s website as a building, the information architecture functions as the steel beams supporting the structure from within and, secondarily, offering the flexibility to grow in the future.
At its core, rethinking your information architecture involves devising a new sitemap—specifically, the location, order, and URL folder structure for all pages you intend to carry over. During a website redesign project, a sitemap serves two roles: outlining the top navigation and drop-downs and acting as a reference point for mapping out redirects.
Examine content performance
As a starting spot, look at your top-performing pages for organic and referral traffic in Google Analytics, and do the same for clicks and impressions in Google Search Console.
Want to know how users click through your site? Take advantage of Google Analytics’ Explorations tool to map out various Path Explorations, observing how existing users interact with the site, including where they go and the types of events they perform (clicks, downloads, and video views, for example) along the way.
For a baseline, make sure your new site retains these top-performing pages and well-trodden pathways.
Conduct a content audit
What does your site look like? We’re not talking about visuals just yet, but the layout of the current architecture, the types of pages presented, and the information available. As a general rule for content migration, thoroughly review your existing assets—including what you have and where they are—before doing any cutting, transforming, or augmenting.
For an outline, crawl your site with a tool like Screaming Frog or SEMRush to identify duplicate or thin content. In the case of duplicate content, determine why your current information architecture generates these redundancies (for example, multiple departments manage a program, or your institution has no top-down content management process), and make a note to consolidate these pages through redirects.
Thin content—or pages flagged for low word counts or low text-to-HTML ratios—can either be merged similarly or expanded. Ask yourself if users will find the information presented relevant to their respective journeys, and if you can say yes, evaluate if the page can stand on its own or if you should fold it into another.
If the page appears to function independently, brainstorm ways to expand its content and structure. For a start, examine existing long-tail phrases in Google Search Console to see how users encounter this page through organic search and build on these areas to answer their queries.
Also, step back to take a holistic look at the information architecture. If you find “orphan” pages—or pages not assigned to a category like Academics, Admissions & Aid, or Student Life—give this content a proper home, so that it’s accessible by users and search engines.
Additionally, use surveys to identify information and experience gaps. Ask your community about how and where they access certain types of resources: in many cases, you’ll notice they can’t find what they need at common stages and thus resort to using site search or return to Google.
For another perspective, analyze your competitors not just for visual appearance but also the types of information they present, including where, how, and if your college or university’s website would benefit from including similar resources.
To tie these points up, make an effort to review all levels of your site’s content and redirect as much as you can. Getting into the mindset that only top-level pages have value means you miss the niche visibility, information, and long-tail phrases the lower-level, text-heavy pages provide.
Map 301 redirects
So, you have the new structure planned. You’ve vetted content and are already scheduling rewrites based on your recommendations. What’s next?
On a simplistic level, redirects function as a bridge from your old site to the new. This pathway works on two levels. Strictly focusing on user experience, having the old URLs segue into the new ones takes prospects to where they expect to be. Without them, clicking on or typing in an old URL, perhaps included in a print brochure or a roundup article, leaves them on a 404 page. Users, at this stage, have a choice: they can search for their intended target, or they can hit the back button and continue browsing—potentially spending more time with your competitors if their journey is still in its exploratory stages.
In thinking about site health and visibility, 301 redirects—also known as permanent redirects versus the temporary 302—signal to Google and other search engines that the content has moved to a new location. This action:
- Transfers the authority the page has earned over its years in existence to its new equivalent
- Helps you maintain ranks for key terms, as well as associated traffic and visibility
- Keeps you where you need to be in organic search to reach and attract prospects without interruption
Without 301 redirects in place, your new website quite literally starts anew in organic search, often disappearing for a period before slowly climbing back to its previous ranking positions. Learn more about the importance of 301 redirects here.
The visuals
New site equals new look. But “new” also means new functionality, new processes, and new considerations from the last time you visually updated your website’s interface. To add to this, if you’ve primarily relied on text-based pages, you need new photos and videos.
