Quick Summary (TL;DR)
A pharma website migration is a chance to improve content and user experience. Agree scope and ownership early, plan approvals and search checks, and prioritise improvements that justify their cost. A phased launch and defined post-launch support can help teams manage the move.
Contents
Ready to turn migration into an opportunity?
Why Migration Is an Opportunity
Website migration is one of those projects that rarely gets anyone particularly excited. There are databases to move, content to check, redirects to plan, integrations to test and a seemingly endless list of things that could go wrong.
But if you are rebuilding the foundations anyway, why simply recreate what you already have?
A migration can be an opportunity to tidy up, improve the user experience, introduce new functionality and build a better digital platform for the future.
The key is to think beyond How do we move the website? and start asking What can we improve while we are moving it?
In my 10 years at Iguazu, I’ve overseen many website migrations and learnt what helps them succeed. Below are a few useful steps and tips to help keep your migration focused, use your time and budget efficiently, and deliver a valuable product — even when the end result is technically the same website.
Planning a move is a useful time to rethink your website design and development.
Step 1: Decide what you want
Decide what type of migration you are undertaking before the project gets underway. Knowing whether you are moving, rebuilding, improving or transforming the website will help shape the scope, timeline and responsibilities from the start.
Not every migration is the same.
Sometimes you are moving a website from one hosting environment to another and want a like-for-like migration. The content, functionality and design stay broadly the same; you are simply moving the technical foundations.
Other migrations involve moving to a new content management system (CMS) or platform, perhaps alongside a refreshed design and user experience.
And sometimes migration is part of a much larger digital transformation.
For pharma organisations, this might mean moving from an enterprise CMS, such as Adobe Experience Manager, to WordPress. The right approach depends on the existing infrastructure, integrations, security requirements and long-term digital strategy.
The approach, resources and risks can be very different depending on what you are actually trying to achieve.
Step 2: Agree responsibilities
Agree responsibilities early and document them. “I thought they were doing it” is not a useful migration strategy.
Website migrations often involve a lot of different people.
You might have an agency handling the website, an internal digital team, IT managing hosting, another supplier managing authentication or integrations, and multiple stakeholders responsible for content and approvals.
That can work perfectly well — as long as everyone knows where their responsibilities begin and end.
Before development starts, agree who is responsible for:
- Back-end development and technical configuration
- Database and content migration
- CMS configuration, plugins and theming
- Design and UX
- Content preparation and approval
- QA and UAT
- Hosting and infrastructure
- Redirects, SEO and analytics
- Cookie consent, tracking and privacy requirements
- Launch and post-launch monitoring
For pharma websites, it is particularly important to involve the right stakeholders early. Digital teams may manage the platform, but medical, legal, regulatory, privacy and local market teams may also need to confirm that content, access controls and tracking arrangements meet their requirements.
Without clear ownership, relatively simple questions can suddenly become project-blocking questions.
STEP 3: Create a “wish list”
Create a “wish list” alongside your migration requirements. Then decide which improvements make sense to introduce at the start and which can wait for a future phase.
Migrating to a new platform is a major investment; ensure you aren’t spending time and budget just to inherit the same limitations, use it as a chance to consider improvements
A migration gives you a rare opportunity to ask a simple question:
What do we wish the current website did better?
Perhaps users struggle to find certain information. Perhaps the search functionality could be better. Maybe there are accessibility improvements you have wanted to make, or functionality that your teams have been working around rather than having properly built into the platform.
For pharma websites, this could mean making HCP resources easier to find, improving the management of educational content or simplifying how teams maintain information across different markets.
These are worth identifying before development begins.
A migration does not necessarily mean turning the project into a complete redesign. But if you already have an opportunity to change the foundations, it makes sense to consider which existing limitations are worth leaving behind.
Check out our guide to common UX mistakes on pharma websites may help you identify what to improve.
STEP 4: Clean up
Use migration as a reason to clean up your digital house. Your future content teams will thank you for it.
Content migration is not simply a technical exercise. It is an opportunity to look at what you have, decide what is still useful and make sure the new platform starts with a cleaner foundation.
Think of a website migration like moving house.
You could put absolutely everything into boxes, load it onto the van and unpack it all again at the other end.
Or you could finally admit that you have been keeping some things you haven’t used in years.
Digital platforms are no different.
A migration can expose years of accumulated clutter: duplicate images, inconsistent file names, outdated content, old metadata, unnecessary tags and assets that nobody is quite sure are still needed.
