When you’ve used another SEO plugin, it may seem like a daunting task to switch to another SEO plugin. After all, you’ve spent a lot of time setting up all your titles, descriptions, and other metadata within the other plugin.
However, switching to The SEO Framework (TSF) is straightforward and easy. Migrating your data should take no longer than a few minutes for most websites.
If the site you manage has only a few pages, we recommend not to bother migrating the SEO data. Instead, we recommend starting fresh with The SEO Framework and follow the plugin setup guide.
How to transfer SEO metadata from another SEO plugin
TSF uses the WordPress Metadata API. It is what makes the metadata easily accessible for other plugins, including transportation.
Used the SEO of Genesis Framework?
Our plugin was originally meant to extend the theme Genesis Framework. Now, TSF is a standalone plugin that works with any theme, while still having its roots in Genesis.
So, because we initially wrote our plugin to extend the Genesis SEO, it uses the same option indexes, and this makes transferring from Genesis SEO to TSF work automatically.
The automatic transfer applies to posts, pages, custom post types, categories, and tags.
Used another SEO plugin?
Nathan Rice, from StudioPress–developers of Genesis Framework–, created and maintains an awesome plugin to transfer your SEO metadata. It’s titled SEO Data Transporter.
Get the SEO Data Transporter plugin
The SEO Data Transporter plugin transfers SEO metadata from popular plugins like Yoast SEO, All in One SEO Pack, and SEO Ultimate. It transfers the most important fields from all posts, pages, and custom post types (like WooCommerce products).
SEO Data Transporter no longer works for All In One SEO Pack v4.0 or later. If you wish to migrate from AIOSEO, we suggest starting fresh. The SEO Framework generates all required metadata for you.
Using the SEO Data Transporter
Before migrating, you should make a database backup. To be clear, you should make a daily backup regardless. If you use quality hosting, your hosting provider is more than likely handling this for you.
After you’ve made a backup, follow the steps below. There’s no need to (de)activate the SEO plugins you’re transferring from or to.
- Install and activate SEO Data Transporter.
- Go to the Convert SEO Data submenu within the Tools menu at the left of your admin dashboard.
- Select your previous SEO plugin within the first drop-down menu.
- Select The SEO Framework within the second drop-down menu.
- Click on Convert to convert the data.
Data that are transferred
As stated above, the most important fields are carried over from all posts, pages, and custom post types. The following fields are transferred when found:
- Meta titles;
- Meta descriptions;
- Robots meta settings, like “noindex”, “nofollow”, and “noarchive”;
- Custom canonical URLs;
- Custom redirect URLs.
All done!
After you’ve transferred the metadata, be sure to deactivate the other SEO plugin that may prevent conflicts.
Now it’s time to adjust categories and tags manually. These archives often don’t carry a lot of weight in Google Search, so there’s no need to rush this.
Caveats
Because no two plugins are alike, a few minor issues may occur. Luckily, all known issues can be resolved quickly with little extra work.
Coming from Yoast SEO? Verify your titles.
Some SEO plugins add the website name to the custom meta title. So, after transferring, look at the SEO Bar for red “T” (Title) sections.
When the tooltip says that the title contains the blog name multiple times, or that untransformed markup syntax is found, you should update the title manually.
Social metadata isn’t transferred
Less important fields that don’t affect ranking aren’t transferred, like:
- Open Graph metadata;
- Twitter metadata.
However, TSF can fill in these fields “automagically” via symbolic and logical interpretation (AI).
TSF has unique fields that others don’t have
The SEO Framework also brings various unique fields; they aren’t available in –or act differently from– other SEO plugins. Therefore, you can’t transfer the following settings:
- The article type selection brought with our Articles extension;
- The multiple focus keywords brought with our Focus extension;
- Archive exclusion options; which can remove page entries from on-site search results and archives.
How to transfer SEO settings from another SEO plugin
Unfortunately, this isn’t possible. Although all SEO plugins aim for better ranking and beautiful display in the search results, they use different methods for achieving this.
Now, TSF automatically configures its settings for your website. In our other 5-minute guide, you’ll learn how to set up our plugin. You’ll find that there’s little that needs tweaking.