Over our 16 years in business building data feeds for retail clients, we've experienced quite a number of ecommerce replatforms. Our #1 recommendation on this is to plan for problems. There's always going to be something that comes up, but hopefully with preparation and awareness it will be minimal.
Here are things we've observed over the years to help you stay ahead:
- Losing Google Merchant Center Site Verification & Claim: Make sure your new site has the proper verification setup carried over from the previous site. (see more here)
- Missing Robots.txt: Make sure your new site allows Google to crawl it with proper robots.txt implementation. (see more here)
- Source Feed File Changes: Even if product data will not be changing, the change from one platform to another does come with other backend changes. Have your feed provider review the new source feed file(s) ahead of time to make proper adjustments.
- Missing Pixels: Double check all tracking pixels were carried over properly to the new site.
- Initial Traffic Loss: Expect click drops for about 1-4 days after transition - this is normal.
- Plan For Any Downtime During Switch Over: If there will be any gaps in time where both old and new sites are offline, make sure to let Google know. (see more here)
- Set Up URL Redirects: All old product pages should have a 301 HTTP redirect in place for those bookmarked, saved, or cached links floating around.
- Have a Rollback Strategy Just in Case.