For pharma websites, content reviews also need to account for approval status, expiry dates and market-specific versions. Removing or consolidating content should follow the organisation’s established governance and approval processes.
Moving everything into the new platform simply transfers the problem.
STEP 5: Agree the order of migration
Agree the order of migration early, based on business priorities, technical dependencies and content readiness.
A migration roadmap gives everyone a clearer view of what is happening, when it is happening and what needs to be ready before each stage begins.
Large digital ecosystems can make migration considerably more complicated.
If you have multiple brands, markets or languages, migrating everything simultaneously might sound like the fastest option. It can also mean having many more things go wrong at exactly the same time, which is why a phased approach can make more sense.
Pharma websites may have different approval processes, regulatory requirements, languages and content owners in each market. These differences can affect both the migration sequence and the time needed to prepare content for launch.
A phased approach allows the team to focus on one part of the website at a time, address issues as they arise and apply lessons learned to subsequent stages.
If you are working with several markets, our guide to medical localisation challenges explains what to consider when adapting content for different countries.
STEP 6: Agree on blockers
Agree how incomplete content will be handled before launch. A clear “coming soon” experience is usually better than delaying an entire site because one page is not ready.
The important thing is that everyone understands what will be available at launch and what will follow afterwards.
A technical migration and a content launch do not always have to happen at exactly the same time.
This can be especially relevant in pharma, where content may need to pass through medical, legal and regulatory (MLR) review before publication.
Sometimes the new platform is ready before a particular piece of content has completed its approval process. Waiting for every page to be completely finished can hold up an otherwise ready site.
Instead of treating unfinished content as an unexpected problem, plan for it as part of the migration.
STEP 7: Protect your search rankings
Protect your search rankings and AI visibility. Migration is also an opportunity to prepare your website for how people discover information through both traditional search engines and AI-powered tools.
One of the biggest concerns around website migration is losing the visibility you have already built. A technically successful launch is of little value if important pages become harder to find or organic traffic drops because search engines can no longer locate them.
Make sure your new platform supports your wider Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) strategy.
- Benchmark before launch – Record current traffic and rankings to measure success later.
- Map your redirects carefully – Make sure old links reach the right new pages.
- Review structured data – Double-check the background code that helps search engines understand your content.
- Make key content accessible – Ensure your most important pages are easy for users and bots to find.
- Monitor after launch – Watch the site daily to catch and fix any broken links, errors, or drops in traffic immediately.
Treat SEO and GEO as part of migration planning, not as optional extras to address after launch. Involve the people responsible for search visibility early and build the necessary checks into the project plan.
Read one of our articles on AI-powered search for pharma websites.
STEP 8: Build hypercare
Build hypercare, post-launch monitoring and support into the migration plan from the beginning. Going live is the start of the website’s next phase — not the end of the project.
Launch day might feel like the finish line.
It isn’t.
A successful migration needs thorough QA (Quality Assurance) and UAT (User Acceptance Testing) before launch, but it also needs monitoring and support afterwards.
The people who actually use and manage the website need enough time to test it properly before launch — and there needs to be a plan for what happens when something inevitably needs fixing afterwards.
For pharma websites, post-launch checks should also cover critical functionality such as HCP access restrictions, consent mechanisms, analytics and integrations.
This is where a hypercare period can make a real difference.
Rather than considering the project finished the moment the new site goes live, agree a defined period of additional support and monitoring and establish who should be contacted if any issues arise.
This gives the project team time to respond quickly to issues, review how the site is performing and address anything that wasn’t identified during testing.
The first few weeks can reveal things that even a well-planned UAT process cannot predict.
Conclusion: A Migration Should Leave You Somewhere Better
Whether you are moving a site like-for-like, changing CMS, refreshing the user experience or migrating a whole digital ecosystem, the process gives you a valuable opportunity to step back and reconsider what you are building.
For pharma and healthcare organisations, that means looking beyond the technical move to consider content approvals, gated access, privacy, local market requirements and search visibility.
A migration doesn’t have to mean starting completely from scratch.
But it is a chance to question what you have, what you need and what could work better.
So instead of asking only:
“How do we move the website?”
Ask:
“What can we improve while we are moving it?”
Because a successful migration is not simply one where everything made it to the other side.
It is one where you ended up somewhere better.
Ready to turn migration into an opportunity?
At Iguazu, we can support website migrations from initial planning and platform considerations through to design, development, content migration, QA, UAT and launch.
