Migrating to Shopify
What moves, what silently does not, and how to keep search rankings through a replatform. Written from migration work rather than from a template.
Migration problems rarely come from the data that moves — products and customers are visible and testable. They come from what nobody noticed was not moving, and from a redirect map treated as a launch-day task.
These articles cover both: the ranking side and the operational side.
Articles on this topic
WooCommerce to Shopify migration: what moves, what you rebuild and how to keep your rankings
Products, customers, orders and blog posts move across. Plugins, variable products with many attributes, subscriptions and URLs need decisions. The step-by-step plan we use, and the redirect map that protects your traffic.
BigCommerce to Shopify migration: what moves, what changes and how to keep your rankings
Products, customers and orders move across cleanly. Options, customer groups, reviews and URLs need decisions — here is what changes and the redirect plan that protects your traffic.
Moving from Squarespace or Wix to Shopify without losing traffic
Products, customers and orders export cleanly; URLs, blog content and SEO settings are where these migrations go wrong. The plan that keeps your traffic.
Magento 2 to Shopify: The Complete Migration Checklist
Magento's maintenance burden pushes many merchants to Shopify. Here is how to move products, customers, orders and — critically — rankings without losing anything.
Migrating to Shopify without losing rankings: the redirect plan
Most replatform traffic losses are not caused by Shopify. They are caused by a redirect map built after launch instead of before it. What the map has to cover, and in what order.
What actually breaks in a Shopify migration
Migration problems rarely come from the data that moves. They come from what nobody noticed was not moving. The pre-launch checklist.
Frequently asked questions.
Is a traffic drop after replatforming unavoidable?
No. In almost every case the loss traces to a redirect map built after the new URLs existed rather than before, so it could only react to whatever structure the new store happened to produce.
Do customer passwords transfer?
Never — from any platform to any other, because passwords are stored irreversibly. Customers reset on the new store, and that has to be communicated before launch.
Does the store go offline during migration?
It should not. The new store is built behind a password, verified, and only then does the domain switch. The cutover window is short and planned.