Thread by @noelcetaSEO

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.