{"id":127,"slug":"sej-892-migrations-523-day-recovery","title":"Search Engine Journal (Jan 2025): 523-day average recovery from domain migration (n=892); 17% never recover by 1,000 days","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"superseded","audiences":["kevin","claude-code","candid-team"],"topics":["seo-content","measurement","migration-mechanics"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** Search Engine Journal study (Dan Taylor, January 9, 2025) of **892 domain migrations**: average time for the destination domain to recover the source domain's organic traffic level was **523 days**. **17% of migrations did not recover to prior levels within 1,000 days**.\n\n**Quote (Taylor, SEJ Jan 9, 2025):**\n\n> \"On average, it took 523 days for Domain B to show the same level of organic traffic as Domain A. 17% of domain migrations in the sample didn't see organic traffic return to the same levels after 1,000 days.\"\n\n**Source:** Search Engine Journal — <https://www.searchenginejournal.com/> (Dan Taylor, Jan 9, 2025).\n\n**Confidence:** Verified (multi-sample primary study).\n\n**Why this is the stronger statistic to lead with:** The widely-repeated \"9 of 10 migrations fail\" framing (see [[migration-9-of-10-fail-numen-single-source]]) is single-sourced and unverifiable. The 523-day SEJ figure is from a primary study with n=892. **Use 523 days as the lead statistic in Candid client conversations** about migration cost — it sets a defensible \"year and a half\" planning horizon and is sourced.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"seer-content-recency-2025","title":"Seer Interactive (Oct 2025): 65% of AI bot hits target content under 1 year old; 89% under 3 years","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"migration-9-of-10-fail-numen-single-source","title":"\"9 of 10 web migrations fail\" — single-sourced (Numen Technology); use 523-day SEJ stat instead","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"uk-retailer-3-8m-migration-loss","title":"UK retailer lost ~£3.8M in first month after botched migration — IT consultants rejected redirect mapping","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"coalition-tech-bigcommerce-28k-to-13.4k-keywords","title":"Coalition Tech \"Client ABC\" BigCommerce migration: 28,000 → 13,400 ranking keywords in 10 months","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"web-migrations-can-succeed-with-discipline","title":"Counter-example: well-planned migrations can produce 3-5× traffic gains (BrightEdge / Numen case studies)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"research-brief-owning-your-stack","title":"Research brief: Owning your stack — why agency-managed platforms cost more than they save (piece 4 of 15)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"bj-distributor-ia-recommendation","title":"Boucher & Jones IA recommendation: Pattern A + hub-and-spoke, NOT enterprise matrix","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"decay-vs-compound-matrix","title":"Reference framework: which website dimensions decay vs compound over 10 years (12-dimension matrix)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"ten-year-cost-model-rebuild-vs-foundation","title":"Reference framework: 10-year cost model — rebuild-every-3-years vs foundation-first (Canadian SMB, CAD)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"rule-build-for-10-year-horizon","title":"RULE: Design every Candid client site for a 10-year operational horizon. Rebuild is a choice, not a forced move.","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"rule-url-design-as-permanence-design","title":"RULE: Treat URL/slug design as a 10-year decision. Never let a slug change without a 301 redirect.","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"research-brief-wp-migration-playbook","title":"Research brief: The Candid Creative WordPress Migration Playbook (piece 19)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"sej-892-migrations-clarification-domain-vs-cms","title":"Clarification: the SEJ 892-migration study explicitly measures domain-to-domain moves, NOT same-domain CMS swaps","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"supersedes"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-22T19:17:26.853Z","updated_at":"2026-05-22T21:24:25.981Z"}