While you’re focused on colors and brand, redoing your design frequently entails reassessing how you appear to users in mobile and desktop experiences. It also means rethinking how you add and manage content. As a third consideration, realize that all involved entities across your college or university now have to contend with new templates.
So, while you’re excited about your design system, start to think about it as a framework for the following:
Templates and moving over content
While your website redesign project may involve some custom templates, most will use a modular structure of stackable elements built to be rearranged in a number of configurations between the opening hero and your closing call-to-action section.
Based on how you’ve managed your content so far two issues need to be on your radar. One, realize that you’ll need to translate and likely restructure the pages you intend to keep based on the new templates. Two, successful post-launch training means briefing the rest of your staff on the new content management system’s functionality.
To build off the stages discussed thus far:
- Get to know your templates: Know where and how they enhance the user journey, be it to deliver visuals and branded messaging or to provide more detailed information. If your template is stackable, learn how each element works and visually renders for both desktop and mobile experiences, and use these structures to tell your story through images, copy videos, and infographics. To go a step further, H2s, H3s, H4s, and <p> tags make up most of these components in the source code and often align with SEO best practices for organizing your information for search engines.
- Translate your content to your new templates: In auditing your content, look not just at performance and purpose, but also how to better present your existing information to prospective students and your current community. In turn, expect a mostly manual content migration process combined with some script-based migration for text-based pages like blog posts, faculty pages, and news articles.
- Understand that templates aren’t just a “look”: They additionally affect the performance of your site, including how slowly it loads based on the visuals you add, and the ratio of code to text (text-to-HTML ratio). Ideally, the majority of on-page content loads within 2.5 seconds when a user lands on your site, and each page consists of at least 15% text.
Gather your visual assets
What’s your story? You’re thinking about history, messaging, programs, and research initiatives, but your prospective students plus their parents and families want to know what your campus looks like and, more importantly, what they’ll do once they’re there.
In translating your existing content to the new templates, begin to choose visuals that convey who you are and the opportunities available—whether that’s themed living-learning communities, research labs, applied classrooms, Greek life, or annual events like homecoming or spirit week. Also, select photos like they’re a preview of your community—one that entices prospects to tour your campus virtually or sign up for an in-person event.
In conducting your audit, identify gaps, including areas with minimal photos, older visual assets needing an update, or places where a video could express your message better or infuse the content with a more personalized perspective.
Copywriting
What does your website say? Redesign projects present a prime opportunity to reevaluate your messaging to prospects and their parents and families, reinvigorate your brand, and strive for more captivating and accessible information. It’s also a time to fully optimize your copy—from reviewing keywords, metadata, and header tag structure to making textual revisions based on EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) best practices.
In addition to establishing their specific purposes, note during your content audit which pages need an update and to which degree. As a starting spot, begin with your navigation’s top-level and next-level-down pages, popular user pathways, and key admissions points.
Here’s how you can organize this process:
Determine what needs to be revised and how
For colleges and universities, website redesign projects mean sifting through years, if not a couple of decades’ worth, of content generated by your marketing team, individual departments and divisions, and your students. Once you’ve narrowed down which pages you intend to migrate, create a spreadsheet for organizing your revisions:
- Branding: Did your school recently undergo a brand refresh or total overhaul? Provide a fluid, consistent experience from print materials and paid ads to your web presence by infusing your copy with your most recent message and story. Further, reinforce these points on key landing pages and along common user pathways.
- Merging: During your audit, you’ll likely encounter three or four pages that can be combined into one. Indicate that this group will now live at a new, single location, and update your copy plus your redirect map to reflect this change.
- Architecture: Examine content groups—academics, admissions and aid, student life, about us, and research—as holistic entities, assessing how much copy needs to be rewritten, if the existing text can be translated into an infographic or bullets, and the accompanying visuals needed to communicate your message. To kick off revisions, have related departments or divisions update application requirements, program outcomes, and information about research projects and experiential opportunities.
