Five Distinct Bodies of Work, Usually Done in Sequence
Each of these can stand on its own, but most consolidations move through all five in order, from inventory to long-term monitoring.
Content Audit & Inventory
Before anything else, we build a complete map of what exists. That means crawling every domain involved, pulling historical analytics and search console data where access allows, and cross-referencing it all against backlink reports.
The output is a working inventory: every URL, its content type, its current performance, and its overlap with equivalent pages on the other property. Nothing gets planned until this document exists.
- Full crawl of all properties involved, including subdomains
- Historical traffic and ranking pull for every indexed URL
- Backlink profile review at the page level, not just domain level
- Content overlap scoring between duplicate or near-duplicate pages
Redirect Architecture
Redirects are where equity is either preserved or quietly lost. We build one-to-one redirect maps wherever a clear destination exists, rather than relying on domain-level catch-alls that route everything to a homepage.
Each redirect is chosen with a specific reason attached: content match, category equivalence, or a documented decision to consolidate two pages into one. Chains are flattened wherever possible so signal doesn't degrade across multiple hops.
- Page-level redirect mapping, not blanket domain redirects
- Chain flattening to reduce hop count on every redirect path
- Documentation of the reasoning behind each mapping decision
- Staging environment testing before anything goes live
Editorial Consolidation
When two pages cover the same ground, merging them well requires more than deleting one and keeping the other. We look at which version search engines already trust, what language earned that trust, and how to combine the strongest elements of each.
This is editorial work, done by writers who understand search context, not just SEO mechanics divorced from readability. The result should read as one coherent voice, not a stitched-together compromise.
- Side-by-side content comparison before any merge decision
- Rewriting for a single, coherent brand voice across the merged page
- Preservation of keyword context that historically performed well
- Internal linking updates to reflect the new consolidated structure
- Style guide reconciliation between the acquiring and acquired teams
Technical Migration Support
Once the plan is set, execution happens in close coordination with your development team, not handed off blind.
Sitemap Restructuring
XML sitemaps rebuilt to reflect the consolidated architecture and submitted for recrawl once redirects are confirmed working.
Structured Data Updates
Schema markup reviewed and updated on merged pages so search engines can interpret the combined content accurately.
Internal Link Cleanup
Internal links across both properties updated to point at final destinations rather than relying on redirects to carry them.
Staged Rollout Planning
Migrations phased by content section where feasible, reducing the risk of a single large-scale crawl disruption.
Post-Migration Monitoring
The weeks after a migration go live are when most of the real signal appears. We track crawl activity, index coverage, and ranking movement closely during this window, flagging anything that deviates from the expected pattern.
If something needs adjusting, a redirect that isn't resolving cleanly, a page that isn't getting recrawled, we catch it early rather than months later when the fix becomes harder to trace.