AuthorRichard Beavis
LinkedIn
This article covers eCommerce SEO Tips, Tricks and Fundamentals for rebranding or merging companies, with additional eCommerce SEO advice when performing migrations as part of the rebrand.
Why Do Companies Consider Rebranding?
Rebranding & mergers are common tactics used throughout all types of businesses globally. In the UK, 74% of UK S&P100 companies have rebranded within their first 7 years. There are typically three reasons why a company might rebrand:
- The target audience has changed naturally over time, meaning brand, value proposition and product offering have become outdated for the current market.
- There is a need to reposition in the market, often due to increased competition levels, changes in processes, laws or technological advances.
- There are negative connotations associated with the current brand.
In eCommerce, one common example is shifts in consumer awareness towards sustainability & environmental issues, and away from price. A study conducted by Mckinsey & Company also found that products making environmental, social, and governance claims (ESG) received 28% growth over a 5 year period, compared to non-ESG products which only grew 20%.
Mergers, closely associated with rebranding, often happen due to a subsidiary company being incorporated by the parent company, or a sister company. However, without careful consideration and planning for SEO, business performance can be severely impacted during mergers and rebrands.
Risk is highest when organic revenue makes up a large portion of all channel revenue. Organic performance itself can be hugely impacted, especially if brand or non brand keywords are a large driver of revenue for the business. Also be sure to consider seasonality, and avoid migrating up to 3 months before peak season.
UNIQLO overlooked SEO, during a recent migration, and recorded a -66% drop in UK organic visibility (keyword visibility). The graph below shows their Sistrix visibility dropping dramatically around August 2024.
SEO Risks of Rebranding & How to Mitigate
Below is an overview of an effective SEO strategy to rebrand in eCommerce, with the risks & risk mitigation tips to consider throughout the change. This includes domain name changes as part of migrations. This article is specifically focused on rebrand or mergers, but for SEO Migration Risks and Tips, read this guide. There are 3 stages to the SEO process of rebranding or merging an eCommerce business:
- Research & Data Collection
- Understanding the changes considered by the company such as name, product and collection changes.
- Scoping out risks associated based on brand & non brand keyword research, and international SEO considerations.
- Confirming any change of markets, or platforms as part of the rebrand.
- Technical & Content SEO Requirements
- Ensuring organic performance of the old brand/website is translated to the new brand/website, and any current performance is not impacted, through Technical SEO requirements such as hreflang, and content requirements such as home page content, metadata and schemas.
- Redirect mapping - required if collections and product names are changing. For more information on redirect mapping for more complex rebranding or migrations, see our guide to migrations here.
- Informing Google ahead of time of the considered change in brand.
- Launch of New Site & Redirection of Old Site
- Redirecting the old brand domain to the new domain, and collections / products if needed. If no URLs or products are changing, and the site is a mirror of the old site, us a server level redirect to implement the domain redirects, although always have a full list of the old URLs ready to crawl before you do this. On launch, crawl the old URLs to make sure they are all redirecting correctly.
- If URLs are going to change, you can find information on redirect mapping for more complex rebranding or migrations, see our guide to migrations here.
SEO Research & Data Collection for Rebrands & Mergers
During this stage, it is crucial to understand the SEO risks and tasks associated with the proposed changes, to scope out the rebrand/merger.
Understanding the scope of the task
We first need to understand what exactly will be changing during the rebrand/merger. Common changes include:
- A change in platform, therefore a change in collection and product URL structure, which will require redirect mapping. A change in platform normally requires manual redirect mapping, if the site is large, this can be a time-consuming task (rebrand or merger).
- A change in product names, which will require redirect mapping (rebrand or merger)
- Any required redirects, or changes made to a parent or sister brand that will affect where redirects will point to. For example, if the parent brand is also re-platforming at the same time (merger only).
Understand the SEO risks associated of a merger or rebrand
Brand vs non brand clicks - Using Google search console data, and keyword research, to understand the brand vs non brand split of clicks associated with the site, and what keywords are driving organic clicks, to inform priorities across the rebrand project.
a) A high percentage of non-brand clicks will require careful redirection, and Tech & Content SEO set up on the new site to maintain rankings as best as possible when the new domain launched, which will have low authority.
b) A high percentage of brand clicks will require more focus on homepage content, to ensure that the new site can rank for the old brand term as effectively and quickly as possible.
c) Generate a list of the top 100 keywords driving traffic, to monitor performance, and understand organic priority pages. Check the search volumes for the brand in multiple markets, to distinguish where the brand is most searched for.
