blog / redesign & migration / 12 min read
Website Migration SEO Checklist: Move House Without Losing the Furniture
short answer
TL;DR: how risky is your move?
02 · redesign & migration
What is website migration? (And which kind are you doing?)
"Website migration" covers any change to where your pages live, what serves them or how search engines reach them. Google's documentation splits site moves into two groups, with URL changes and without. If your URLs change, Google has to recrawl and transfer signals to every new address. If they don't, your job is mostly not breaking anything.
- LOWEST RISK
Hosting or server move — same domain, same URLs, new server. Watch speed and downtime.
- LOW RISK
HTTP to HTTPS — every URL changes protocol, so sitewide 301s and updated internal links are non-negotiable.
- MOST COMMON
Platform change — Wix, Squarespace or Shopify to WordPress, or the reverse. Platforms format URLs differently (Shopify, for example, puts products under /products/), so mapping matters. Still deciding? My Shopify vs WordPress comparison covers the trade-offs.
- HIGH RISK
URL structure change — new folders, new slugs, dates removed. Every page needs a mapped redirect.
- HIGH RISK
Domain change — a rebrand or consolidation. Redirects plus Change of Address.
- MOST COMPLEX
International restructure — country domains folded into subfolders, or new languages added. Everything above, plus hreflang; my international SEO checklist covers that layer.
Only changing the design, with platform, domain and URLs staying put? The lighter website redesign SEO checklist is what you need. This website migration SEO checklist is for real moves.
03 · redesign & migration
SEO website migration: why rankings wobble
Over time, Google attaches a lot of understanding to each URL: which searches it answers, which sites link to it, how your internal links describe it. A migration asks Google to move all of that, and a 301 redirect is the forwarding instruction. Google's own site-move guidance says a medium-sized site can take a few weeks for most pages to move in its index, with larger sites taking longer.
A temporary wobble in that window is normal. A lasting loss is not, and it usually traces back to a website migration SEO checklist item that got skipped or "saved for after launch."
Change everything at once
New platform, domain, URLs, design and content in one launch. It feels efficient. But when traffic drops, you can't tell which change caused it.
Change one big thing at a time
Migrate the platform with URLs and content intact first. Once traffic is stable, roll out the redesign. Slower on paper, but every problem has an obvious suspect.
04 · redesign & migration
Your website migration project plan, phase by phase
A good website migration project plan looks like a construction schedule: most of the work happens before anybody sees anything. Here's the website migration process I follow. For a typical small business site, plan on 3–5 weeks end to end; more URLs and more changes mean longer.
- 01
Scope and freeze — write down exactly what's changing and agree a content freeze date.
- 02
Inventory — combine a full crawl with Search Console pages, analytics landing pages, XML sitemaps and backlink targets into one master URL list.
- 03
Benchmark — export clicks, impressions, top queries and conversions by landing page.
- 04
Content migration plan — decide the fate of every URL: keep, improve, merge or retire.
- 05
Redirect map — match every old URL to its closest new equivalent with a single 301.
- 06
Build and staging QA — build behind a password, then crawl staging against the map.
- 07
Launch — run a fixed launch-day sequence, early in the week and outside your busy season.
- 08
Monitor and fix — daily checks for two weeks, then weekly, then a final review against the benchmark.
If WordPress is your destination, my WordPress development service handles the build. WordPress gives you full control over URLs, redirects and templates, which is exactly what a migration needs.
The new site isn't the goal. Keeping everything the old site earned, and then building on it, is the goal.
05 · redesign & migration
Your website content migration plan: keep, improve, merge or retire
The website content migration plan is where SEO value is won or lost, because it decides whether Google finds the same answers at the new address. It's the part of any website migration SEO checklist people rush. For every URL on your master list, pick one fate:
Two rules make this work. First, content parity on launch day: titles, headings, copy, images with alt text, structured data and internal links all make the trip. Second, don't let a template decide your copy length. If your best page needs 1,200 words and the layout fits 150, the layout changes, not the page.
