Organic recovery? Organic growth!

SEO migration retrofit fix: method

We could see pretty clearly in the pre-project phase that Google had little understanding of the move. Also zonder Search Console access. We then discussed in a short kick-off with this client and the builder of the new platform what migrated and changed about the platform during going live. 

We then drafted the SEO migration recovery recommendation and discussed it with the developer in two stages:

• 1st actions
• Follow-up actions

Phase 1: initial actions

During this phase, we wanted to brief the most important technical changes to the developers in advance, as there was obviously no time to lose. We analysed:

• Search Console (page indexing)
• Crawls of the platform with Screaming Frog and Lumar

We also compared the new situation in terms of content on the main landings with information from the Web Archive. 

This roughly rolled out a number of recommendations:

• Internal linking via navigation referred to URL parameter URLs > adjust to clean URLs (across the whole website)
• Canonical tags referred to the part in the URL before the URL parameter > the internal link adjustment made the canonicals correct again
• URL parameters were excluded in Robots.txt > we removed this 'disallow' and after 3 weeks we implemented specific URL parameter exclusions
• There were many redirect chains > break up these chains and redirect directly to the final destination
• There were many redirects, but many of them were not specific enough > adjust redirects as yet and redirect to the most specific match possible (e.g. 'Audi RS3' not to 'Audi', but to 'Audi RS3')
• There were many 404s getting hits > the biggest 404s of these redirect to the correct new destination
• Updating the footer navigation again to focus on brands and models
• Content had disappeared on many pages, whereas it had not before going live > on key landings, reinstate this content (starting with brands and then brand + model)

Second phase

The first migration recovery phase revolved around the changes that were also going to directly affect crawling / indexing of the platform. In the second phase, we also included the other areas of improvement in a comprehensive plan. The main onder parts:

• Include vehicle detail pages in a separate XML Sitemap
• Self-referencing canonical tags on paginated pages
• Improve crawlability of paginated pages 
• 404s fix vehicle detail pages
• Resize images automatically
• Adjusting header structures
• Customise/implement structured data templates
• Adding appropriate content to key landings (type of cars, etc.)
• Cornerstone approach on brand pages
• Blog content written for top of the funnel onderwerp to link internally to key SEO landings

Changes from the first phase were also reflected in this, but these were onderween also partially addressed. We prioritised all possible areas for improvement (whether technical points or content improvements), so it was clear what we wanted to work on first.

Implementation and outcome

There was a test environment in place and fortunately a direct line ran from our customer team to the web builder. This meant we were able to quickly check technical improvements so they could go to live.

With this kind of SEO migration recovery project, we have no patience as there is no time to waste. Fortunately, Google picked up on the changes quickly. After a few weeks, we saw another big increase in impressions and clicks:

Proof that even after six months, a SEO migration recovery project definitely makes sense. We gave the search engine clarity and opted for a consistent setup. We were then able to build on this.

SEO route

In the months following the SEO migration recovery, we had two priorities:

• On a technical level, keeping the platform at the same level
• Improve and build content at different levels within the website

The goal was to build on the growth in organic clicks (see screenshot above) and organic leads.

Custom GPT

This client was also our first real test case in autumn 2024 for a very specific custom GPT, based on:

• Personas
• Tone of voice
• Car make and model information
• The different forms of leasing

The aim of the GPT was to speed up the content process, but above all to generate really high-quality content for the pages. Content that matched the search query and intent, but was also suitable for this client's target audience 

Thus, we structured all brands + type of car pages with quality content. The GPT is completely built to write customised content, so provided with a tone of voice, personas, content formats and much more information. 

We complemented this with top-of-the-funnel onderwerp (e.g. 'Best electric cars of 2025') and knowledge articles around financial leasing.

Result

This client is not only back to its old organic level, but is now growing organically much faster. The initial technical changes helped this, but the follow-up process ensured that we continued to grow month-on-month in clicks and thus organic traffic.

As a result, the number of organic leads is also back to its old level and we have an absolute record month in July 2025!

In doing so, we are ranking better and better on 'brand + financial lease search terms' and also on 'type of car + financial lease search terms'.

The results from the moment we started working together are worth it! We even got 'the reverse crocodile' in graph form in terms of clicks. In many markets, impressions go up and clicks go down, but with this client in particular, we see the difference in clicks:

This also looks more than good in Ahrefs:

How to proceed now?

There is still plenty of work to be done in optimising for types of cars and brands, as there are just so many of them. Besides:

• Are we also going to focus on some other lease forms, in addition to the existing ones
• Have been working for a while to also optimise for LLMs, AI Overviews and eventually AI Mode
• E-E-A-T could also be quite essential in the long run, but we have not yet picked up together due to other priorities. Expert pages and better About Us pages are also on the backlog

This case is living proof that you can successfully restore your SEO traffic (and revenue) even after a failed migration.

Wondering if we can do something for you too? Then feel free to contact us!