When organizations plan a website redesign, the focus is often on what’s new: a fresh visual design, improved navigation, modern features, and a better user experience. But once the excitement settles, many teams discover that the hardest part of a website redesign isn’t the design at all. It’s the content migration.
Content migration is the process of moving content from an old website into a new one. And for many clients, it’s the most time-consuming, emotionally complex, and underestimated part of the entire project.
This article walks through how to prepare for a successful content migration by surveying your current site, deciding what content should be deleted or edited, prioritizing what launches first, and organizing structured content so it can be imported cleanly into a new site.
It’s not just about just moving content — but deciding what your website should be responsible for going forward.
Why Content Migration Feels So Difficult
Content migration asks organizations to confront their digital history.
Every page on your website represents a decision that was made at some point: a campaign that mattered, a program that existed, a message that felt important at the time. Over the years, content accumulates. Pages multiply. Navigation grows complicated. And suddenly, a redesign forces an uncomfortable question:
“Do we really still need all of this?”
This can feel overwhelming. Content owners may be unclear. Information may be outdated. And no one quite remembers why certain pages exist in the first place. That’s why preparation is essential.
Step 1: Survey the Current Site with a Content Inventory
Before you can decide what belongs on the new site, you need a clear picture of what exists today.
A content inventory is a comprehensive list of every page, post, and content type on your current website. This usually includes:
- Page title
- URL
- Content type (page, blog post, event, campaign, etc.)
- Owner or department
- Last updated date
- Notes on relevance or quality
Creating this inventory often reveals surprises: outdated pages that still get traffic, duplicate content across sections, or entire areas of the site that haven’t been touched in years.
This step is not glamorous, but it’s foundational. You can’t make good decisions about the future site without understanding the present one. If you’re working with Wire Media, we’ll provide support and guidance for this step.
Step 2: Decide What to Keep, Edit, or Delete
Once you have a full inventory, the next step is deciding what happens to each piece of content.
A helpful approach is to assign every item one of three statuses:
- Keep (as-is or lightly updated): This content is still accurate, useful, and aligned with your current goals. It may need minor edits, but it deserves a place on the new site.
- Edit or Rewrite: This content is important, but outdated, overly long, poorly structured, or unclear. It should be revised before or during migration to better serve users.
- Delete or Archive: This content no longer serves a purpose. It may refer to discontinued programs, expired campaigns, or information that is no longer relevant. This step can be emotionally challenging. But deleting content is not a failure. It’s a sign of a healthier, more focused website. A smaller, more clear site is easier to maintain and easier for people to navigate.
Step 3: Align Content Decisions with Future Goals
Content migration isn’t just about moving content from one system to another. It’s an opportunity to realign your website with where your organization is going. As you review content, ask questions like:
- Does this page support our current mission and priorities?
- Is this information something our audience actively needs?
- Does this content still reflect how we want to present ourselves?
This is also a good moment to identify content gaps — areas where users need information that doesn’t currently exist, or where content should be consolidated or reframed.
Step 4: Prioritize Content for Launch
One of the biggest mistakes teams make is assuming everything needs to be ready for launch day.
In reality, successful redesigns are often phased. That means deciding:
- What must be ready on day one
- What can follow shortly after launch
- What can be archived or sunset entirely
Prioritizing content helps reduce stress, keeps timelines realistic, and allows teams to focus their energy where it matters most.
High-priority launch content usually includes:
- Core landing pages
- Top-traffic pages
- Key program or service information
- Critical conversion paths (contact forms, applications, donations)
Lower-priority content (such as older blog posts or archived resources) can often be migrated later or handled in bulk.
Step 5: Understand Structured vs. Unstructured Content
Not all content migrates the same way.
Unstructured Content
This includes standard pages where content is largely free-form — headings, paragraphs, images, and links. These pages often require manual review and cleanup during migration. We call these “Flex Pages”.
Structured Content
Structured content follows a consistent format and lives in defined fields. Examples include:
- Blog posts
- Event listings
- News articles
- Campaigns or initiatives
- Staff profiles
Structured content is powerful because it can be reused, filtered, sorted, and displayed dynamically it’s prepared correctly.
Step 6: Prepare Structured Content in a Spreadsheet
For structured content, the most efficient way to prepare for migration is through a spreadsheet.
Each row represents one item (for example, one blog post or one event), and each column represents a field in the new system.
A blog post spreadsheet might include:
- Title
- Slug (URL path)
- Publish date
- Author
- Summary or excerpt
- Body content
- Category or tag
- Featured image filename
An events spreadsheet might include:
- Event name
- Start date
- End date
- Location
- Description
- Registration link
The key is matching the spreadsheet fields to the content model of the new website. When fields are consistent and clean, content can often be imported in bulk. This can save significant time and dramatically reduce errors. We’ll provide you with properly formatted spreadsheets if you’re working on a redesign with us.
Step 7: Clean and Normalize Content Before Migration
Spreadsheets also make it easier to clean content before it moves.
This includes:
- Removing inline formatting (including anhy HTML)
- Standardizing capitalization and naming
- Fixing broken links
- Ensuring dates and categories are consistent
Doing this work ahead of time prevents messy imports and reduces the amount of manual cleanup required after launch.
Step 8: Assign Ownership and Accountability
Content migration often stalls when ownership is unclear.
Before migration begins, it’s important to establish:
- Who is responsible for reviewing each content area
- Who approves edits or deletions
- Who signs off on launch readiness
Clear ownership keeps decisions moving and prevents bottlenecks late in the project.
Content Migration as an Opportunity — Not Just a Task
It’s easy to think of content migration as a chore. But in reality, it’s one of the most valuable moments in a redesign.
It forces clarity. It surfaces outdated thinking. And it aligns content with real user needs.
Yes, it’s often the hardest part of the project. But when done thoughtfully, content migration leads to a site that’s leaner, clearer, and easier to maintain long after launch day.
And that’s when a redesign truly succeeds. Not just when the site looks new, but when it works better for everyone who uses it.