Ryno Systems
A multi-stage site migration pays off with a 20% increase in clicks
20%
increase in traffic after site migration
30%
increase in impressions after site migraiton
01
The brief
RYNO, a market leader in high-performance decking and paving systems, underwent a major rebranding that included a complex website migration to a new rynosystems.com domain.
Migrations like these pose a significant threat to established website traffic and revenue.
The project involved both a content migration of existing pages as well as a domain migration from rynogroup.co.uk to rynosystems.com.
As their digital marketing agency since 2022, we developed a meticulous migration strategy, working with their developers and internal teams to protect their online visibility and ensure a seamless transition.
The challenge
02
Protecting the bottom line
Even perfectly run migrations can result in temporary drops in organic traffic.
As a general rule, a worst-case scenario for a well-run migration would be a reduction in organic traffic over a period of twelve weeks, with a peak drop of around 20%.
Our challenge was to assess the risk for Ryno, reduce each stage’s complexity and implement a plan to protect their existing traffic.
The strategy
03
Risk analysis
Using Google Search Console, we started by calculating the ratio of ‘brand’ vs ‘non-brand’ search queries. 'Brand' queries (e.g., 'ryno', 'terrasmart') are low-risk as there is far less competition.
In contrast, 'non-brand' queries, which would be responsible for the most migration-related traffic loss, are considered high-risk because competitors will be positioned to take your place in the search results.
We found that 25% of Ryno’s traffic came from non-brand searches – these would become the main focus of the migration strategy.
04
Preserving link equity
To protect this site’s traffic and ranking, we conducted a comprehensive backlink profile analysis to ensure that all pages are redirected correctly, preventing any valuable backlinks from being broken in the process.
For Ryno, this included the correct redirecting of URLs, images and, importantly, resources that serve as lead generation tools. This redirect mapping process also allowed us to clear up the technical debt of pre-existing redirect chains and broken links.
05
Strategic separation
When discussing how to approach the migrations with Ryno’s internal and the external development team, we advised that the content and domain migrations should take place in distinct phases.
Our phased plan helped reduce the complexity of the migration process –identifying and diagnosing the sources of any problems would have been far more complicated if both migrations had happened at the same time
This strategic separation allowed for easier troubleshooting and also significantly reduced the risk of compounding issues that could affect the site’s traffic.
06
The results
For Ryno, traffic had not only recovered within the first three months after the migration but continued to increase and surpass the pre-migration levels.
Looking at year-on-year data over a slightly longer timeframe, we can see significant and continued growth for the new domain.
From January 2024, four months before the migration, to January 2025, eight months after the migration, we saw a 20% year-on-year increase in clicks and a 30% year-on-year increase in impressions.
This migration shows that with the right risk assessment, asset prioritisation and strategic approach, a multi-stage website migration can provide an opportunity for growth and further success, not just the prevention of traffic loss.
