At Frenco, our Shopify Experts specialize in helping big brands switch from Magento to Shopify plus. We’ve been doing this for four years, and we understand why many companies are making the move.
Magento was once a popular choice for starting an online store, but as businesses grow, they often find it too cumbersome and limiting. It demands a lot of manual updates, which can interrupt sales, making it suitable if you have your tech team.
The move to Shopify, especially to Shopify Plus, is an intelligent decision for stability and support. Ensuring a smooth Magento to Shopify Plus migration is crucial.
We’ve seen companies struggle after a poorly managed Magento to Shopify Plus migration, losing a lot of online visibility. Fortunately, we could fix these issues, but it took six stressful months. Proper planning and execution are crucial to avoiding these problems, and it’s best done with a team of Shopify Plus Experts.
For those with smaller budgets or who prefer to handle things themselves, our specialists at Frenco have detailed the entire Magento to Shopify Plus migration process. This guide will help you manage your transition smoothly and effectively.
A checklist to help with the Magento to Shopify migration:
Moving your store from Magento to Shopify Plus usually takes 1 to 3 months. After the migration, monitoring your website for an extra month is a good idea to ensure your SEO positioning remains strong. This careful approach helps ensure your site performs well in search rankings during and after the transition.
① Understanding Migration Risks
Migrating from Magento to Shopify Plus comes with risks, the biggest being the potential loss of your Google search ranking. Since many websites get 30% to 70% of their visitors from Google’s free search results, losing your SEO position could mean losing sales that don’t cost you marketing.
To ensure a smooth transition without hurting your SEO, carefully redirect all traffic to your new Shopify Plus site. Following each step of the Magento to Shopify Plus migration checklist is vital. If you need clarification on the process, it’s wise to contact us at Frenco. We can guide you through the migration to avoid costly and sometimes irreversible errors.
Remember these SEO tips for a successful migration:
- Keep the content on your new Shopify site very similar to Magento’s.
- Use 301 redirects to guide users and Google to your new pages.
- Test everything once, then double-check the redirects to ensure all is well.
Handling these details carefully will help maintain your site’s visibility and effectiveness in attracting organic traffic.
② Build a Test Store First
When you are ready to move from Magento to Shopify, you can easily set up a development store by signing up for a free 14-day trial on Shopify.
Once your store is set up, installing the Excelify app is next. At Frenco, we often use this app to migrate Magento and Shopify products. It simplifies transferring data between the two platforms, making your migration smoother.
Using tools like Excelify and working with a Shopify Plus theme developer can ensure a seamless transition to your new Shopify store.
③ Move Your Products and Collections
Here’s how to migrate your products from Magento to Shopify using the Excelify app, simplified:
- Start in Magento: Log into your Magento account and use the CSV export feature under System → Import/Export → Export to download your product list. Name your file clearly, like “Magento_products_20201201_12345.csv”, to keep things organized.
- Upload to Excelify: Next, upload this file to the Excelify app. The app will recognize the file based on its name. Enter your Magento store’s primary domain (https://mystorename.com) to transfer images from Magento to Shopify.
- Testing: Consider selecting the ‘Dry Run’ option in Excelify to run a test. This helps ensure everything transfers correctly before you make it final. Once you’re ready, hit the Import button.
- Review the Results: Download the Import Results file from Excelify and check the details. You should see three sheets labeled Products, Smart Collections, and Redirects. Before moving forward, confirm that everything is accurate.
- Final Import: Re-upload the corrected file to Excelify to complete the migration. Your products will now appear in Shopify under Smart Collections.
Note: Due to differences between Magento and Shopify, not everything may transfer perfectly. For complex products, you might need assistance from a Shopify Plus agency. Always test with a few products first and maintain regular backups.
By partnering with a Shopify Plus agency like Frenco, you can enjoy additional benefits and expert help, ensuring a smooth transition to Shopify.
④ Handle Categories and Collections Smoothly
Excelify automatically sets up redirects for all your products when migrating from Magento to Shopify Plus. This means it will link all your old product URLs to the new ones on Shopify. It’s important to check a few to make sure they’re working correctly.
