Recovering 4,700 Keywords in 3 Months: How NAV43 Steered ATD’s

The Project

When ATD (Association for Talent Development) underwent a major migration to a new headless CMS in July 2024, they soon experienced unexpected drops in organic traffic and keyword visibility. Determined to reverse the decline, ATD enlisted NAV43 to investigate the root causes and craft a clear, data-driven mitigation strategy. Over a three-month project (November 2024 – January 2025), NAV43 conducted a comprehensive post-migration technical SEO audit, discovered critical issues, and designed a roadmap that set ATD on the path to recovery and sustained growth. Post-Migration SEO Turnaround

Tech SEO Migration & Discovery

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Post-Migration Technical SEO Audit

Post-Migration Strategy & Roadmap

Post Migration Redirect Map Audit

Technical SEO Audit QA

Challenges

Post-Migration Traffic Decline: Following the July 2024 CMS migration, ATD’s organic rankings and visibility dipped significantly.

Redirect & Canonical Confusion: Thousands of pages were incorrectly handled, causing 4xx errors and reliance on canonical tags where 301 redirects were needed.

Technical SEO Overhaul: With a large, dynamic website and new tech stack, ATD required a structured, prioritized technical SEO action plan.

Our Process And Approach

Post-Migration Audit & Analysis
Technical SEO Audit
Mitigation Strategy & Roadmap

Keyword Analysis: Benchmarked pre- and post-migration keyword performance to pinpoint major ranking drops.
Google Analytics 4 & Search Console Review: Tracked changes in site performance metrics, identifying patterns of lost visibility and traffic.
Migration & Redirect Analysis: Crawled the staging environment and legacy URLs to validate redirect rules, discovering 3,422 pages returning 4xx status codes and 4,202 pages that used canonical tags where 301 redirects were appropriate.

Results/Outcomes

Rapid Issue Resolution & Clear Roadmap

Migration Analysis: By identifying and resolving canonical errors and 404 pages, we replaced problematic canonicals with 301 redirects, ensuring proper link equity and improved crawlability.

Technical SEO Audit: Critical and high-priority fixes are actively being addressed. The development team has begun implementing solutions, focusing first on the most impactful technical issues.

Tangible Keyword Growth

Since NAV43’s engagement in October 2024, ATD has experienced notable gains in keyword visibility (positions 1–20):

October 2024
- Global: 9,900 keywords
- USA: 5,000 keywords
January 2025
- Global: 12,900 keywords (+3,000)
- USA: 6,700 keywords (+1,700)

This three-month growth underscores the positive impact of our post-migration SEO strategy, highlighting how targeted technical fixes and a strategic roadmap can drive significant improvements in organic visibility.

Key Takeaways

Thorough Post-Migration Audits Are Essential: A deep dive into redirects, canonical tags, and site architecture can quickly uncover root causes behind traffic losses.
Prioritization Drives Impact: Addressing critical and high-priority errors first delivers quicker results while the full roadmap unfolds.
Data-Focused Recovery: Integrating insights from GA4 and Search Console ensures a precise understanding of performance gaps and recovery opportunities.

If your website’s recent migration has led to unexpected performance drops, our technical SEO expertise can guide you back on track. Contact NAV43 today to discover how a customized post-migration audit and strategic roadmap can reignite your organic growth.

Contact Nav43 Today