- Check content quality: Do you follow Chicago Style or Associated Press? Check to see that your Oxford commas (or the absence of them) are consistent across all content groups. Beyond this, do a more in-depth audit to revise tone and messaging in relation to university-wide value propositions and branding, and comb through the nitty-gritty of punctuation and other style guidelines.
- Age: Aside from updating information, it’s advised that you revisit evergreen content every two to three years to think about how you can better deliver your message to your various audiences—from prospective students on the fence about applying to current students and faculty needing to access their respective resources. In addition to on-page wording, remove videos and PDFs older than three or four years, as they’re likely outdated and provide minimal value to current prospects.
Optimize your content
We’ve covered content best practices for website redesign projects before, as well as how to incorporate SEO.
If you’re unfamiliar with where SEO and content intersect, we’ve put together a checklist for your audit:
- Check your title tags and meta descriptions: Focusing on page-related keywords and removing duplicate, repetitive title tags are the first steps to getting your content in front of prospects in organic search.
- Look at your header tags: With a built-in HTML structure, template elements do this for you. Nevertheless, it’s always a good idea to outline each page based on messaging and scan-ability. If users can’t find what they need by skimming the headers, they’re likely to hit the back button or resort to onsite search.
- Think links: Links within your content and the sub-navigation perform two roles: delivering users the additional information they need to explore or make a decision and interconnecting pages and content groups. Be sure all on-page and navigation links reflect the updated information architecture and provide what prospects expect (or could be curious about) at each stage.
- EEAT: Beyond culling duplicate content, ensure anything left over stands on its own—both in relation to the rest of your website and the information your competitors present—and highlights your institution’s uniqueness. Secondarily, begin to incorporate student and faculty perspectives—either as quotes or on-page links to full profiles—for a more personalized, experiential angle.
Structure your content review
Internally within your college or university, establish a system with a primary editor to uphold brand voice and tone—for example, content editors or writers on a marketing or communications team—plus a copyeditor to enforce style rules at all levels. From here, assign topic experts—generally, department or division leaders—to revise college, department, program, or organization page information. In this sequence, work backward, starting with information, refining the brand voice, and checking for style consistency.
Along the way, create a checklist for this process, plus a separate list for your on-page SEO basics, including a title tag, a meta description, appropriately structured header tags, and relevant interior links. Also, consider adding a third phase for selecting and adding images after the on-page copy is thoroughly reviewed and optimized.
Content that goes through these stages should be marked in your organizational system as approved and ready for migration.
Going forward
New websites also symbolize new beginnings—a chance to restructure content creation and management and to take advantage of all the new features and functions available to you.
As your updated site goes live, be sure to:
- Submit your sitemap: Once the new website is up and running, submit all sitemap.xml files to Google Search Console, so that Googlebot can crawl the new structure.
- Check your redirects: Do a crawl through a tool like Screaming Frog to identify 404, 403, and other errors requiring immediate attention, as well as to pinpoint and correct any redirect chains that accidentally formed. Also, go through all top-level and high-traffic pages to ensure all on-page and navigational redirects take users to the appropriate locations.
- Develop workflow processes: Know who will primarily be responsible for the content, from writing and information gathering to fine-tuning the brand voice. Consider having your marketing or communications department take a collaborative, symbiotic lead, from engaging divisions across the university for news stories to creating a calendar for seasonal and semester updates to having all website changes pass through their editorial eye.
- Continue your CMS training: An introduction offers a taste. Consider holding periodic training sessions on your new website’s backend, so that all parties understand how to make content and navigational updates.
- Tracking content performance and making changes: Get in the habit of checking Google Analytics and Search Console to examine top-performing pages, gather thought leadership ideas, see how prospects explore your new website, and retool your SEO strategy.
Have Carnegie guide your next website redesign project
Feel like it’s time to transform your institution’s web presence? Get the ball rolling with Carnegie—from information architecture and content audits to new design systems, SEO, page structure, and copywriting. Learn more about our full website design and development capabilities or start a conversation today to see how we can capture your prospective students’ attention.