Refinitiv

There were two stages to this project, the first was to launch a microsite which announced Refinitiv, and the second was the full launch of the migrated content on the new domain.

With a project of this scale, meticulous organisation was always going to be pivotal for success. So we started out by building a detailed roadmap for each stage and amassing a complete understanding of the URLs hosted on the old domains. This is the key to this project, assessing where impact lies – for Giza Growth Media it was ensuring no valuable page in the ecosystem is missed leading to the greatest stability of rankings in a migration project.

We initially focused on a page audit, analysing traffic, conversions and backlinks utilising multiple tools to account for discrepancies in each tools’ data collection methods. This audit allowed us to identify and focus on the most valuable pages and remove low value pages from the old site. The URL structure was also reviewed to make sure all the new components were optimised, ensuring that all the functionality of the old site was not negatively impacted through the transition to the new domain – the consumer should never be left with a poorer experience. Once 1500 redirects had been accurately mapped the migrations were successfully completed in a single afternoon, taking advantage of the lull in traffic on Saturdays.

The challenges of launching a new brand were addressed through a number of crucial factors; a clear roadmap, frequent communication and a good relationship with the client to deliver the project with the impeccable standards required. Weekly meetings with the team ensured we stayed on track, and both sides were always open to make suggestions and changes. The excellent results are an example of what happens when SEO best practices and years of experience are combined with excellent communication between agency and client.

For a migration of this magnitude; in terms of volume of pages, command of rankings and strength of previous brand name; we would expect organic visibility to initially decrease. Immediately after the migration Refinitiv branded searches increased from interest in the new billion dollar deal and launch of the new brand. Following initial interest, focus increased to include the Refinitiv products and Perspectives articles. With search engine optimisations over time this has led to increases in Organic Visibility beyond pre-migration rankings.

Comparing to pre-migration Thomson Reuters metrics and using a day from each period to calculate Organic Visibility and monthly averages to calculate Impressions and Clicks, we see encouraging results across these key organic metrics.