CASE · E-COMMERCE, POOL
Pool e-commerce: the SEO work behind a platform migration
When a pool e-commerce retailer switched platform and built a new site, we took care of the SEO side, so the move wouldn't erase years of rankings. We drove the catalogue consolidation, mapped every redirect before launch and built E-E-A-T and AI search into the new structure. Three months after the move the site sits in a planned re-evaluation phase with stable domain strength and a clear early recovery.
Client: E-commerce retailer in pools and pool accessories · Timeframe: 3 months post-migration
- Industry
- E-commerce, pools and pool accessories
- Market
- Sweden
- Migration
- Legacy CMS to WordPress and WooCommerce
- Our role
- The SEO side: consolidation, technical and AI search
~80%
of the catalogue consolidated deliberately
Stabil
domain strength through the entire migration
+116%
recovery in June after the migration dip
The starting point
A pool e-commerce retailer was about to switch platform and build a new site, from an older CMS to WordPress and WooCommerce. The biggest risk in a move like that is rarely the technology itself, it's that years of hard-won rankings vanish in the switch. Our job was to make sure they didn't.
The old build also carried SEO debt. On the older system, controlling metadata, titles and structure at scale was cumbersome. And the assortment had ballooned: several thousand products, many of them discontinued, seasonal or duplicated, diluted internal link power and created thin content that competed with itself. The breadth made the site bigger, not stronger.
The migration was therefore not just a technical project, it was the chance to clean the foundation: consolidate the assortment and rebuild for both classic and AI-based search, at the same time as the move. All the decisive SEO work had to happen before launch, not after.
What we did
A migration is decided by what happens before launch, not after. We took the SEO side in order: first we decided what would survive the consolidation, then every redirect was mapped, and only then did the move go live, with E-E-A-T and AI search built into the new structure.
Consolidation on an SEO basis
We went through the whole assortment and separated the pages that rank and sell from the thin, duplicated and discontinued ones. The catalogue was cut from several thousand items to just over a thousand, a reduction of around 80 percent, so that link power gathered instead of being spread thin.
301 strategy before launch
Every removed URL was mapped to its right target before the move went live, not after, and existing metadata was carried over intact. That is how a new site inherits the old one's strength instead of starting from square one.
E-E-A-T in the structure
We built credibility signals into the structure itself: Schema Markup in the global header so they're exposed consistently across the whole site, and at page level. Content was tied to a named, credentialed expert with a dedicated expert page, so that Google and AI models can see who stands behind the advice.
Built for AI search
The pages got FAQs designed for AI search and extractable answer sections, so AI models can more easily pull out and cite the right content. Visibility in AI-generated answers is tracked continuously, not guessed.
Measurement as decision basis
The recovery is tracked month by month on the metrics that matter: top 3 positions, the broad product terms that slipped, and that the 301 mapping gives full power transfer with no remaining chains. A basis for decisions, not a status update.
Disciplines in the assignment
Read more about the method
The outcome
The move went technically clean. Domain strength held stable through the entire migration, the redirects were in place before launch and the metadata came along intact. That is the foundation that lets a site dip temporarily without collapsing.
Then came the expected dip. When around 80 percent of product pages are decommissioned at once, traffic drops, and that should be read as a planned transition cost, not a failure. The bottom was reached in May, and June turned clearly upward with a recovery of 116 percent against the bottom, though the level is still below the starting point.
The pattern is typical of a site mid-re-evaluation: guiding and informational keywords climb and benefit from the E-E-A-T and AI search work, while a couple of broad product terms have slipped for now and form the clearest action list ahead. With a consolidated structure, E-E-A-T in place and content built for AI models, the site stands considerably better equipped for next-generation search. June is the first confirmation, next quarter decides the payoff.
Learnings
- A migration is decided before launch. Map the redirects and metadata right before the move, and the new site inherits the strength instead of starting over.Read more: SEO in a platform migration: move without losing your rankings
- Less can rank more. Cutting thin content gathers link power on the pages that actually sell.Read more: Smaller catalogue, stronger SEO: when fewer pages rank better
- A traffic dip after a big migration is expected. Google's re-evaluation takes months, not days, and patience is part of the plan.
- E-E-A-T and AI search are built into the structure, not on top of it. Schema and a clear author make the content citable in AI answers.Read more: How to stay visible when AI writes the answers
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