# SEO Migration Research

## Harrowfield Retail — Magento to Shopify Migration

Synthesised from project kickoff and technical scoping sessions, February 2026  
Prepared by Cairnwell Consulting · March 2026

## Migration Scope

**Current Platform:** Magento 2.4  
**Target Platform:** Shopify Plus  
**Total URLs:** 12,400  
**Total Products:** 3,200  
**Monthly Organic Traffic:** 145,000 sessions  
**Project Timeline:** 12 weeks  
⚠ **Estimated traffic at risk without proper migration:** 40–60%

## Pre-Migration Audit Checklist

| Task                                               | Status      |
|----------------------------------------------------|-------------|
| Crawl current site with Screaming Frog            | Complete    |
| Export all current URL structures                  | Complete    |
| Identify top 500 URLs by organic traffic           | Complete    |
| Map current meta titles & descriptions             | Complete    |
| Document current canonical tag setup                | In Progress |
| Audit internal linking structure                     | In Progress |
| Identify structured data / schema markup            | In Progress |
| Benchmark Core Web Vitals (Lighthouse)             | Not Started  |
| Audit current backlink profile                       | Not Started  |
| Document all current redirect rules                  | Not Started  |

## URL Mapping Strategy

All 12,400 URLs mapped across four content types. Full mapping document maintained in shared drive.

| Content Type     | URLs  |
|-------------------|-------|
| Category Pages    | 240   |
| Product Pages     | 3,200 |
| Blog Posts        | 680   |
| Landing Pages     | 47    |

| Old URL                                         | New URL                               | Redirect               | Priority  |
|------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|------------------------|-----------|
| /mens/footwear/trainers                        | /collections/mens-trainers            | 301                    | Critical  |
| /products/nike-air-max-2024                    | /products/nike-air-max-2024          | No redirect needed      | Critical  |
| /blog/summer-style-guide                        | /blogs/news/summer-style-guide        | 301                    | High      |
| /sale/clearance                                 | /collections/sale                      | 301                    | High      |
| /brand/adidas                                   | /collections/adidas                    | 301                    | Medium    |

## Content Preservation Priorities

Ranked by traffic value and revenue attribution

| Content Type          | URLs  | Monthly Traffic | Revenue Attribution | Priority  |
|-----------------------|-------|-----------------|---------------------|-----------|
| Product Pages         | 3,200 | 68,000/mo       | £420,000/yr         | Critical  |
| Category Pages        | 240   | 42,000/mo       | £310,000/yr         | Critical  |
| Blog / Editorial      | 680   | 22,000/mo       | £48,000/yr          | High      |
| Brand Landing Pages   | 47    | 8,500/mo        | £75,000/yr          | High      |
| Faceted Navigation URLs| ~8,200| 4,500/mo       | N/A                 | Medium    |
| Total                 | 12,400| 145,000/mo      | £853,000+/yr        |           |

## Risk Assessment

| Risk                                          | Likelihood | Impact      | Mitigation                                     |
|-----------------------------------------------|------------|-------------|------------------------------------------------|
| Loss of indexed URLs post-launch              | High       | Critical    | 301 redirect validation run on Day 1        |
| Ranking drops for top-20 pages               | High       | Critical    | Traffic monitoring daily for 30 days         |
| Broken internal links post-migration         | Medium     | High        | Automated link audit tool — Day 1           |
| Faceted nav URLs not redirected               | Medium     | High        | Crawl & map all faceted URLs pre-launch     |
| Core Web Vitals regression                     | Low        | Medium      | Staging environment Lighthouse audit         |

🚨 Two critical risks identified — pre-launch validation is non-negotiable.

## Migration Timeline

| Week | Tasks                                        |
|------|----------------------------------------------|
| W1   | Full crawl, URL mapping, redirect rules, content audit |
| W5   | Shopify staging, redirects, SEO QA, CWV, GSC |
| W12  | Go live                                      |
| Post | Index checks, weekly reporting, CWV monitoring|

## Post-Migration Monitoring Plan

First 90 days — daily, weekly, and monthly checks

| Check                                    | Frequency            | Tool                   | Owner | 
|-------------------------------------------|----------------------|------------------------|-------|
| Index coverage & crawl errors             | Daily                | Google Search Console | TC    |
| Organic traffic vs baseline               | Daily                | Google Analytics 4    | TC    |
| 301 redirect validation                   | Daily (Wk 1), Weekly (Wk 2–4) | Screaming Frog       | TC    |
| Core Web Vitals                           | Weekly               | PageSpeed Insights / CrUX| Dev   |
| Keyword ranking changes                    | Weekly               | Semrush / Ahrefs       | TC    |
| Backlink profile check                    | Monthly              | Ahrefs                 | TC    |

**TC = Cairnwell Consulting**

Target: Return to baseline organic traffic within 30 days. Full recovery within 90 days.