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Possible to Migrate Website Design to Different Theme?
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Last year we purchased a $79 them and coded a new designer our real estate website. The database of listings was transferred to the new theme.
A year later we realize the new theme is not that fast; does not perform great, so despite optimizing our server we are not getting very fast performance.
So, my question is, can we take the design, the CSS of our current theme (and database) and transfer it to a better performing theme? We are in a very competitive niche and our website must perform quickly both desktop and mobile.
If this is feasible is this a major production? Note we are very happy with the design and this would solely be to improve download speeds to improve the user experience and get better ranking.
Thanks,
Alan
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Hi Pat:
Thanks for your answer/response! Our URL is www.metro-manhattan.com
To answer your questions:
1. When we moved the site to a new theme/database the URL structure did not change. However, about a year before we migrated to a new domain and and went HTTP to HTTPS (secure) so there are redirects. 301 redirects were used.
2. All the on page optimization moved when we changed themes.
3. Yes, there are some unnecessary URLs, but they are managed by robot.txt.
4. Gzip compression/caching/cdn has been implemented to speed up site. My SEO provider is constantly adjusting but the site is not particularly fast.
If we were to custom develop the same functionality without purchasing a theme, would the performance (Google Page Speed, GT Metrix) be much better?
If we are satisfied with the structure, design and functionality of our site, is custom coding a costly venture?
Thanks,
Alan -
Hi Alan,
Before moving theme again, have a look at the current situation.
With site migrations/template changes there are a few things to note:
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when your listings where moved to new DB, did the URL structure change, is so did they use 301 redirects ?
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when you moved template, did all the onpage optimization move with the template. (Titles, Descriptions, content, image naming, image descriptions).
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indexation, does the new template output any extra/unesscary urls ? If so they need to be managed by robots.txt
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Have gzip compression/caching/cdn been implemented to speed up site?
Most likely there is work that could be done to improve with going to purchase another theme. In my own experience purchased themes tend to be heavier & in some cases quite code heavy oppose to custom dev which Focuses on using less resources to make things work,
Hopefully some the above helps, without rebuilding the site.
pat
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