On-prem Classic to Adobe Experience Manager as a Cloud Service. Keep the URLs that already rank. Freeze the inventory, map every 301, cut over without dragging the old debt.
Nothing moves until the URL map is complete. Titles, H1s, metas, canonicals, sitemaps — counted before cutover, checked after.
List every published path, redirect already in the wild, vanity and Sling map, and DAM asset URL. Mark what must stay stable vs what can die. Freeze publishing changes that would race the map.
Every live URL gets a permanent redirect. No soft 302s. No orphan paths. Vanity and Sling aliases go on the same graph.
Build the graph before cutover day. Prefer 301/308 permanent. Kill soft 302 parking lots and multi-hop chains that burn equity. Homepage is not a dump for orphans.
Same titles, H1s, metas, canonicals, sitemaps, and Core Web Vitals budget. We don’t call it done until the graph matches.
Diff titles, H1s, metas, and canonicals pre/post. Sitemap in, old URLs out. Capture CWV baselines on key templates before lift; re-check after CDN/dispatcher settle.
Dispatcher and CDN, DAM paths, author leak locked down. Dual-run or blue-green through cutover. Redesign waits.
Wire dispatcher and CDN for the new host. Re-apply vanity maps on Adobe Experience Manager as a Cloud Service. Confirm author isn’t leaking. Keep DAM paths from breaking overnight. Dual-run or blue-green through cutover. Redesign waits.
URL inventory, vanity/Sling aliases, DAM paths, author hosts, sitemap set, and the CWV budget. Editors keep publishing on the source until cutover.
Staging graph matches production. Sample 301s hit the right targets. Canonicals and sitemaps agree. No author leak on the public host.
Watch coverage and soft 404s while dual-run holds. Orphan paths get fixed on the graph, not in a redesign ticket.
| Deployment | Milestone | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Managed Services (Adobe Experience Manager 6.5) | Support ends | 31 August 2026 |
| On-premises (Adobe Experience Manager 6.5) | Core support ends | 28 February 2027 |
| On-premises (Adobe Experience Manager 6.5) | Extended support ends | 28 February 2028 |
Adobe releases roadmap and products and technical support periods. Adobe roadmap dates are subject to change.
Is AEM on-prem deprecated?
No. Classic AEM 6.5 core support ends 28 February 2027. On-prem continues on AEM 6.5 LTS. Cloud Service is what Adobe is building. That is a product direction, not a kill switch for every self-hosted instance.
Will we lose Google rankings?
Not if the hostname, public paths, and rendered head (title, canonical, robots, H1, schema) stay the same. You lose rankings when the Cloud program is also a redesign, a new URL tree, or a template that drops metadata.
Senior engineers. Attention to every detail.