Top Tip: Keep an eye on product URLs that include special symbols, as these might not transfer properly.
Remember, Shopify has a URL structure different from Magento. During your Magento to Shopify migration, make sure to redirect all old URLs to the new Shopify format. This ensures your customers can find what they’re looking for without any issues. At Frenco, we can help you manage these changes smoothly.
⑤ Set Up Correct 301 Redirects for Products and Categories
After completing the migration steps, checking your product and category URLs is crucial to ensure they redirect correctly to the new Shopify site. At Frenco, we recommend having someone else do these checks—it’s often easier for a fresh pair of eyes to catch any mistakes.
Top Tip: Use Google Search Console to perform spot tests on your most important pages. This is a great way to confirm that everything functions as it should.
Partnering with a Shopify theme developer can also be beneficial. They can ensure your new site’s design works well with Shopify’s functionalities, enhancing your store’s overall performance and user experience.
⑥ Transfer Your Website Pages
Unfortunately, Excelify can’t handle this part, so you’ll need to manually create pages in Shopify and transfer the content from Magento. When setting up these pages at Shopify, copy all the details, including meta titles and descriptions. Then, set up 301 redirects for each page to correctly guide visitors to the new URLs.
For instance, if your Magento contact page was at www.mystorename.com/contact, you must redirect it to www.mystorename.com/pages/contact on Shopify.
Important Note: Failing to set up these redirects can result in losing the SEO value of the pages, and customers might end up on dead links. A Shopify Plus agency like Frenco can help ensure that all redirects are correctly implemented to maintain your site’s SEO integrity and user experience.
⑦ Ensure All Pages Are Properly Redirected with 301 Redirects
After each step, spot-check when moving pages from Magento to Shopify Plus. It may seem tedious, but it’s crucial to ensure everything is correctly redirected before proceeding. If something isn’t right, you’ll know exactly what needs fixing.
If you need help setting up redirects, please contact us at Frenco. Our professional Magento to Shopify migration service isn’t the cheapest, but our expertise is unmatched. We’ve successfully helped many businesses transition smoothly to Shopify, including over ten multimillion-dollar sites and a publicly listed company.
⑧ Migrate Your Blog Content
You can move your blog content from Magento (or WordPress) to Shopify using the Excelify app. First, export your blog content from Magento, then format it into a CSV file to import into Excelify.
Excel has a character limit of about 32,000 characters per cell, which might not fit an entire blog post. If you encounter this issue, you can find solutions and detailed instructions in their documentation here: Excelify Documentation.
After importing, manually set up redirects for each blog post; this ensures that the old URLs point to the new ones on Shopify correctly.
Top Tip: Old blogs often hold significant SEO value. As a Shopify theme developer, Frenco emphasizes carefully managing these redirects to preserve your site’s search rankings.
⑨ Confirm Blog Redirects with 301 Redirects
Check your blog posts and content on Shopify to ensure everything redirects correctly. If you find any errors, fix the redirects and check again. This step is crucial to ensure everything works as it should.
If you need help with the process, please get in touch with us at Frenco, a Shopify Plus agency. We’re here to ensure your migration goes smoothly.
⑩ Do a Spot Test Using Google Search Console
Once you’ve finished setting everything up, checking that everything functions correctly by conducting a spot test through Google Search Console is essential. Here’s how to do it:
- Choose your top 10 traffic-driving pages.
- Copy their URLs and append them to your Shopify domain.
- Ensure each URL redirects users to the correct content on Shopify. If any don’t redirect properly, you’ll need to revisit each step to find and fix the issues.
If you need help sorting out the redirects, contact us at Frenco. We specialize in Magento to Shopify Plus migrations and are here to help ensure your move is successful.
⑪ Complete a Full URL Check from XML Sitemap or Search Console
After confirming everything works in your spot test, you can thoroughly check all your URLs. A simple method is as follows:
- Download all Magento URLs from either Magento itself or Google Search Console.
- Place these URLs into a Google Sheet.
- Remove the password protection from your Shopify store.
