5 SEO Risks to Avoid When Migrating to Webflow (and How We Handle Them)

Migrating to a new platform is like moving into a new home. Only this time, you’re moving your website to a different platform, opening a new chapter of your digital presence. 

Like in every move, marketers should pack their digital stuff to migrate it into the new digital space. There will be a lot of assets, content, and features we want to bring! But what happens with SEO if we know that ranking high on search engines isn’t something that we can wrap and pack into the boxes? 

When migrating to Webflow, marketers have many questions about what will happen with the established SEO. Because we all know how much time, effort, and investment SEO takes to succeed. 

Mina Djoric, SEO specialist, explained that she has seen too many migrations tank organic performance simply because SEO wasn’t part of the conversation early enough. Her advice is not to treat SEO as an afterthought. Every detail, from redirects to metadata to content structure, needs to be planned before you touch anything. That’s how you migrate without losing momentum.

This article will cover what Webflow migration is, but from an SEO perspective. We will cover the potential SEO risks of migrating to Webflow and explain how we handle those for a stress-free migration experience.

#1 Broken Links and 404 Errors

Websites are all about URLs. They define the structure, access web pages, and navigate paths across the website. But what happens with URLs when we migrate a website to Webflow? 

Here, we can see the first SEO risk because there will be many URL changes. When we migrate a website to Webflow, naturally, old links will break, so that we can bump into those 404 error pages, in other words, lost and broken pages. 404 errors can affect SEO ranking and leave visitors confused. 

However, our SEO experts handle URLs with extra attention.

Any change to your website's URL structure can lead to broken links, 404 errors, and lost search engine rankings. Before migration, we do a thorough audit of the full link and set up 301 redirects for every link. This way, old links will still be functional, sending users to the right pages of the new website. 

#2 Losing Organic Traffic

Organic traffic is one of the most important SEO things, and losing it during migration is one of the main risks. Here, the risk revolves around indexing a new Webflow website. So there are a few concerns that marketers may have, and one of them is whether the new website will be visible on the search engines. 

If the migration process ignores essential SEO parts, marketers might face decreased visibility on the SERP. But not with us! Before migrating to Webflow, we track the website’s traffic to see the SEO performance. 

With the right metadata and sitemaps, we holistically guide search engines through the new site, carefully monitoring for potential indexing issues.

#3 Lazy Website Speed and Performance

Behind the migration process, there’s a whole engine that has to work perfectly. One of the main parts of it is the website’s speed and performance. We all know that page loading speed is very harmful to both user experience and SEO. Therefore, the third SEO risk is the connection between a website’s speed and search ranking success. 

Slow websites negatively affect SEO because of their bounce rate; in other words, if the website takes too long to load, users will leave the page before they even see what is on it. 

We handle the website’s optimization with Webflow’s features, successfully maintaining the site’s speed. Clean code, image compression, and constant testing are key steps in preventing lazy loading.

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#4 Missing SEO Essentials

Another common SEO risk includes essential SEO parts such as meta titles, meta descriptions, and alt text. Metadata is one of the key components in SEO, and if we don’t have it on the new Webflow website, it can negatively affect the search engine ranking. 

That’s why our SEO professionals keep metadata for every page on the website in mind. A detailed checklist that follows the metadata rules, combined with Webflow SEO tools, allows us to ensure that every page on the new website has the right metadata. 

During the process of updating and after we finish the essentials, we thoroughly perform the audit to double-check that nothing’s missing.

#5 Doubled Content Issues

As we said, marketers should ensure professionals migrate to keep SEO successful. Last but not least, SEO risk is a common situation that can happen during the switch to Webflow. The fifth SEO risk is duplicated content. 

This SEO mistake can happen when identical or similar content appears on multiple website pages. This is a common risk because search engines may penalize the website for duplicate content. Double content can confuse SEO algorithms, damaging the search engine's success. 

We handle this SEO risk by auditing the content of your original website before and during the migration process. With canonical tags, we help search engines know which version of a page to prioritize, and we continue using Webflow CMS tools to avoid duplicates.

Yes, SEO Success Is Possible after a Webflow Migration!

Addressing these common SEO risks can help you migrate to Webflow with confidence. 

Our experienced SEO experts will work closely with you to ensure a smooth transition and protect your website's online visibility. 

Ready to take your website to the next level? Contact Veza Digital today! We will guide you through our Webflow migration service, helping you achieve your marketing goals.

Will I lose my SEO rankings?

Many users are concerned about losing their search engine rankings during a website migration. If done correctly, a Webflow migration will preserve metadata, URL structures, and set up 301 redirects to ensure a seamless transition and protect SEO rankings.

How long does a WordPress to Webflow migration typically take?

Migrating to Webflow can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months, depending on the size and complexity of the new site. This includes redesign, pages, animations, etc.

Can I customize my website beyond Webflow’s built-in features?

Yes! Webflow offers a wide range of built-in tools, and many users can add custom code or integrate external services for advanced customization. Webflow is constantly innovating and improving built-in features so that new solutions will be natively available in the future.