Changing platform without losing what matters

The typical need

A migration becomes necessary for various reasons: a CMS version reaching end of support, a platform that no longer keeps up with the business's needs, a strategic shift to a different ecosystem. The stated need is almost always the same: making the change without losing what has value — the SEO rankings built up, order history, customer accounts, sometimes specific modules or features developed over time.

How I approach this kind of work

I start with an audit of what exists: what absolutely must be kept, what can be rebuilt differently, what can be dropped because it's no longer useful. This audit avoids reproducing technical choices that no longer make sense, while securing what genuinely matters for the business.

The most sensitive point is almost always SEO: every existing URL needs to be accounted for, with an appropriate redirect to its equivalent on the new platform, so as not to lose the SEO work built up over the years. I set up a cutover plan with checks at each step rather than a single one-shot change, to catch a problem before it durably affects traffic or sales. Depending on the data volume, migrating order history and customer accounts also needs particular attention to the integrity of the transferred data.