How do you merge several websites into one?
Start with one inventory of every page across every site, decide the target structure, then sort each page into keep, merge or retire. Rebuild shared templates once, move content into them, and redirect every old URL. The hardest part is usually agreeing who owns what, not the build itself.
Decide the structure first
Before moving anything, agree how the combined site will be organized. The choice shapes every URL, redirect and navigation menu that follows.
- One site with sections for each brand, region or product line.
- One platform running several sites that share components and a content model.
- A main site, with smaller sites folded in as sections and the rest retired.
Sort the content
- Combine the inventoriesList every page from every site in one place, with its traffic and inbound links.
- Find the overlapsSpot pages that cover the same thing on different sites.
- Pick the best versionKeep the clearest, most current and best-performing page, and fold useful parts of the others into it.
- Mark every pageKeep, merge or retire, with an owner for each decision.
- Map the redirectsSend every merged or retired URL to the closest matching page on the new site.
Build once, use everywhere
- One component library, so a fix or improvement lands on every section at once.
- Themes for brands that need to look different, instead of separate builds.
- One content model, so the same kinds of content are structured the same way.
Govern the result
- An owner for each section, with clear publishing rights.
- Rules for when a new page, section or component is allowed.
- A regular review to retire content before it piles up again.
How Cypher handles this
The migration playbook covers six sites into one: every page inventoried, every redirect kept and content parity checked page by page. Where brands share a platform, the design systems playbook builds one component library with a theme per brand.
Questions people ask
Will merging sites hurt our SEO?
Not if every old URL redirects to its closest match and the best content survives. Combining pages that competed with each other can make the remaining page stronger.
Should every brand keep its own domain?
It depends on how distinct the brands are to customers. Strong, separate brands often keep their domains on a shared platform; closely related ones usually do better as sections of one site.
How do we handle several languages?
Plan languages into the content model and URL structure from the start, and map redirects for each language version separately.