If you are planning a website migration and want to turn a technical necessity into an opportunity to improve your digital platform, get in touch with Iguazu to discuss your project.
FAQ
A website migration refers to the process of transferring a website’s content, data, design, site structure, and functionality from one content management system (CMS) or software environment to another.
In many cases, the new website will need to go through the relevant review and approval process before launch, even if the content itself has not changed. In the UK, promotional material must be certified in its final form, and websites need to be reviewed in context to ensure that content, presentation and functionality meet the applicable requirements. (See full guidance) The exact process depends on the organisation’s procedures and the type of content being migrated. Build time for MLR review, approval and any necessary revisions into the migration plan from the outset.
A migration can affect search rankings and organic traffic, but careful planning can reduce the risk. Benchmark existing performance, map old URLs to relevant new pages, implement and test redirects, preserve important metadata and review structured data. After launch, monitor indexing, rankings, broken links and traffic so that issues can be investigated promptly.
Start by documenting how users access the existing content, including login or verification processes, permissions and integrations. Decide whether these mechanisms will be transferred or rebuilt, then test the complete user journey before launch. For pharma websites, this should include checking that restricted content remains accessible only to the intended audience and that relevant privacy and security requirements are met.
A phased migration can be a more manageable approach for websites covering multiple brands, markets and languages. It allows teams to address dependencies, test the process and apply lessons from earlier phases. The right approach depends on the site’s architecture, business priorities, content readiness and regulatory requirements — all of which Iguazu can help map out during the discovery phase to define the project’s purpose, scale and delivery timelines.
They should be considered during planning, not left until after launch. A migration is the time to review URL structures, redirects, metadata, structured data, content accessibility and analytics. These foundations can support search engine discoverability and help AI systems interpret website content. Performance should then be monitored after launch, with further GEO improvements planned where needed.
For more background, read our guide to AI-powered search for pharma websites.
This should be considered as part of the migration plan. Not every piece of content necessarily needs to launch at the same time. Where appropriate, an agreed “coming soon” experience or phased content launch can prevent one unfinished page from delaying an otherwise ready website. For pharma content, publication must follow the relevant approval and governance requirements.
Hypercare is a defined period of additional support and monitoring immediately after launch. At Iguazu, we support our clients through this critical phase, by responding quickly to issues, monitoring the new site and addressing any problems that may only become apparent once the website is being used in the real world.
Once the preparation is complete and the content is ready, the technical migration itself typically takes around one to two months, depending on the size and complexity of the website or hub.
However, preparation can take considerably longer. Reviewing existing content, deciding what to retain or update, coordinating stakeholders and completing MLR re-approval can all affect the timeline. For this reason, it’s important to plan for content preparation and approvals well in advance, rather than focusing only on the technical migration.
The overall timeline will also depend on the CMS, integrations, number of brands and markets, testing requirements and the level of change involved. A wider transformation involving new design, functionality or content restructuring may require additional time.
At Iguazu we provide comprehensive migration services to help businesses navigate this entire lifecycle seamlessly, from strategic content preparation to final execution.
Treat consent management and analytics as migration requirements, not as tasks to revisit once the site is live. Document the existing consent setup, tracking tools, tags and relevant integrations, then establish how they should work on the new platform. Test consent behaviour, tracking and reporting before and after launch, involving the appropriate privacy and analytics stakeholders to confirm the configuration meets the organisation’s requirements.
It can, depending on the organisation’s needs and the limitations of its existing platform. Moving from an enterprise CMS to WordPress may offer a different balance of flexibility, content management and ongoing maintenance. However, the decision should account for security, hosting, integrations, governance, accessibility, permissions and regulatory requirements. The objective should be to choose a platform that supports the organisation’s needs, rather than changing CMS purely for the sake of it.
Further reading
If you found this article helpful, explore these related resources to further future-proof your pharmaceutical marketing strategy:
Mastering AI Search & Overviews: A 2026 Strategy Guide for AEO
How We Grew Our AI Traffic by 405%: What Pharma Managers Need to Know About GEO
How to build a Perfect Pharma Hub: Myth We Chase or Reality We Build?
From Clicks to Clarity: 10 UX Mistakes Pharma Brands Must Fix
Daria Mitchell
Senior Project Manager
Iguazu Ltd. – Clear. Compliant. Connected.
UK specialist pharma digital‑marketing agency with 25 years’ global experience delivering regulated omnichannel content across SEO/GEO, eLearning, AI workflow agents, Veeva assets and web development.