Clarification: the SEJ 892-migration study explicitly measures domain-to-domain moves, NOT same-domain CMS swaps

Claim: Dan Taylor's Search Engine Journal study, "How Long Should An SEO Migration Take? [Study Updated]" (published Jan 9, 2025; data collated Oct 22, 2024; n=892), explicitly measures domain-to-domain migrations.

Verbatim: "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."

Methodology: Ahrefs estimated organic traffic comparing Domain B to Domain A.

Same-domain CMS swaps are not in this dataset. Citing the 523-day / 17% number to a same-domain client is dishonest; ignoring it for a domain-change client is malpractice.

Methodology improvement note: the earlier (n=171) reading of the same study showed 42% of sites never recovering; the n=892 update brought that to 17%. Taylor: "17% of migrations did not recover after 1,000 days, though this is an improvement from 42% in the previous study." Industry citations of "42% never recover" are now out of date.

Confidence: High for the methodology scope; the number itself is verified.

This entry corrects/refines [[sej-892-migrations-523-day-recovery]] (existing) by emphasizing the domain-vs-CMS scoping.