Migrating to Shopify is one of the highest-ROI projects an e-commerce business can undertake — but done carelessly, it destroys years of SEO equity and customer data. This guide walks through every stage of a safe, structured migration.
Platforms This Guide Covers
The process below applies to migrations from Magento 1 and 2, WooCommerce, OpenCart, and BigCommerce. The data structures differ, but the stages are identical: audit, export, import, redirect, test, monitor.
Stage 1: Pre-Migration SEO Audit
Before touching anything, crawl your existing site with Screaming Frog or Sitebulb. Export every URL that returns a 200 status. Note which pages have significant backlinks (check Ahrefs or Google Search Console). These are the URLs you must protect with 301 redirects. Also export your current Core Web Vitals baseline from Google Search Console so you can measure impact post-migration.
Stage 2: Data Migration Checklist
Migrate data in this order to avoid relationship errors:
- Products and variants (SKUs, prices, images, metafields)
- Collections and categories
- Customer records (name, email, address — not card data, which cannot be migrated)
- Historical orders (for reporting; these are imported as read-only)
- Blog posts and pages (for SEO equity)
- Redirects (built from your URL audit)
For large catalogues, use the Matrixify (formerly Excelify) app — it handles bulk imports via CSV with error logging, making it far more reliable than Shopify’s native import tool.
Stage 3: 301 Redirects Framework
Map every old URL to its Shopify equivalent before going live. Common patterns: /catalog/category/womens-shoes → /collections/womens-shoes; /product/red-dress → /products/red-dress. Upload redirects via Shopify’s bulk redirect importer (Navigation > URL Redirects > Import). Missing a redirect on a page with strong backlinks can cost significant organic ranking within weeks.
Our team manages this end-to-end — see OneOnic’s Shopify migration service for a full scope of what is included.
Stage 4: Post-Migration Monitoring
Watch Google Search Console daily for two weeks post-launch. You are looking for: a spike in 404 errors (missed redirects), a drop in indexed pages, and any crawl anomalies. Set up an uptime monitor on your five highest-traffic URLs. Check organic click data weekly for the first month.
Timeline and Cost by Platform
| Source Platform | Typical Timeline | Complexity | Estimated Agency Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| WooCommerce (small, <500 products) | 2–3 weeks | Low | £1,500–£3,000 |
| WooCommerce (large, >500 products + customisations) | 4–6 weeks | Medium | £3,000–£8,000 |
| OpenCart | 3–4 weeks | Medium | £2,500–£5,000 |
| BigCommerce | 3–5 weeks | Medium | £3,000–£6,000 |
| Magento 1 or 2 | 6–12 weeks | High | £6,000–£20,000+ |
Frequently Asked Questions
Will I lose my Google rankings when I migrate to Shopify?
A well-executed migration with complete 301 redirects, preserved meta titles and descriptions, and matching content should see minimal ranking loss. Some fluctuation in the first two to four weeks is normal. Sites that skip redirects or change content significantly can take three to six months to recover.
Can I migrate customer passwords to Shopify?
No. Shopify uses its own hashed password system and cannot import passwords from other platforms. You can import customer records, and Shopify will prompt customers to set a new password on their first login attempt. Communicate this to customers in advance to avoid confusion.
Should I migrate to Shopify Plus or standard Shopify?
Standard Shopify plans are sufficient for most businesses turning over under £1M annually. Shopify Plus makes sense when you need custom checkout scripting, higher API rate limits, multiple storefronts, or dedicated support. Do not upgrade solely based on product count — the catalogue size limit is not a differentiator between plans.
Ready to Grow Your Shopify Store?
Our Shopify experts at OneOnic have helped hundreds of brands launch, optimise, and scale. Let’s talk about your project.
