TYPO3 Relaunch & Migration

Sooner or later a grown TYPO3 installation stops carrying its weight. The version is too old for a regular update, the template comes from another era, and every change takes longer than it should. We handle the relaunch of installations like these, and we take the visibility built up over the years along.

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Relaunch, or just an update after all?

Not every ageing website needs a relaunch. If the installation runs on a reasonably current version and sits on a clean sitepackage, a regular LTS update is usually the faster and cheaper route. So we run a technical status check first and give our recommendation after that.

When a relaunch is the more honest answer

Very old version: the jump across several LTS generations adds up to more work than a clean rebuild.
A grown extension layer: many extensions, some no longer maintained, some without a successor in newer versions.
Template without a sitepackage: TypoScript and HTML templates maintained directly in the backend, with no structure you can put under version control.
A new editorial direction: structure and navigation are due for a fundamental change anyway.
Editorial frustration: maintenance is so awkward that nobody wants to touch the content any more.

Taking stock before the first draft

A relaunch rarely fails on the design. It fails on what nobody had on the radar: the form route that hands data to an internal system, the multilingual subtree, the section with its own access rights. So we first record what actually exists, instead of relying on what the people involved remember.

What belongs in that inventory

The complete page tree, including the areas that are only reachable internally
Every extension in use and the question of which of them are still needed
Custom code and the business logic sitting inside it
Interfaces to third-party systems such as CRM, ERP, newsletter or search index
Languages, domains and access rights in the backend
The most visited URLs and the pages with the most valuable external links

Migrating content instead of retyping it

With a grown site of several hundred pages, transferring by hand is neither economical nor reliable. We migrate content, files and metadata programmatically. The migration is a repeatable step of its own here. It runs several times over the course of the project until the result is right, and once more shortly before the go-live, so the most recently edited content comes along too.

A relaunch is also the best opportunity to clear out. Pages nobody has opened in years do not need to move. What gets dropped we decide together with you, based on traffic figures and search visibility. Every removed page still gets a target in the redirect concept.

The redirect concept decides what visibility survives

The most expensive relaunch mistake is a cleanly built new system with completely new URLs and no reliable redirects. Rankings that took years to build then collapse within a few weeks, and external links run into nothing. The full mapping from old URL to new one is finished here before anything is switched over.

How we go about it

A complete URL list from the sitemap, the server logs and the search data, not just from the navigation
Every old URL gets a target: the equivalent page, the next best page, or a deliberate 410
Permanent 301 redirects with no chains across several stops
Redirects checked on the test environment before they take effect in production
Ongoing checks for new 404 errors after the go-live

How the new installation is then set up for search engines, so hreflang, structured data and Core Web Vitals, is on the page about TYPO3 SEO.

A new sitepackage instead of a grown template

The rebuild gives the installation a sitepackage of its own. Templates, TypoScript and assets live in versioned code instead of in the backend, which makes them testable, traceable and transferable between environments. Custom business logic moves into proper Extbase extensions instead of living in a collection of patches to third-party extensions, more on that on the page about TYPO3 programming. Visually we either build a new sitepackage or carry your existing look over, see TYPO3 web design.

Go-live without flying blind

We do not switch over on a Friday afternoon. The new installation runs fully on a test environment first, editors and departments check their own areas there, and the switch happens only once they have signed off. Straight after the switch we check redirects, form routes, interfaces and indexing. The first few days surface the problems that are still cheap to fix.

What happens after the go-live is covered by the ongoing support with updates, security advisories and further development, see TYPO3 maintenance & security.

Common questions about the TYPO3 relaunch

How long does a TYPO3 relaunch take?

That depends above all on the number of pages, the languages and the custom functionality. A manageable site with a clear structure is a different project from a multilingual multi-site network with its own extensions and interfaces. After the status check you get a time frame that realistically includes the migration and the test phase.

Will I lose my Google rankings in the relaunch?

Not if the redirect concept is finished before the switch. Short-term fluctuation in the first few weeks is normal while search engines read in the new structure. What costs visibility permanently is missing or wrong redirects, which is why this is a project step of its own here and not a job for the day after the go-live.

Can we keep editing content during the relaunch?

Yes. The old site stays in production until the switch, and the migration runs several times. Shortly before the go-live we agree an editorial window in which the last changes are carried over.

Do we have to change systems in a relaunch?

Not necessarily. For multilingual sites, multi-site networks and granular editorial permissions TYPO3 is still strong. If your requirements now look different, we say so openly, because sometimes another system or a custom solution fits better. We advise product-neutrally, even when the answer goes against TYPO3.

What happens to our custom extensions?

We look at them one by one. Some can be lifted to the new version with reasonable effort, others are out of date or covered by core features by now. For the rest we build clean Extbase extensions in which the business logic is traceable and testable.

Ready for your TYPO3 project?

Tell us about your project. We'll get back to you promptly with an honest assessment.

By the way: aceArt is an official Silver Member of the TYPO3 Association.