0
Targeted downtime on production cutover
100%
SEO rankings preserved post-migration
15+
Years of production migration experience
What makes website migrations go wrong — and how we prevent it
SEO rankings lost during domain or URL changes
The most common migration disaster: 301 redirects not set up correctly, canonical tags wrong, or sitemap not updated. Rankings built over years can vanish in days. Every migration I run includes a pre-migration URL audit, redirect map, canonical verification, and post-migration Google Search Console crawl confirmation.
Data loss during database migration
Schema changes, charset mismatches (utf8 vs utf8mb4), and missing foreign key constraints cause silent data corruption. I run parallel database environments during the migration window, full data integrity checks on every table, and a documented rollback procedure that can be executed in under 30 minutes.
Downtime during the cutover window
Most website migrations do not require downtime. I use blue-green deployments, DNS TTL pre-lowering, and staging environment testing to ensure the production cutover is a DNS flip — not a maintenance window. For high-traffic sites, I run the migration during off-peak hours with a live monitoring dashboard.
Third-party integrations breaking post-migration
Payment gateways, CRM hooks, email triggers, and API dependencies all need to be mapped before the migration, not discovered after. I build a full dependency map before any migration starts, test every integration in staging, and have contingency procedures for each one.
What this engagement covers
- CMS migrations — WordPress to custom, Drupal to headless, Joomla to Laravel
- Framework migrations — CodeIgniter to Laravel, PHP 5 to PHP 8, jQuery to React
- Platform migrations — Shopify to WooCommerce, WooCommerce to custom e-commerce, Magento to Laravel
- Infrastructure migrations — on-premise to AWS / GCP / Azure, bare metal to containerized (Docker/K8s)
- Database migrations — MySQL charset upgrades, PostgreSQL migrations, MongoDB to relational
- Domain migrations — multi-domain consolidations, subdomain to subfolder, HTTP to HTTPS
- SEO-safe migrations — redirect mapping, canonical verification, post-migration GSC audits
- Zero-downtime deployment — blue-green, rolling, and canary deployment strategies
Frequently asked questions
How long does a website migration take?
It depends heavily on scope. A simple CMS content migration (WordPress to WordPress, new host) can be 1–3 days. A full platform rewrite — legacy PHP to Laravel with database restructuring and third-party integrations — typically runs 4–12 weeks. I scope every migration with a phased plan: discovery (1 week), staging migration (2–4 weeks), testing (1–2 weeks), and production cutover (1 day). You get a timeline before a contract is signed.
Will my Google rankings be affected by the website migration?
Not if the migration is done correctly. The risks are well-known: incorrect 301 redirects, missing canonical tags, URL structure changes without proper redirect mapping, and sitemap gaps. My migration process includes a pre-migration URL audit, a complete redirect map, canonical and hreflang verification, and a post-migration Google Search Console crawl review within 24 hours of going live. In every migration I have run, organic traffic returned to pre-migration levels within 2–4 weeks.
What is the cost of website migration services in the Philippines?
Migration projects are scoped and quoted on a fixed-price basis after a discovery call. Typical ranges: simple CMS/hosting migration: ₱25,000–₱75,000 ($500–$1,500). Full platform rewrite migration: ₱250,000–₱1,500,000 ($5,000–$30,000) depending on codebase size and complexity. Infrastructure migration to AWS/GCP: ₱100,000–₱500,000 ($2,000–$10,000). All quotes include rollback planning, SEO preservation, and post-migration support.
Can you migrate a website without any downtime?
Yes, for the vast majority of migrations. The technique is a blue-green deployment: build the new environment in parallel, test thoroughly, then flip DNS. With DNS TTL pre-lowered (1 hour before cutover), the actual switchover is near-instant. The only migrations that require a true maintenance window are ones involving database schema changes that cannot be run in parallel — and even those can be minimized to 5–15 minutes with the right migration strategy.
Do you handle migrations for Australian, US, and Canadian clients?
Yes — the majority of my migration clients are overseas. Migrations are well-suited to async remote work: I set up staging, share access for client review, and handle the cutover during off-peak hours (which can be aligned to your local business hours). I have run migrations for AU, US, and CA clients across all timezones without requiring real-time presence from the client side.
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