- Add a new column for the Shopify URLs in the Google Sheet, using the concatenate function to link them with your Shopify domain.
Now, you can run a script to check the status codes of these URLs. At Frenco, we have our script, but many are available online. The script will display status codes for the Shopify URLs. Ideally, they should all show “code 200,” indicating that everything is set up correctly.
If any URL doesn’t show “code 200,” it means there’s a mistake, possibly missing content or redirects. In such cases, it’s often necessary to consult a Shopify Plus agency like Frenco, especially if you need a Shopify developer to resolve the issues.
⑫ Create the Look and Feel of Your Store
Next, focus on making your store look great and function smoothly. This includes the design and how well everything works, from how it handles user interactions to the backend processes.
Many people choose to work with a skilled Shopify designer or developer for this part. A seasoned Shopify expert can quickly tell you what needs to be done next, streamlining the entire process. Creating a checklist for this step could take hours and vary based on your specific setup, as each store’s needs are unique.
During your Magento to Shopify Plus migration, it’s crucial to consider all aspects of your store’s functionality and appearance to ensure a successful transition.
⑬ Migrate Your Customers Last
At this stage, your new Shopify store should be nearly ready to launch. All your content will have been moved over, and your backend setup should be complete.
Transferring your customers and orders is optional, but it can simplify things, especially if you have many returning customers. If you choose to migrate customer data and orders, Excelify provides clear instructions on how to do this. Alternatively, the Cart2Cart service is another option, though we recommend Excelify at Frenco.
It’s important to note that customer passwords will not transfer, so your customers must set up new passwords. Make sure to inform them of this change. Ideally, handle this step before you officially launch your store.
By teaming up with a Shopify theme developer, you can ensure your store functions well and looks great, providing a smooth transition for your customers.
⑭ Go Live and Keep the Old Site Accessible on a Subdomain
When you’re ready to launch your Shopify store, it’s crucial to keep your old Magento site accessible but on a subdomain. Contact your Magento hosting provider to help set this up. To prevent duplicate content issues, add a no-index tag to the old site.
Here’s what to focus on:
- Keep the Old Site for Admin Use: This is essential for accessing information or resolving issues with orders made during the migration.
- Update Your DNS Settings: When you switch to Shopify, update your DNS settings so your new site goes live. Afterwards, make the old site available on a subdomain. This sequence helps minimize downtime.
Check with your hosting provider to ensure they can assist on the transition day. Be aware that customers might briefly see either the old or new site during the DNS change. Also, there might be about 10 minutes of downtime while the SSL certificate is set up. For busy stores, try to do this during off-peak hours to affect fewer customers.
If you need help managing these changes, consider contacting a Shopify Plus agency like Frenco. We are available to assist you at every stage.
⑮ Monitor Your Site After Migration
After launching your Shopify site, here’s what you need to do to ensure a smooth transition:
- Check Setup: Make sure everything on your new site is functioning correctly.
- Manage Old Domain: Keep your old domain on a subdomain with a ‘no-index’ setting to avoid search engine duplicates.
- Update Google: Re-submit your sitemaps to Google to help it recognize the new structure of your site.
- Watch Your Rankings: Monitor your positions on Google for the next 2 to 6 weeks to see any significant changes.
- Check for Errors: Check Google Analytics for 404 errors, which indicate missed redirects. Correct these by redirecting to the relevant content.
- Archive the Old Site: Eventually, you can shut down and archive the old subdomain.
By partnering with Shopify and taking advantage of their partner benefits, Frenco can help make this process seamless and practical.
Conclusion:
Moving from Magento to Shopify Plus is challenging, and many things can go wrong. That’s why it’s often best to have a Shopify Plus Expert manage the process.
Trying to handle the migration alone could lead to missed redirects and a loss of valuable SEO and Google rankings, which take a lot of effort to build. If you choose to do it yourself, ensure you understand every step and don’t skip any.
At Frenco, we’ve migrated dozens of stores successfully without harming their SEO.
Please contact us if you need assistance with a smooth Magento to Shopify migration.