06 · redesign & migration
The redirect map (and the rule people break)
Redirects are the forwarding address for everything Google and your visitors already know. For a domain move, one rule can send every path to the same path on the new domain; individual rules handle URLs that changed:
# On the OLD domain's server: send every path to the same path on the new domain
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?old-domain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.new-domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]
# On the NEW site: changed URLs, one old URL to one final destination, one hop
Redirect 301 /services.html /services/
Redirect 301 /contact-us.php /contact/The rule people break is redirecting everything to the homepage. It's fast and it's wrong: Google can treat a redirect to an irrelevant page as a soft 404, and someone who clicked an old "kitchen remodeling" link lands on a generic welcome message. Map each URL to its closest equivalent and avoid chains. Google recommends keeping redirects for at least a year; I'd keep them indefinitely.
Before launch, run your numbers through this calculator. It's the single figure on my website migration SEO checklist that says whether your map is ready.
Redirect coverage calculator
This tool needs JavaScript to run.
07 · redesign & migration
The website migration SEO checklist
Here's the full website migration checklist, in launch order. Tick as you go and the page keeps score. Working with a developer? Send them this website migration SEO checklist and ask which items they own.
Website migration SEO checklist
08 · redesign & migration
How to tell a wobble from a bad migration
If you've ever typed something like "bad website site migration seo" into Google at 2 a.m., you'll recognize these. Each one points back to a website migration SEO checklist item. Investigate the same day.
Signs your migration is leaking
- A spike in "Not found (404)" in Search Console — pages are missing from the redirect rules, or a rule has a typo.
- Pages listed as "Excluded by 'noindex' tag" — staging settings went live with the site.
- Old URLs still load with a 200 weeks later — the old site is live somewhere, competing with the new one.
- Clicks drop on specific pages, not across the board — those pages lost content, links or a sensible redirect target.
- Redirects pass through two or three hops — leftovers from an earlier migration.
- Leads fall but traffic holds — forms, phone links or tracking broke, not the SEO.
09 · redesign & migration
After launch: the website migration SEO checklist doesn't end at go-live
A migration is finished when Google has processed the move and your numbers match the benchmark, not at go-live. For two weeks, check the Page indexing and Performance reports daily, comparing top pages against the same period before launch. My Google Search Console guide walks through those reports. After that, weekly checks and a fresh crawl are enough.
Some moves need specialist hands. Migrations that add countries or languages get hreflang work through my international SEO service. Large sites and tangled redirect histories are what my technical SEO service is for. If the move comes with a new look, my website redesign service runs both projects to one plan. For an example of my work, the ITConnect project is a recent one.
What is website migration in SEO terms?
It's any significant change to your site's platform, domain, URL structure, protocol, hosting or international setup that affects how search engines find your pages. The big dividing line is whether URLs change. If they do, every old URL needs a 301 redirect, and you need a website migration SEO checklist so nothing gets left behind.
How long does SEO for site migration take to recover?
It depends on the size of the site and how much changed. Google's site-move guidance says a medium-sized site can take a few weeks for most pages to move in its index, and larger sites longer. If clicks to specific pages are still down after that, treat it as a problem to investigate, not a waiting game.
How long should I keep 301 redirects after a migration?
Google recommends keeping redirects in place for at least a year. I'd keep them indefinitely wherever possible, because old backlinks, bookmarks and printed materials don't expire on a schedule. Redirect rules cost very little to maintain; losing the signals they carry costs far more.
Should I migrate and redesign at the same time?
Avoid it if you can. Change one big thing at a time: migrate with URLs and content intact, let things settle, then redesign. If a rebrand forces everything into one launch, keep content identical on day one, finish the redirect map before design sign-off, and work the full website migration SEO checklist.
Do I need a website migration SEO checklist for a hosting move?
A shorter one. If your domain and URLs stay identical, the main risks are downtime, slower response times, lost HTTPS certificates or server-level redirects, and staging blocks going live. Benchmark first, crawl after the switch, check Core Web Vitals, and confirm your existing redirects still work.
How much does an SEO-safe migration cost?
It scales with the number of URLs and how much changes. A small hosting move is a different job from a domain change with hundreds of pages. I quote migration projects after looking at your URL count and what's changing, and the free audit shows which parts of the website migration SEO checklist your site actually needs.
free audit
Moving soon? Check the map before you load the truck
Tell me what's changing (platform, domain, URLs or all three) and I'll run your current site through my website migration SEO checklist: the pages that carry your traffic, the URLs at risk and the gaps in your redirect plan. Plain English, no obligation.
Free audit · No obligation · Reply within one business day
keep reading