We switched the domain from www.blog.domain.com to domain.com/blog.

[arun.negi]

We switched the domain from www.blog.domain.com to domain.com/blog. This was done with the purpose of gaining backlinks to our main website as well along with to our blog. This set us very low in organic traffic and not to mention, lost the backlinks. For anything, they are being redirected to 301 code. Kindly suggest changes to bring back all the traffic.

[Nigel_Carr]

Hi Arun

It's certainly best practice to move to a root directory. As you say visitors are then coming to one domain, not a subdomain. All you need to do is page by page redirect through a 301. When you say they are being 'redirected to 301 code' this is perfectly OK. The 301 code just tells Google that the page has moved permanently.

It takes Google a short while to recognise the new pages as replacing the old ones and for that period you can see old and new in Google, causing a short period of duplication which could affect the rankings.

You just need to sit it out - by all means, do a Fetch in Search Console to help speed up the process.

Search Console>Crawl>Fetch as Google.

Regards

Nigel

[Roman-Delcarmen]

Let's separate your case in parts so is much easier to face the problem.

From my point of view, you did the right choice. But as any choice need some level of preparation.
(This a personal opinion based on my experience and knowledge, probably you know some or all of the tools and process I will mention, I prefer to mention instead of assuming that you know it)

1-Subdomains are Essentially a Different Website

When you use the blog.website.com subdomain solution, you are essentially setting up an entirely different website. And while it is true that Google will crawl and index both of them, you are limiting the full potential of your online marketing efforts.

When you separate your website and blog, it creates two separate entities that need your attention. And now, with things like Time On Site and Bounce rate contributing to your website rankings, you can’t let users spend their time on pages that Google sees as a different domain.

When your blog and website are properly integrated, on the other hand, Google will see that the traffic to your website as a whole continues to go up. This, to Google, translates as a website that has some obvious authority and deserves higher rankings.

As long as you keep your blog in a subdirectory or subfolder, it will keep the Google bots coming to your main website to recrawl and index your site over and over.

2- SEO Considerations For Any Website Migration

In my case to ensure that any website migration goes smoothly and leads to improved business, I follow these essential recommendations. In order to improve the user experience of your website, make sure you’re putting all of that valuable data to use by reviewing:

• Top-viewed website content – Make sure you aren’t cutting content your audience loves.
• Least-viewed website content – Even the best sites have some junk, take this opportunity to drop it or improve it.
• Click maps – Looking at where people are clicking (or trying to click) can help to design an intuitive and frustration free navigation interface.
• Paths to conversion – Regardless of what your website goals are (i.e. build subscribers, generate leads), understanding the paths which your visitors are taking to key conversion points can help to optimize these paths to make it easier and more enticing for visitors to convert into customers.

Web analytics tools that you need to check:

• Google Analytics
• Google Search Console
• Crazy Egg

Map Url Redirects

If your website has been around for any amount of time, there’s a good chance that you’ve built up search equity in the form of links and social shares. In addition to tight keyword optimization, these are the primary factors that help to increase the visibility of your content in search engines and since they are tied to the URLs on your site, a migration in domain or URL structure can snuff out the valuable search equity you’ve spent time and effort building

To avoid starting from SEO square one with your new website, it’s important to strategically implement 301 redirects from your old page URLs to the new ones, as this will effectively tell search engines where your new site pages are and that they are replacements for the old versions. In addition, it will ensure that people and bots who follow links to your old URLs will end up in the right place rather than an error page.

In order to map redirects effectively, start by documenting for all your existing pages:

• URL
• Page topic
• Target keyword
• Organic search traffic (I recommend looking at a minimum 6-month)
• Links to page
• keyword rank

Also document for your planned new site pages:

• URL
• Page topic
• Target keyword

Once you have these two lists compiled, the next step is to map each page on your current site to it’s planned new location on your soon-to-be-launched site. Redirect mapping isn’t rocket science, but it does take some thought (when done correctly). Fortunately, the previous exercise should give you all the information you need.

Of primary concern is topic relevance, in particular for highly trafficked and linked-to pages. When planning redirects, always consider what the experience of a visitor would be if they ended up on the redirect page rather than the original. Would it serve their needs as well or better than the old page? Would it feel confusing? Ideally, the new page should be such a seamless transition that people don’t even notice the switch.

Redirect mapping tools:

• OpenSiteExplorer – Links and social shares
• Google Analytics – Traffic
• SEMRush – Keyword rankings
• Microsoft Excel

Choose Ideal Timing
Even the best planned and executed website migrations come with some downtime and a temporary decrease in traffic (approx. 30%) and search rankings. It’s a price worth paying, as a new and improved website can drive significant improvements in business over an outdated and clunky site. However, it’s important to time the transition for when it’s likely to have the least amount of negative impact on your business.

The best time of year to implement a website migration is when business is likely to be the slowest. Companies vary in the degree of seasonality they experience, but most have a ‘slow season’. You probably already know when this is, but if not, take a look at your historic yearly web traffic or revenue patterns to determine when your slow season typically occurs.

As with time of year, it also makes sense to migrate your site on a slow day of the week during off hours. For many B2B focused websites, this is late on Friday or Saturday, but make sure to make the decision based on your own analytics, as every site and audience is different.

Analytics
As mentioned earlier, a temporary decrease of approximately 30% in website search traffic and visibility can be expected in the period immediately following a migration, but it’s very important to monitor closely to make sure it is indeed temporary and that things are headed in the right direction.

Make sure to keep a close eye on:

• Organic search traffic
• Visit bounce rate
• Conversion rates
• Keyword rankings

Crawl Errors
Generally, crawl errors like broken links, 404 not found pages or duplicate content will be at their lowest levels on a brand new site, but it’s still important to check and fix any errors, especially as this can be an indicator of a mistake during the migration.

There are many good automated crawl tools available, but make sure you use one that can find:

• Broken links and 400 error pages
• 500 error pages
• Duplicate content
• Inaccessible content

In Summary

A website migration may seem like a lot of work, and it most certainly is (when done correctly). But the potential payoffs in an improved experience for your site visitors and increased business for you are more than worth the investment.