There are 2 parts to pre-migration preparation: Content review and technical assessment.

Assessing your current content before migrating your website is crucial.

This involves a comprehensive evaluation of each piece of content to determine its relevance and quality.

You can pinpoint areas for enhancement or optimization as part of the migration strategy. For instance, outdated blog posts may require refreshing, while underperforming pages might benefit from improved keyword optimization.

A smooth transition of content to the new website structure is vital for preserving search engine rankings and ensuring a positive user experience.

Using the website XML sitemap simplifies the process of looking at all the pages on your site from a high-level. Copy & pasting these URLs into a spreadsheet software and then sorting alphabetically, let's you organize the pages by hierarchical structure, making it easy to chunk the migration process down into sections.

Conducting a content review prior to migration enables strategic planning regarding which elements to keep, update, or remove based on their performance and alignment with future goals.

In addition to content evaluation, conducting a thorough technical assessment of your current website infrastructure is essential.

This ensures the identification of any potential technical limitations or challenges that could impact the smooth transition of your website.

Collaborating closely with IT and development teams will help in proactively addressing these issues before they disrupt the migration process. For example, addressing compatibility issues between specific plugins and the new platform in advance can mitigate downtime or functionality errors following migration.