Managing Search, Managing Change

Managing Change: New Team Builds New CMS

• Team created to build new CMS

• Many SEO features

• When the CMS is completed, which domain to use?

Domain Change: Going off Go.com

• Scope: Move 250 sites to a new domain in 12 months

Domain Change: SEO Risks Identified

• Changing domains would have unknown algorithm repercussions

• Disney.com network split across two domains during migration

Domain Change: Internal Communication

• SEO team very visible during CMS development

• Communicated by writing and in person the risks of changing domains

• Set expectations for rough launch

Domain Change: Launch Plan

• Use online collaboration tools

• Stage and test redirects pre launch

• Immediately change all internal signals (internal navigation, internal links, sitemaps, etc.)

• Immediately change all external signals (vanity domains, Wikipedia, Freebase, etc.)

• Submit new XML sitemaps to Google and Bing within minutes (kept up old XML sitemaps too)

Domain Change: Last Minute Challenges

• Organizational changes

• SEO features go missing in prelaunch checks

• Not all content ready to migrate (=site split between two domains)

• Jeff’s hard drive fails 3 days before launch

• Two war rooms about 5 miles apart

Domain Change: Migration Lessons Learned

• Sites that gradually moved over saw drop in organic traffic

• Sites that cut over cleanly did not see major loss in organic traffic

• Google does not always honor rel canonical tag

• Major platform improvements may outweigh moving to a weaker domain

• Migrations may affect other sites on older domain

Domain Change: Migration Lessons Learned

• Get involved early and often

• Measure before and after

• Manage risk with written migration/launch plans & checklists

• Stay calm during launch (be prepared for problems)

Organizational Change: Acquisitions

• Welcome new team members warmly

• Audit sites immediately

• Meet one-on-one with key players regularly

• Be prepared for questions

• Empathy

Organizational Change: Invite to Act

• People respond better to invitations

• Be convincing rather than commanding

• Remember: Meet one-on-one with key players as needed

Organizational Change: New Leadership

• Onboard immediately

• Understand leaders background before approaching

• Seize opportunity to learn from someone new

Organizational Change: New Team Members

• Welcome warmly

• Onboard immediately

• Understand backgrounds and strengths

• Offer opportunities to grow

• Hold accountable

Managing Change: Attitude

• Have a positive mental attitude toward your leadership, organization, and sites

• Take personal responsibility for results

• Be calm. Be patient. Be willing to learn as you go.

Jeff Preston

@JeffreyPreston

https://twitter.com/jeffreypreston

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypreston

Thank You!