Client’s SaaS traffic dropped 94% after a site migration disaster.

6 months later: Traffic up 450% from the pre-crash baseline.

Here’s the complete turnaround playbook: 🧵 **

1/ The disaster (Month 0):

SaaS company: B2B project management tool

Pre-migration performance:

• 28,000 organic sessions/month
• 340 keywords ranking top 10
• 1,200 trial signups/month
• MRR: $180K from organic

Post-migration crash:

• 1,680 organic sessions/month (-94%)
• 23 keywords ranking top 10
• 80 trial signups/month
• MRR: $12K from organic

Revenue loss: $168K/month **

2/ Root cause analysis (Week 1-2):

Technical audit revealed:

❌ 2,400+ pages returned 404 errors ❌ No 301 redirects implemented ❌ New URL structure broke all internal links ❌ Canonical tags pointing to old domain ❌ Schema markup completely removed ❌ XML sitemap not updated ❌ Robots.txt blocking critical pages ❌ Page speed degraded 4.2s → 8.7s

Complete technical catastrophe. **

3/ Emergency triage (Weeks 3-4):

Immediate fixes priority:

Week 3:

• Mapped all 2,400 old URLs to new URLs
• Implemented 301 redirects
• Fixed robots.txt (unblocked pages)
• Updated XML sitemap
• Resubmitted to Google Search Console
• Fixed canonical tags

Week 4:

• Restored schema markup (all pages)
• Fixed internal linking structure
• Optimized images (page speed)
• Implemented CDN
• Fixed mobile responsiveness issues

Page speed: 8.7s → 2.1s **

4/ Results after triage (Month 1):

Early recovery:

• Traffic: 4,200 sessions/month (+150% from crash)
• Still down 85% from baseline
• 89 keywords back in top 10
• Trial signups: 180/month

Technical foundation restored. Now for growth. **

5/ Content recovery strategy (Months 2-3):

Analyzed what was lost:

Top 50 ranking pages pre-migration:

• 23 pages completely deindexed
• 18 pages dropped from page 1 to 4-5
• 9 pages maintained rankings

Recovery actions:

• Updated all 41 affected pages (fresh content)
• Added 800-1,200 words to thin pages
• Improved on-page SEO (keywords, structure)
• Added internal links (3-5 per page)
• Changed publish dates (freshness signal) **

6/ Link reclamation (Months 2-3):

Old domain had 340 referring domains.

Many links still pointing to old URLs.

Outreach campaign:

• Identified 180 high-DR backlinks to old domain
• Contacted site owners requesting URL updates
• 67 updated links to new domain (37% success rate)
• These 67 links = DR 55-85 range

Immediate authority boost. **

7/ Content acceleration (Months 3-5):

Published aggressively:

Month 3: 12 new articles Month 4: 16 new articles

Month 5: 20 new articles

Content focus:

• Bottom-funnel keywords (comparison, alternative, vs)
• Product-led content (use cases, how-tos)
• Programmatic pages (integrations, templates)

All optimized for conversions, not just traffic. **

8/ The integration pages strategy:

Created 45 integration pages:

Format: “[SaaS] + [Popular Tool] Integration”

• Slack + [Tool]
• Asana + [Tool]
• Jira + [Tool]
• Google Drive + [Tool]

Each page:

• 1,200-1,500 words
• Step-by-step setup guide
• Screenshots
• Use cases
• FAQ section

Low competition, high intent keywords.

Result: 38 pages ranking top 5 within 60 days. **

9/ The template library approach:

Built 30 free template pages:

Examples:

• “Project Charter Template”
• “Sprint Planning Template”
• “OKR Template”

Each template:

• Free download (email required)
• 1,000+ word guide on usage
• Editable in Google Sheets/Docs
• Linked to relevant product features

Lead generation + SEO rankings.

Result: 2,400 email signups in 3 months. **

10/ Technical optimization round 2 (Month 4):

Advanced improvements:

• Implemented schema for all content types
• Added breadcrumb markup
• Created FAQ schema for 80+ pages
• Optimized Core Web Vitals (all green)
• Implemented lazy loading
• Added structured data for SoftwareApplication
• Fixed all crawl errors
• Improved mobile UX (tap targets, spacing)

Technical score: 42/100 → 94/100 **

11/ Link building acceleration (Months 3-6):

Strategic link acquisition:

Month 3-4: 18 editorial links

• Digital PR (published industry survey)
• Guest posts on DR 70+ sites
• Product reviews from industry blogs

Month 5-6: 34 editorial links

• Broken link building
• Resource page additions
• HARO responses (quoted in 8 articles)

Total new links: 52 (DR 55-82 average) **

12/ Conversion rate optimization (Months 4-6):

Traffic means nothing without conversions.

CRO improvements:

• Redesigned trial signup flow (-2 steps)
• Added social proof (customer logos)
• Improved CTAs (clearer value props)
• Added live chat widget
• Created comparison pages
• Better pricing page (FAQ, testimonials)

Conversion rate: 2.8% → 4.9% **

13/ Results timeline:

Month 1: 4,200 sessions (-85% from baseline) Month 2: 11,400 sessions (-59% from baseline) Month 3: 23,800 sessions (-15% from baseline) Month 4: 47,200 sessions (+68% from baseline) Month 5: 89,600 sessions (+220% from baseline) Month 6: 154,000 sessions (+450% from baseline)

Trial signups: 7,546/month MRR from organic: $890K

Went from disaster to 5× growth. **

14/ What made the turnaround work:

✓ Immediate technical triage (stopped bleeding) ✓ Content recovery (rebuilt rankings) ✓ Link reclamation (transferred authority) ✓ Aggressive publishing (48 articles in 3 months) ✓ Strategic page types (integrations, templates) ✓ Link building (52 quality links) ✓ CRO focus (traffic → revenue)

No single tactic. Systematic execution. **

15/ Lessons from the turnaround:

Site migrations can destroy years of SEO work in days.

Recovery requires: ✓ Technical excellence (foundation) ✓ Content velocity (rebuild rankings fast) ✓ Link acquisition (authority signals) ✓ Strategic page types (quick wins) ✓ Conversion optimization (maximize traffic value)

• 94% to +450% in 6 months isn’t luck.

It’s process, urgency, and execution. **

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