International SEO - Using Google search console data and backlinks analysis to understand the global presence of the old brand, and the new brand sites if a merger is being considered.
a) For example, if the new brand already exists, therefore a merger is being considered, use GSC and GA4 to understand the all channel performance of the parent company compared to the current site. If the parent traffic levels are much higher, we want to be aware of this, to not affect performance of this parent site.
b) Perform a backlink analysis to understand which country gains the most backlinks, as this can inform redirect strategy if the rebrand is moving in to multiple new markets.
c) Hreflang checks all the new brand sites and associated subdomains if a merger is in process.
d) Subdomains vs Subfolders decision - For SEO, Typically when migrating to a new site, it's best to use subfolders to maximise domain authority that passes between old and new sites. When subdomains are used, this splits the authority of the old site, giving a lower chance of ranking for keywords in the first 3-6 months post launch.
Example of international SEO being ignored, and performance dropping
a) We consulted a well known high-street brand during a migration. They had initially planned to consolidate four of their global stores built on subfolders (GB, EU, AU, US) into a single .com domain.
Based on our analysis, they stood to lose over 700k sessions and up to £1.9 million in revenue as a result of lost traffic as a direct result of this decision. Following discussions, this decision was later reversed and subsequent revenue retained.
This shows that a lot of migration & merger work is risk mitigation.
b) A client came to us asking for advice, when migrating a US site, which was then ignored. At the time they had strong US organic keyword visibility, which recorded an 86% reduction due to international SEO recommendations ignored.
Gathering the GA4 data top organic revenue driving pages of the current site, and parent site (if merging) to understand priority pages.
The above steps will help to create a project timeline (example below)
Image: Example of a timeline
Once the above data is gathered, risks analysed and a decision made on the approach on platforms & international SEO, such as subdomain or subfolder set up, the next phase can begin.
Content & Technical SEO Considerations for Rebrands & Mergers
Content & Meta Data Tips
Normally the main SEO risks associated with a rebrand or merger are a loss of brand clicks due to content. If Johndoe.com is changing to Orange.com then the loss in brand clicks will be “John Doe” as Google is unlikely to rank the new Orange.com for that keyword.
However, to ensure the new brand ranks for “John Doe” even after the old site is redirected, we can implement the below on the new staging site:
- Set up page titles and meta descriptions on the new site homepage to append the NEW & OLD brand. This can be done on all pages, but homepage is priority.
- This is my Company | Orange - Formerly John Doe
Value add - if you are moving to a completely new brand, page titles could be updated before migration date on the old brand site - in Shopify you can do this by changing the brand name to append to all titles “x soon to be y”
- Ensure the new homepage content is rich, with FAQs and content snippets that contain mentions of the old brand to help Google understand the change, when migration takes place.
- Consider using Paid search to bid on the old brand terms, if the new brand does rank immediately.
Note: If new subdomains are launched for the new brand, and they have not had the benefit of the old site being redirected to them, then it will be harder still to rank for the old brand term, so the above content tips are needed.
Technical SEO Tips
Map redirects from old brand pages to new pages - All Pages including PLPs and PDPs.
Redirecting old brand URLs to new brand URLs is the most important factor, as with any migration. Ensure full redirect mapping is completed, and that the homepage redirects to the new brand site or most relevant subdomain. In some cases, where platforms are staying the same normally, URL paths do not change, so simply find and replace the domain name on migration day and use a server level redirect:
If URL structures are changing because of a platform, such as Magento to Shopify migrations, then redirect mapping will take a large portion of project time. For more information on redirect mapping for more complex rebranding or migrations, see our guide to migrations here.
If you require support for a migration, take a look at our support services here, or have a look at a few of our case studies here and here!
Example of how redirect mapping can negatively impact organic performance if not done correctly.
Below shows an example of a client that migrated using an incomplete redirect mapping file, recording a drop of 45% keyword visibility. They had to then hire an SEO agency to recover these drops 6 months later.
