Rebrand Migration: Ellis Machinery were a trusted supplier of agricultural machinery to over 300 UK farmers since 1986. Following steady growth, the business needed to reinvent itself to realise further growth goals of operating internationally and moving into agriculture solutions. The business approached POLARIS with the objective of roadmapping a digital strategy for their new identity that would realise their goals.
The objective of the rebrand migration was to detail a technical domain strategy that would allow the business to develop its identity across multiple markets, starting with France Ireland and Canada. Under the new brand of AMTEC Group, POLARIS set about a discovery phase to start the project off.
One of the key goals during the rebrand was new business continuity. Ellis machinery had a strong reputation amongst the UK agricultural industry and ensuring a clear communication strategy of the rebrand was critical to the success of the project.
The POLARIS team consulted with the client 6 months before the project to research and identify suitable brand names and domains with their future SEO intentions in mind.
Search landscape research was conducted into possible brand names. This was to ensure there was a clear opportunity to operate with the chosen name without any confusion or illicit-unwanted content connected to the name coming up in search engine results pages.
Next, we worked with the client to ensure a domain name was available that allowed for the brand to be protected, and for the future business and marketing goals to be achieved.
Going through the process of planning a website and domain changeover, the SEO Agency team partnered with the client and web agency to ensure that clear remit was identified throughout the project plan.
Watch our video testimonial with Amtec’s Marketing Manager, Jason White, below.
Once the domain had been confirmed and the new website was underway, the SEO team at POLARIS then set about auditing the existing brands content to update and reflect it for the new brand.
All products, and product categories were reviewed and re optimized with the new AMTEC brand and messaging principles in mind.
This SEO site migration work was carried out as a part of the SEO agencies initial pre migration works phase. By going through this process, the agency team ensured a best practice approach to the complex migration which would ensure a higher rate of success.
As the site was moving to a brand new domain, there were extra steps involved during the changeover process that were critical to ensuring business continuity for the client.
In line with Googles requirements, domain name change procedures were followed, putting the original domain into a period of changeover for 90 days from the day of go live.
Along with this, a series of 301 and 302 redirects were implemented at an extensive level across product, category, and location pages within the site. This ensured that every location from the historical domain was redirected to its newest and most relevant equivalent in the new domain in the most efficient way.
Tests were conducted during changeover, and monitoring reports were delivered to keep the client and web agency informed of our progress.
Thanks to the experience of the SEO team at POLARIS, the business’ search engine profile went into a period of changeover for 90 days.
After 90 days traffic levels were confirmed as being consistent. The rebrand and site migration project was a success.
"I think we did a really great job of the rebrand. So many things could have gone wrong but they didnt. Im really pleased. "
Jason White
AMTEC Group
“Advising AMTEC on the right domain strategy was great because we were able to get things right from the ground up. This will enable us to launch the brand in France."Amo SokhiManaging Director
