Magento is one of the top-notch open source CMS tools and is quite a trend in the online business world. This content management system is very flexible, scalable and easy to customize. Most of the online business and e-commerce owners are using magneto to run their business. There are various editions of magneto available where you can choose the right one that fits your requirements. Upgrading to Magento 2 has lots of benefits like enhanced security, responsive user experience, easy customization, improved load times. However, still, there are some significant pitfalls you may face with magneto migration. It is a complex process, and you might face some significant hurdles while upgrading your website.
Common Challenges while migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2
Search engine ranking and Visibility
One of the most vital parts of any online business is having a good SEO ranking. A good SEO brings better content to reach to the targeted audience. Losing the SEO rankings or poor SEO performance can significantly affect the search engine visibility of your website. While migrating from Magento 1 to the latest version, there is a possibility of losing your targeted audience, potential customers, SEO rankings due to broken links, mismatched URLs and wrong structuring. So, the URL of each page from your existing Magento site must be mapped correctly with the upgraded website and use proper redirection URLs for the broken links and 404 error pages to avoid losing your SEO rankings and traffic to your site.
Data migration challenges
Another crucial part of migrating a website is while transferring the data from the existing website to the new one. Irrespective of the business, data is an essential factor in an online store. So, with one wrong step, you can lose a lot of data consisting of product information, meta titles, customer data, page content, etc. Data migration in Magento is quite challenging as the database table structures are different for Magento 1 and Magento 2. So, data migration must be meticulously done to fit in the current version of Magento else there is a possibility of losing valuable data. Apart from that, media files like images, audio, and video files can only be moved manually in the migration process.
Magento Extensions not supported on migration
Extensions or plugins make your online business website stunning and easy to maintain. There is a plethora of Magento extensions with amazing features to add more features and functionalities to the site. But the downside is you can’t migrate the extensions from Magento 1 to Magento 2 as the extensions from Magento 1 are not support in the Magento 2. You can either build a custom extension or look for an extension that works in Magento 2.
Themes and templates issue
It’s not just the extensions, themes but templates are also in the same boat. Items designed in Magento 1 cannot be migrated to Magento 2 as it is not compatible. Magneto 2 has an entirely different set of standards with new architecture and separate frontend back end templates compared to Magento 1. On migration, it is necessary to create a theme from scratch or make the existing theme compatible with Magento 2.
Customizations
There are plenty of extensions, but still, a website may have some custom features. Custom code built in Magento 1 cannot be migrated to Magento 2. You must manually write the code in Magento 2 again for the functionality to work on your website. So, moving the custom code is another issue in the migration process.
Migration period
Magento migration is not smooth and can consume a lot of time. The estimated time for migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2 varies for different websites. It depends on the theme, extensions, database, custom code, etc. as some of it may have to be designed from scratch. So, approximately Magento migration takes around three months or more to complete.
Spending a lot of Money
Migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2 is expensive for e-commerce website owners. The theme and extensions from the existing site will not be supported in Magento 2. Hence, you must purchase a suitable item and extensions or build a new one for Magento 2 that are compatible. With the added expenses and the Magento pricing, you will be spending more money, and It might get higher, in case you hire professionals to design and maintain the website.
Conclusion:
Magento 2 is powerful, and there are lots of benefits in upgrading from Magento 1 to Magento 2. It is also essential to get upgraded, as it improves the security patches and offers advanced features. Still, the migration process is complex and has some significant pitfalls that are quite tiring. Before migration, ensure that you have a full backup of your database, media files, content, etc. from Magento 1. It is also highly recommended to hire a professional because of the complexity in Magento migration. These challenges are common and can be mitigated using the right plan and expert Magento developers for a smooth migration process.
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