Switching CMS Platforms? Read this first.

Here at Cardinal Path, we’ve noticed a trend across many of our clients. A considerable number of them are switching content management systems(CMS) at the moment, but are unaware of the impact that this will have on their analytics data collection and set up. If not properly accounted for, the result will be obscured data by the end of the migration.

Typically, the most common issue that we see with any platform migration is that the content structure is not preserved along with the page names, sections,etc. that populate in the data layer. If this is important to the client, it may require that all of the current data points are mapped out on each page to assure they will remain consistent once migrated. This can cause clients difficulty when trying to report on historic trends. Other clients may not care about this, and simply annotate and shift the focus elsewhere.  But in all honesty, this could prove to be a costly task, and may not be worth the effort.

The other aspect of this, is that tagging may need to change in order to accommodate any shifts in functionality.  An example of this would be if you have a website that had a confirmation page, but on the new site, there was no confirmation page (as it uses Ajax).  This becomes  manageable by changing the implementation.

The last issue, is the “while the hood is open” mentality.  This is where clients might say: let’s also “add this”, “and that” while we’re in there. So, when go to do your analysis, how do you know if it was the platform that caused the issues, or the new features you just added?  An example is radically changing the content of key pages.  I think the best advice would try not to do too much at once.

Is your organization going through a platform transition and concerned about the impact it could have on tracking and SEO? Contact us to speak with and expert! We’re happy to help.