SEO and a complex domain migration: Consolidating and growing Atlas Aluminium

Atlas Aluminium is a UK-based fabricator of aluminium glazing systems, supplying trade installers with high-quality windows, doors, and roof solutions. The company had previously operated as two separate brands — Real Aluminium and Atlas Roof Solutions — but made a strategic decision to merge into one unified entity under the Atlas Aluminium name.

The project began with a technical SEO challenge: consolidating both legacy domains into one new domain, atlas-aluminium.co.uk. At the point of onboarding, one migration had already been completed with some complications, resulting in lost visibility. The task was to fix the issues, successfully complete the second migration, and then build the new site into a strong, authoritative platform ready for long-term SEO growth.

Project details:

• Business: Atlas Aluminium
• Sector: Aluminium glazing systems
• Location: United Kingdom
• Website: https://atlas-aluminium.co.uk/
• Services: SEO Migration, technical SEO, content optimisation, link building
• Duration: Ongoing since May 2025
• Key Services: SEO Audit, Technical SEO, Content Strategy, SEO Strategy

The Challenge

Atlas Aluminium had recently made a strategic decision to merge two separate businesses — Real Aluminium and Atlas Roof Solutions — into one brand and one domain: atlas-aluminium.co.uk.

When I was onboarded in May 2025, the first migration (atlasroofsolutions.co.uk → atlas-aluminium.co.uk) had already been attempted. Unfortunately, there had been some issues with this migration, resulting in significant visibility loss.

On top of this, a second migration (re-aluminium.co.uk → atlas-aluminium.co.uk) still needed to be completed, and it was essential to avoid the same mistakes.

Finally, the newly merged website needed to be positioned for long-term SEO growth, requiring missing service and product pages to be identified and built out.

The Strategy

To tackle these challenges, I broke the project down into three clear phases:

Phase 1 – Fixing the Atlas Roof Solutions Migration

The first issue I uncovered was a blanket redirect rule. Every old URL had been redirected to the same path on the new domain, regardless of whether that page actually existed. This caused a high number of 404 errors and a major loss of rankings.

I reversed this approach and carefully mapped each legacy URL to the most relevant equivalent on the new domain. Individual redirects were implemented to preserve SEO equity and ensure users landed on the right pages.

Phase 2 – Migrating Real Aluminium

Next, I managed the second migration, from real-aluminium.co.uk to atlas-aluminium.co.uk. This required:

• Mapping every live page and ensuring corresponding pages were created where necessary.
• Transferring content and metadata accurately to the new site.
• Creating individual redirect rules and adding them to the host’s .htaccess file.
• Submit a formal address change request in Google Search Console to speed up recognition of the migration.

Phase 3 – Setting the Site Up for Growth

Once both migrations were complete, the focus shifted to building authority and improving the site’s content. Key steps included:

• Conducting a backlink audit and identifying the need for stronger authority signals.
• Building 240 local citations to boost the new domain’s credibility.
• Issuing a press release announcing the company merger to secure coverage across relevant industry publications.
• Contacting installers and partners to update references to the new brand and website URL.

On the content side, I carried out in-depth keyword research and identified:

• 6 new service pages that needed to be created.
• 15 existing pages that required optimisation and expansion.

This ensured the website had the right foundations in place to capture relevant search demand moving forward.

The Results

The work to fix the first migration (atlasroofsolutions.co.uk → atlas-aluminium.co.uk) was completed by the beginning of May, and then the second migration (real-aluminium.co.uk → atlas-aluminium.co.uk) was completed at the end of May.

This image, taken from SEO Gets, shows the red line (atlas-aluminium.co.uk) vs the Green line (atlasroofsolutions.co.uk) and the Yellow line (re-aluminium.co.uk), and shows the progress of the 2 migrations.

Data obtained from Ahrefs also shows significant growth across Avg. organic traffic, organic positions, and non-branded traffic, starting from May 2025 onwards.

Keyword Visibility Growth

The number of ranking keywords improved significantly across almost all key positions:

Ranking	Combined (Atlas Roof & Real) Apr 25	Atlas Aluminium Sep 25	Keyword Growth	% Change
1-10	23	60	37	160.87%
11-20	40	53	13	32.50%
21-50	138	200	62	44.93%
50+	224	186	-38	-16.96%
TOTALS	421	499	78	18.53%

Not only did the site gain more keyword coverage overall post migration, but it also saw a 160.87% increase in keywords in positions 1-10.

Key Takeaways

• Fixing the first migration helped recover lost visibility and ensured no SEO equity was wasted.
• A meticulous approach to the second migration avoided the pitfalls of the first and ensured a seamless transfer.
• By strengthening authority through citations, press coverage, and partner updates, the new domain quickly began to establish itself.
• A well-researched content plan ensured the new website was positioned to rank for key services and products, setting up long-term SEO success.

Migrations are often seen as risky, but with the right approach they can become a catalyst for growth. By fixing what went wrong, completing the consolidation properly, and then laying strong SEO foundations, we turned a complex domain merge into a real springboard for long-term success.

Andy Frobisher