There are a lot of essential things to consider to upgrade one’s website. SEO ranking is one of those! All business owners and managers are aware that people tend to visit those websites that appear on the first pages of search results. Consequently, when your website has a high rating in search engine results, people are way more likely to come across, check out your site and even become your clients.
Developing sites on Drupal can be quite interesting and exciting. An open content management system (CMS) is actually a game-changer in creating a variety of websites. However, before starting the project, you should carefully understand the features of Drupal website migration.
The Advantages and Challenges of Developing on Drupal
One of the advantages of developing on Drupal is its flexibility and customization options, which provides extensive options for customizing all site elements, from appearance and layout to extensions and functionality. This makes it possible for agencies like Elevated Third to create a uniqueness that fully meets the needs of customers.
A large number of modules and plugins is another advantage of Drupal. Many features can be added and used by using one of the free modules. Let us give an example: you can add a feedback form, social network buttons, a calendar, a Google map, and much more to the site. There are also commercial modules that allow you to expand the site’s functionality and ensure its integration with external services.
Drupal has one more advantage, which is a user-friendly interface that is clear and easy to use. You may customize the site, configure it and add content when you need and can. Many operations can be performed without programming knowledge, making Drupal development accessible to a wide audience.
Despite the benefits, developing with Drupal has its challenges and complexities. One of the biggest challenges is studying the system and its structure. Drupal has a complex architecture that requires a certain level of expertise.
In addition, when developing sites, it is important to consider security. Since Drupal is a popular platform, its sites can become a target for hackers and attackers who will try to break its security. To prevent this, you must use the latest versions of all modules and plugins used. You should also set strong passwords and configure protection against SQL injections and other attacks. Proper security settings on the site will help to avoid many problems and maintain user trust.
Migrating to Drupal: Backups, Redirects, and Data Export/Import
Site migration makes it possible to transfer content and other information from one site to another that runs on the platform. This can be useful if you want to change hosting, upgrade or migrate content from another CMS to Drupal.
First of all, before migrating, you need to back up your current site and database. Of course, we don’t even want to assume that something may go wrong. However, in case it does, you will be able to recover all the crucial information and data having a backup. Consider that any mishaps may occur during the migration process.
The next step is installing Drupal on your new hosting and configuring the database.
Afterward, you can start the actual migration process.
Maintaining SEO Ranking During Site Migration: Importance of Redirects
When the migration process of your site to Drupal gets going, it is very important to set up redirects and, this way, maintain your site’s SEO ranking. By implementing redirects, you initiate a mechanism that guides users from one URL to a different one. This helps maintain your site’s SEO ranking, as search engine crawlers will keep links to pages on your site that have moved to the new URL.
Suppose you modify the URL structure of your website or relocate a page to a different URL. In that case, you can create redirects that automatically direct users from the old link to the new page, ensuring that they can still access the content they’re searching for without interruption. This will help preserve the SEO ranking of the old page, as the search engine rendering will assume that it is the same content but on a new URL.
You can use the Redirect module to configure redirects. This module allows you to easily make adjustments to pages that have been moved to a new site. To accomplish this, the old and new URLs have to be clarified by setting their roles, meaning to which you want to redirect users.
Don’t forget to set up redirects for 404 errors as well. When users encounter such pages and do not get redirected, they tend to give up on looking for what they were. You’d better set redirects for such cases as well.
One of the most important stages of migration is the export of data from the current site. Drupal has standard data export tools that allow you to transfer content such as articles, images, videos, and other files. If you have your own database schema, you can customize the export for your schema.
After exporting the data, you can start importing the data to the new site. Drupal also has data import tools that allow you to import content, settings, and other data.
After importing the data, you need to check that everything works on the new site. Make sure all links work, images are displayed, and content is placed correctly. Also, think about setting up redirects if necessary to maintain your site’s SEO ranking.
SEO ranking gives you the opportunity to see how high your site is placed in search results. The higher your ratings are, the more visitors will encounter the site from search engines. However, migrating may impact your ranking. So. always double-check it when you start the process.
Setting up redirects will help maintain your site’s SEO ranking, as search engines will be able to find new page URLs and continue to index them. Also, setting up redirects will help support users who navigate to pages that have been redirected to a new URL. They will not encounter wrong links and will not get lost on your site.
So, when transferring your website to Drupal, it’s important to remember to create redirects. By doing so, you can preserve your site’s SEO ranking and ensure that users can easily access all the necessary information.