Consider International SEO with popups, relative linking and Geo-location detection through IPs
Hreflang needs to be set up at a minimum on the new brand site, and any other markets the brand operates in.
Crawlable Popups and relative linking should be implemented, so that if a user lands on the wrong country site, they can easily navigate to the correct market. IP detection should be used to tailor the popup to the user's location, or not show at all if they are in the correct location. This is why it is important to understand where users come from in the Data research stage, as it can inform popup decisions too.
Avoiding cannibalisation in new markets - in some cases we might see the current brand site (if a merger is happening) already have a presence in a market, and that the new site is moving too. Ensure hreflang is implemented on PLPs and PDPs if this is the case.
Popups
A popup should be served, which can be the same as the international popup, to inform customers, and Google, of the change in brand name. Also, in case users have been logged out, direct users to easily find the new login area.
Schema should be implemented at homepage and PDP level.
Ensure that organisation schema is updated & implemented on the new site, to inform Google of the new brand changes. This will help the new brand rank for the old brand term.
Product or Product Variant Schema should be included on the new PDPs, and list schema for PLPs.
Review schema for PDPs is a value add in eCommerce.
Update Internal & External Linking, if Possible
Ensure internal links are implemented, and updated to reflect any new brand changes. Value add - reach out to publications to inform of the change in brand and update external backlinks to improve domain authority for the new site.
Allow Google to Crawl New Brand Ahead of Time
A key difference between a rebrand migration, and a normal migration, for SEO, is that we want Google to crawl the site 1 week before users can access it. The process for this is
- No-index the homepage and submit to a new GSC property - No users are expected to find or use the page. Ensure content is completed as per the above guidance.
- Do not add any internal links to the homepage, so Google can only crawl the homepage
- Do not submit the sitemap
- Relative linking needed if subdomains are used (so the homepages link to each other)
- Self referencing canonicals
- Robots allows crawling
The above steps will help Google understand the change, and rank the new site for the old brand terms. On launch day:
- Remove no-index rules and update header navigations to link out to pages as needed
- Hreflang implemented
- Redirect old site to new
- Popups, relative linking and currency selectors all updates across all sites
- Submit the homepage for crawling in GSC, ensuring sitemaps are submitted
Launch & Performance Monitoring
On launch, closely monitor the performance of any existing brand sites (if a merger is happening). Monitor closely the ranking of the old brand term, the goal is to rank 1st with the new brand site.
GSC Must do’s on Launch day
- Create new domain or subdomain properties
- Submit new sitemap to GSC
- Submit homepage for crawling and request indexing
- You will need to update the address of Google, under settings > change of address
- You might want to take a copy of the old sitemap, and tactically get google to crawl it (insert link to DC’s blog)
Crawl all old redirects, to ensure they point to the new site, and that these links are returning 200s and highlight any 404s. Monitor the indexation of URLs in GSC closely to ensure Google is discovering and ranking the new pages.
Google search console should be used to ensure users from the correct countries are landing on the correct pages. Revenue tracking in GA4 should also be monitored, to ensure conversions are not impacted.
Conclusion
When rebranding or merging, always assess the 3 main areas, and the risks outlined with them in this article, as early as possible in the project:
- Brand vs non brand clicks
- International SEO
- Priority pages based on GA4, GSC and SEO ranking data
Once the above considerations are made use a combination of on page SEO techniques and Technical SEO implementations on the new and old site. For example:
- Update page titles and meta descriptions on the new site homepage to append the NEW & OLD brand.
- Update homepage content to help the new homepage rank for the old brand.
- Map any redirects needed if the platform or URLs are changing. If it's just the domain/brand name that is changing, then a server level redirect will suffice. For more information on redirect mapping for more complex rebranding or migrations, see our guide to migrations here.
- Implement popups, hreflang, ip detection, (for geolocation targeting), currency selection
- Implement schema
- Allow Google to crawl new brand ahead of time through submitting for crawling, ensuring a no-index is applied and that no sitemap or other pages can be crawled, just the homepage.
- Monitor post launch performance through GSC, GA4 and non brand rankings
We’re here to help so get in touch by contacting hello@thisisnovos.com for more information, support or guidance!
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Referenced Sources