Sales up
Online sales lost after migration improved
404s fixed
URLs left without redirects recovered
Rankings up
Rankings returned, then moved higher
3 fronts
SEO, design, and UX rebuilt
About the Client
The client had been successfully selling fitness equipment online for years. Their store had run on OpenCart for a long time and had built up search visibility and sales. Eventually, the platform no longer supported the features they needed, so they decided to move to WordPress and WooCommerce.
The platform change was reasonable. The migration wasn’t.
The Challenge
Another agency launched the OpenCart to WordPress migration at the start of 2026.
Online sales started falling almost immediately. The owner could see that Google rankings had dropped, but months passed without recovery.
By the time we took over, online sales were down 50%.
The main failure was simple: the old URLs had no redirects.
Every product and category URL Google had indexed on OpenCart was now returning a 404 on WordPress. Google dropped those URLs from search, taking the rankings and organic traffic attached to them with it.
There were two additional problems. The new store looked dated, and parts of the user experience made products harder to browse and buy.
After months of declining revenue, the client also had good reason to be cautious about another agency.
Our Approach
We treated the migration as a recovery project, not another redesign. We audited the store across SEO, design, and UX, then worked on the problems in parallel.
-
Mapped the old URLs
Google Search Console showed which URLs had lost visibility and where the 404s were. We mapped the old OpenCart product and category URLs to their corresponding WordPress pages and implemented 301 redirects. -
Fixed the technical SEO
We cleared the dead URLs and addressed the technical SEO issues underneath the migration so search engines could properly crawl and understand the new store. -
Redesigned the store
The new site looked dated. We redesigned it to bring the storefront up to the level expected from an established fitness retailer. -
Reworked the UX
We addressed the usability problems introduced during the rebuild, making the store easier to browse and shop. -
Added automation later
Once the client had confidence in the work, we added two smaller automations: a sale category that automatically includes products with reduced prices, and an automatic receipt email after every order.
We also kept the client close to the work throughout the recovery. Progress was shown at each stage, with the numbers providing the proof rather than promises.
The Outcome and Value
Once the redirects and SEO issues were fixed, the lost rankings started returning. They then moved even higher.
Online sales followed the same direction. The store went from losing revenue after the migration to recovering and growing again.
Before & After
Metric
Before
After
Online sales
Down 50%
Recovering and growing
Search rankings
Lost during migration
Recovered, then higher than before
Old URLs
404s with no redirects
301 redirects to the correct pages
Design & UX
Dated and difficult to use
Redesigned and easier to shop
Tech and Tools
WordPress
WooCommerce
Google Search Console
301 redirect mapping
Technical SEO
Custom WooCommerce automations
Services Provided
- WordPress migrations
- WooCommerce SEO
- Technical SEO
- Custom WooCommerce automations
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