OCWD partnered with WordHerd to migrate its website from a custom platform to WordPress, creating a more flexible, maintainable, and user-friendly content management foundation.
The project focused on preserving OCWD’s existing website content, forms, digital assets, metadata, internal links, and SEO value while transitioning the site into a modern WordPress environment. WordHerd’s migration process was designed to protect the integrity of the existing website while making future content updates easier to manage.
The Challenge
OCWD’s existing website was built on a custom platform, which made long-term content management and maintenance more complex than necessary. The organization needed a WordPress solution that would preserve important website information while improving flexibility for future updates.
The migration required careful handling of content, forms, media, metadata, internal links, and redirects to help ensure a smooth transition from the custom environment into WordPress.
Key migration requirements included:
- Migrating page content into WordPress
- Preserving article titles, body copy, excerpts, and hyperlinks
- Updating internal links for the new WordPress environment
- Migrating forms and related content
- Transferring images, PDFs, documents, and other files
- Preserving image alt text, title attributes, and figure captions
- Migrating SEO metadata into a WordPress SEO plugin
- Implementing 301 redirects for URLs that changed
- Maintaining the structure and search value of the existing website
The Solution
WordHerd migrated OCWD’s website from its custom platform to WordPress using a structured migration process focused on content accuracy, SEO preservation, and long-term maintainability.
The new WordPress implementation gives OCWD a more flexible content management system while preserving the core content and digital assets from the previous website.
Content and Forms Migration
WordHerd migrated OCWD’s page content into WordPress, including article titles, body copy, excerpts, and hyperlinks.
The migration process also included form-related content and functionality, helping ensure that important user interactions and communication paths were carried into the new WordPress environment.
Special attention was given to internal links so they would work properly within the new site structure. This helped preserve the user experience and reduce the risk of broken links after launch.
Assets Migration
WordHerd migrated OCWD’s digital assets, including images, PDFs, documents, and other files.
The asset migration process preserved important supporting details such as image alt text, title attributes, and related image figure captions. This helped maintain accessibility, context, and content quality throughout the migration.
SEO Metadata Migration
Search engine optimization was an important part of the migration process.
WordHerd migrated meta titles, descriptions, and schema into a WordPress SEO plugin. The default preference for this type of implementation is Yoast SEO, though the migration process can support the SEO plugin that best fits the client’s needs.
This helped OCWD preserve important SEO data while gaining a more manageable WordPress-based SEO workflow going forward.
301 Redirect Implementation
WordHerd implemented 301 redirects for URLs that changed as part of the migration.
Redirect planning helped ensure that visitors and search engines could continue reaching the appropriate content in the new WordPress environment. This was an important step in preserving the website’s search visibility and reducing disruption during the transition.
Why WordPress
WordPress provided OCWD with a more flexible and maintainable platform for managing website content after the migration.
By moving from a custom platform to WordPress, OCWD gained:
- Easier page and content editing
- A more familiar content management experience
- Better control over media and documents
- Flexible form management options
- SEO management through a WordPress SEO plugin
- A more maintainable foundation for future website updates
- A larger ecosystem of WordPress tools, plugins, and development support
Rather than continuing to rely on a custom system, OCWD gained a WordPress website designed to support easier content updates, improved maintainability, and long-term digital growth.
The Result
The completed migration moved OCWD’s website from a custom platform to WordPress while preserving essential content, forms, media assets, internal links, metadata, and SEO value.
WordHerd’s structured migration process helped ensure that page content, article titles, body copy, excerpts, hyperlinks, images, PDFs, documents, alt text, title attributes, captions, meta titles, descriptions, schema, and redirects were handled carefully throughout the transition.
The result was a more maintainable WordPress website that gives OCWD a stronger foundation for managing content, supporting users, maintaining search visibility, and growing the website over time.
Project Highlights
- Migrated OCWD from a custom platform to WordPress
- Migrated page content and article content
- Preserved titles, body copy, excerpts, and hyperlinks
- Migrated forms into the new WordPress environment
- Updated internal links for the new site structure
- Migrated images, PDFs, documents, and other assets
- Preserved image alt text, title attributes, and figure captions
- Migrated meta titles, descriptions, and schema into a WordPress SEO plugin
- Implemented 301 redirects for changed URLs
- Delivered a more flexible and maintainable WordPress foundation
