Website Migration: Planning for Success

Website migrations are high-stakes projects. Done well, they improve everything with minimal disruption. Done poorly, they destroy search rankings, break user experience, and create months of recovery work. Planning is the difference.

Types of Migration

Different migrations carry different risks:

Platform Migration

Moving from one CMS or technology to another (WordPress to Shopify, custom to SvelteKit). URLs often change, and templates definitely change. High complexity.

Redesign

New visual design on the same platform. Content and URLs may remain unchanged, reducing SEO risk. Lower complexity if done carefully.

Domain Change

Moving to a new domain (company rebrand, new business name). Significant SEO implications—you're essentially telling Google your site moved. High complexity.

HTTPS Migration

Moving from HTTP to HTTPS. Standard practice now, well-documented, lower risk if done correctly.

Host Migration

Changing servers or hosting providers. Usually invisible to users and search engines if DNS is handled correctly.

Many migrations combine multiple types—platform change plus redesign plus domain change—multiplying complexity.

The SEO Stakes

Search engines discover your site through URLs. When URLs change, search engines must find and re-index the new URLs and understand that old URLs have moved. During this transition:

Rankings can fluctuate or drop
Indexed pages may show old, broken URLs
Backlinks pointing to old URLs lose value
Traffic typically dips during transition

With proper redirects and handling, rankings recover—often improving if the new site is better. Without proper handling, rankings may never recover, and you'll spend months trying to regain lost traffic.

Pre-Migration Planning

Benchmark Current Performance

Before changing anything, document:

Current traffic levels (overall and key pages)
Keyword rankings
Conversion rates
Page speed metrics
All indexed URLs (from Search Console)

You need a baseline to assess migration success and identify problems.

URL Inventory

Create a complete list of current URLs. Every page, every image, every asset that could be linked or indexed. Sources include:

XML sitemap
Google Search Console
Site crawlers (Screaming Frog, etc.)
Analytics (pages receiving traffic)

Redirect Mapping

For every old URL, define where it should redirect. This is the most important document in the migration:

/old-page/       → /new-page/
/category/thing/ → /products/thing/
/about-us/       → /about/

1-to-1 redirects (each old URL has a specific new destination) preserve SEO value better than redirecting everything to the homepage.

Backlink Analysis

Identify pages with significant backlinks. These pages have SEO value worth preserving. Ensure redirects properly pass link equity to equivalent new pages.

Stakeholder Alignment

Everyone involved should understand the plan, timeline, and responsibilities. Migrations fail when communication breaks down.

Technical Implementation

301 Redirects

301 redirects tell search engines the page has permanently moved. They pass most link equity (ranking power) to the new URL. Implement 301s for every old URL, pointing to the most relevant new page.

Avoid chains (old → intermediate → new). Redirect directly from old to final destination.

Update Internal Links

Update all internal links to point directly to new URLs. Don't rely on redirects for internal navigation—they add latency and look messy.

Canonical Tags

Ensure new pages have correct canonical tags pointing to themselves. Check no pages accidentally point to old URLs or wrong pages.

XML Sitemap

Generate a new sitemap with all new URLs. Remove old URLs. Submit to Google Search Console immediately after launch.

Robots.txt

Verify robots.txt on the new site doesn't accidentally block important content. This is a common migration error—forgetting to update robots.txt from a development configuration.

Address Change Tool

For domain changes, use Google Search Console's address change tool to inform Google directly about the move.

Content Migration

Content Audit

Migration is an opportunity to review content:

What performs well and should definitely migrate?
What's outdated and should be retired?
What can be consolidated or improved?

Don't migrate garbage. But don't lose valuable content that drives traffic.

Content Formatting

When moving between platforms, content often needs reformatting. Check that:

Images migrate correctly
Links remain functional
Formatting (headings, lists, etc.) transfers properly
Metadata (titles, descriptions) migrates accurately

Testing Content

Review migrated content before launch. Automated migration rarely achieves 100% accuracy.

Launch Checklist

Before going live:

Test all redirects work correctly
Verify key pages load properly
Check forms, checkout, and critical functionality
Confirm analytics tracking is installed
Verify Search Console is connected to new site
Test on multiple devices and browsers
Confirm SSL certificate is valid
Check robots.txt allows indexing
Submit new sitemap
Have rollback plan if critical issues emerge

Post-Migration Monitoring

After launch, monitor closely:

Immediately: Check for errors in server logs and analytics. Look for 404s and unexpected traffic drops.

First week: Monitor Search Console for crawl errors and indexing issues. Check that new pages are being indexed.

First month: Compare traffic to baseline. Some fluctuation is normal; significant drops require investigation.

Three months: Rankings should stabilise. Compare to pre-migration benchmarks. Address any pages that haven't recovered.

Common Migration Mistakes

No redirect plan: Changing URLs without redirects destroys SEO value. Every old URL needs a redirect.

Blocking search engines: Forgetting to update robots.txt or remove noindex tags from development prevents indexing.

Redirect loops: Misconfigured redirects that loop endlessly break the site.

Missing pages: Content that existed on the old site but wasn't migrated, leaving 404s.

Different content: Redirecting old pages to new pages with completely different content. The redirect passes link equity, but users and search engines expect relevant content.

Rushing: Migrations done under pressure without proper testing create problems that take months to resolve.

Our Approach

We plan migrations meticulously: complete URL mapping, careful redirect implementation, thorough testing, and post-migration monitoring. We've successfully migrated sites without significant traffic loss because we respect the complexity involved.

If you're considering a website migration—platform change, redesign, or domain move—contact us before starting. Proper planning prevents the problems that plague rushed migrations.