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Validation overview

Content validation checklist

Completeness check

  • All content migrated - Compare counts with source system
  • No missing pages - Verify every page from inventory exists
  • No missing media - Confirm all images and files transferred
  • Metadata preserved - Check publish dates, authors, categories
  • Relationships intact - Verify references and links work

Quality scan

  • Visual inspection - Scroll through migrated content
  • Formatting correct - Headers, paragraphs, lists render properly
  • No broken formatting - No HTML tags showing as text
  • Character encoding - Special characters display correctly
  • No placeholder content - All fields have real content
  • Internal links work - Links between pages resolve correctly
  • External links work - Links to external sites are valid
  • No broken links - Use a link checker tool
  • Correct destinations - Links go to intended pages
  • Anchor links work - In-page navigation functions
Possible link outcomes:
  1. ✅ Link works correctly
  2. ⚠️ Link to unmigrated content (fix before go-live)
  3. ⚠️ Link to source system (update to new URL)
  4. ❌ Broken link (must fix)

Media validation

Image checklist

  • All images load - No broken image icons
  • Correct image shown - Right images on right pages
  • Image quality acceptable - No blurry or distorted images
  • Alt text preserved - Accessibility text migrated
  • CDN URLs used - Images served from ButterCMS CDN

SEO validation

SEO checklist

  • Meta titles preserved - SEO titles migrated correctly
  • Meta descriptions preserved - Descriptions migrated correctly
  • URL structure maintained - Or proper redirects in place
  • Canonical URLs correct - Pointing to right pages
  • No duplicate content - Old URLs retired or redirected
  • Sitemap updated - Reflects new URL structure
  • Robots.txt correct - Allows crawling of new content

SEO monitoring

After migration, monitor these metrics:

Redirect validation

Performance validation

Performance checklist

  • Page load time - Compare to baseline
  • Time to First Byte - API response times
  • Core Web Vitals - LCP, FID, CLS metrics
  • Mobile performance - Test on mobile devices
  • CDN working - Images served from CDN

Performance comparison

Functional testing

User acceptance testing

Conduct UAT with real users:
  1. Content team review - Have editors verify content accuracy
  2. Developer review - Verify API responses match expectations
  3. Stakeholder review - Business owners approve key pages
  4. QA review - Systematic testing of all functionality

Comparison report template

Monitoring after go-live

First 24-48 hours

  • Monitor error logs
  • Check for 404 errors
  • Verify CDN is serving content
  • Watch for user-reported issues

First week

  • Compare traffic to pre-migration baseline
  • Monitor search rankings
  • Check indexing status
  • Review user feedback

First month

  • Full performance comparison
  • SEO impact assessment
  • User adoption metrics
  • Identify any remaining issues

Rollback procedures

If critical issues are found:

Quick rollback (DNS-based)

  1. Point DNS back to old system
  2. Document all issues found
  3. Plan fixes before re-attempting

Partial rollback

  1. Identify problematic content
  2. Restore from backup or re-import
  3. Verify fixes before full cutover

Data recovery

  1. Use ButterCMS revision history if available
  2. Re-import from source backup
  3. Contact ButterCMS support for assistance

Automated validation

Automated validation script

Media validation script

API integration tests