While both Drupal and Shopify are popular online shop platforms, Shopify is often considered the best among eCommerce solutions.
Among other things, vendors can enjoy Shopify benefits such simple to use design and search engine optimisation. To the untrained eye, Drupal and Shopify might offer similar services, but they are very different types of platforms.
This article will go through the differences between Drupal and Shopify, why many eCommerce vendors choose to migrate to Shopify from Drupal, and how to do it.
Drupal vs Shopify—how are they different?
The orientation of these two platforms is completely different, as Drupal is a content management system (CMS), whereas Shopify is an eCommerce platform. Drupal is content-oriented, while Shopify is sales-oriented.
With this in mind, it’s natural that Shopify is considered more of a complete eCommerce solution that can better foresee the needs of online shop owners.
If your focus is to sell more, note that the Shopify platform is designed specifically for your needs. One example is that Shopify has over 100 online payment platforms, whereas Drupal doesn’t have any by default.
Why migrate to Shopify?
Let’s compare Drupal and Shopify, and simultaneously look at some reasons for migrating to Shopify.
It’s easy to use
One of the biggest benefits of choosing Shopify is how easy the platform is to use. The Shopify website has a fantastic user experience for owners and customers alike. For customers, the interface is simple and attractive. But the user-friendly nature of the site is even more important for business owners because it makes it easier to develop your store, add products and tweak SEO.
Drupal is designed for website builders and web developers who have coding knowledge. Therefore, Drupal vendors without web development experience can find the platform difficult to manage, wrought with admin tasks, and expensive to maintain.
In contrast, Shopify’s drag-and-drop website builder is simple and can be understood even by beginners.
SEO made easy
Both Drupal and Shopify are SEO-friendly platforms. Drupal is more customisable than Shopify and has an advantage if you want to develop a content-oriented website. However, this will require some coding knowledge.
If your focus is to sell your products online, Shopify’s search engine optimisation is both effective and easy to use. Shopify has built-in SEO features such as meta title and meta description optimisation, alt text tags, and URL customisation for your product pages. These features allow you to improve your website's SEO – even if you’re not a web developer.
High security
While both platforms offer up-to-date security measures, Shopify is currently the most secure eCommerce platform on the market.
Drupal has been a target for hackers, and because it relies on third-party plugins, there are risks for malicious malware infiltration. Shopify has included strict payment card industry security and automatic SSL certificates, which need to be installed manually on Drupal.
What to consider before your Drupal to Shopify migration
Before your Drupal to Shopify migration, you will have to consider many factors, such as which Shopify package to get and how to migrate to Shopify. You should also consider the SEO impact a migration to Shopify might involve to reduce traffic loss as much as possible.
Which Shopify package to get
Shopify offers the following four packages to choose from:
- Basic Shopify
- Shopify
- Advanced Shopify
- Shopify Plus
No matter which option you select, you can enjoy no transaction fees and unlimited products. However, there are certain benefits to the more expensive Shopify subscriptions.
Shopify Plus is the most expensive but also the best option, especially for a growing business. If you want to scale up your eCommerce, Shopify Plus includes advanced Shopify apps specifically designed for high-growth vendors.
One of the most well-liked benefits of Shopify Plus is the unlimited number of staff accounts. This means you can add more people and grow your personnel without a higher cost.
Do you want help migrating from Drupal to Shopify?
The three main methods of migrating your website from Drupal to Shopify are manual migration, automated migration, and assisted migration.
Manual migration means you must copy-paste all your data manually, which requires web development experience. It also involves a risk of data loss. Automated migration means using an automated store migration tool to transfer all the data from your Drupal website to your new Shopify store.
Assisted migration, on the other hand, means that a professional with web development experience helps you transfer all your data to Shopify. If you want personalised help, hiring Shopify migration experts can ensure that migrating goes smoothly. You can rest assured knowing that your data is in the hand of professionals.
How a Shopify migration impacts SEO
Shopify's SEO compatibility is one of the main reasons many businesses choose to move to this popular eCommerce platform. The built-in SEO features are simple to use and can raise your online shop’s SEO ranking – a valuable tool to increase sales.
However, it’s important to consider the impact a migration will have on your SEO ranking. Temporary traffic loss is a common side effect of a website migration of any kind.
When you hire Shopify migration experts, they can ensure that your SEO is maintained as much as possible during the migration and help you tweak things to improve your SEO moving forward.
How to migrate to Shopify from Drupal
The exact steps of how to migrate from Drupal to Shopify will vary depending on if you choose a manual, assisted or automated migration. The following are general steps that are generally involved in a migration from Drupal to Shopify.
Step 1: Back up and export all your data
First, you need to ensure that all your data from Drupal is backed up. You can do this by creating a backup of your Drupal store.
Then, export the data to a spreadsheet, and keep the document for future reference. This way, all the information that needs to be transferred to Shopify is safe and in one place.
Step 2: Notify your customers of the migration
You’ll want to let your customers know about the migration, for example with a pop-up on your website or through your newsletter, if you have one. This way, both old and potential customers will be ready for potential disruptions. While you’re at it, all existing marketing campaigns should also be paused until you’re settled in your new store location.
Step 3: Create your Shopify store
Once these steps are done, you can create your Shopify store and choose a Shopify theme. If you have chosen to get the Shopify Plus subscription, you can create a Shopify Plus theme. Shopify also has a variety of ready and customisable themes if you prefer a ready option or would like to make changes to an existing theme template.
Step 4: Create 301 redirects to avoid broken links
Broken links will damage your SEO and cause you to lose potential customers, so an important step for Shopify SEO migration is to create redirect links.
Shopify’s 301 redirects will lead your customers to the correct Shopify page after you’ve migrated from Drupal so your visitors can continue shopping uninterrupted.
Step 5: Test and audit your store for improvements
As a final step, you’ll want to ensure that your newly migrated online store is as good as possible. A/B testing various page versions is one way to do this, as it will allow visitors to choose between various versions of your website. This will help you see which layout and page your customers prefer.
You’ll also want to audit your SEO metrics after your Drupal to Shopify migration. This lets you see if any SEO factors need to be adjusted or improved.
Conclusion on migrating from Drupal to Shopify
It's easy to understand why many business owners want to migrate to Shopify. Drupal may be a good option for online businesses with a lot of content, but Shopify is a secure and fully equipped platform for sales-oriented eCommerce stores.
What's more, Drupal requires coding knowledge, whereas you can build your online store and easily manage SEO on Shopify without any web development experience.
Before migrating to Shopify from Drupal, you’ll have to consider which Shopify subscription is suitable for you and your eCommerce. The SEO impact a migration to Shopify involves is also important to have in mind to reduce traffic loss.
If you are interested in an assisted migration, our team of professional Shopify migration experts can help you maintain your SEO and give you a quick and safe Shopify migration experience.
