Website migration SEO comes down to one rule: every old URL that matters must lead, by a permanent redirect, to the closest matching new page, and search engines must be able to crawl the new site from the moment it goes live. Get that right, keep your best content, carry over tracking and watch Search Console closely afterwards, and you give your rankings the best chance. Get it wrong and a beautiful new site can quietly lose the traffic the old one earned over years.
Key takeaways
- Build a redirect map of every old URL to its new equivalent before launch, checked against your sitemap, analytics and top pages.
- Google recommends server-side permanent redirects (301 or 308), straight to the final page, kept generally for at least a year.
- Do not redirect lots of unrelated old pages to the home page; send each one to its closest match or let it return a 404 or 410.
- Remove development noindex tags and robots.txt blocks on launch day.
- Google says rankings can fluctuate for weeks or longer after a move, so monitor rather than panic.
What counts as a website migration?
Any change that alters your page addresses, or the way search engines reach them, is a migration in SEO terms. That includes moving to a new domain, switching platform (say from Wix to WordPress), restructuring URLs during a redesign, merging two sites, or moving from HTTP to HTTPS. A pure hosting move with identical URLs is lower risk, but still needs checks.
This checklist is about protecting search visibility. If you are still at the budgeting stage, our guide to website migration cost explains what a migration quote should include. If you are not yet sure a rebuild is needed, see the signs you need a website redesign.
The steps below follow Google's own guidance on site moves with URL changes, adapted for a small business relaunch.
Before launch: the relaunch SEO checklist
1. Record where you are now
- Export a list of every live URL: from your XML sitemap, a site crawl and your CMS.
- Export your top landing pages from analytics and the top pages and queries from Google Search Console for the last 12 months.
- Note pages with external links pointing at them; these carry value you want to keep.
- Save copies of key page titles, meta descriptions and headings so you can compare later.
2. Decide what happens to each page
Every old URL gets one of three outcomes. Keep (same or improved content at a new or identical URL), merge (combined into a better page) or remove (no equivalent, so it returns a 404 or 410). Be careful removing pages that bring traffic or links; often they are worth keeping in some form.
3. Build the 301 redirect mapping
This is the heart of the job. A spreadsheet with the old URL, the new URL and a status column is enough.
| Old URL | New URL | Decision | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| /services/boiler-repairs.html | /boiler-repair/ | Keep | Top landing page, check title carried over |
| /boilers-walsall/ and /boilers-dudley/ | /areas/walsall/ and /areas/dudley/ | Keep | Content rewritten, local proof added |
| /news/2019-christmas-hours/ | none | Remove | No equivalent; return 410 |
| /about-us/ and /meet-the-team/ | /about/ | Merge | Team section moved into about page |
Google's guidance is clear on a few points that save arguments later: map each old URL to its new equivalent, avoid sending many unrelated URLs to one page such as the home page, and redirect straight to the final destination rather than through chains.
4. Carry over the content that ranks
Redesigns often cut copy to look cleaner. If a page ranks because it answers questions in detail, keep that detail, restructured if you like. Carry over titles, headings and internal links on your highest-value pages, then improve them deliberately rather than by accident.
5. Prepare the new site properly
- Build and test on a staging site blocked from search engines.
- Give every new page a self-referencing canonical tag.
- Update internal links so they point directly at new URLs, not at redirects.
- Prepare a new XML sitemap.
- Set up analytics, conversion tracking and any tag manager containers on the new templates.
- Verify the new site in Search Console in advance if the domain is changing, and keep the old one verified.
During launch: SEO redirects for a new website
- Remove development blocks. Take off any site-wide noindex and staging robots.txt rules. Google specifically lists this. On WordPress builds, we check the search engine visibility setting as part of this step.
- Switch on redirects as server-side permanent redirects, 301 or 308, at the server or with a reliable redirect plugin.
- Test the map. Run every old URL from your spreadsheet through a crawler or redirect checker. Each should return one 301 or 308 and land on a 200 page.
- Check the basics on live: HTTPS works, the www and non-www versions resolve to one, the robots.txt file is right and key pages render.
- Submit the new sitemap in Search Console. Google suggests keeping the old sitemap submitted for a while too, so you can watch old URLs drop out, then removing it.
- Use Change of Address only if the domain changed. Google says the tool is for domain or subdomain moves, not for HTTPS switches, www changes or path changes on the same domain.
- Test tracking. Submit a test enquiry and confirm it appears as a conversion.
Launch early in the week and early in the day if you can, so the team is around to fix problems. Avoid launching just before a holiday period.
After launch: keep rankings on the new site
Google warns that rankings can fluctuate for weeks or longer, especially on large sites, because it has to crawl both old and new URLs. Monitoring tells you whether a dip is normal settling or a real fault.
| When | Check | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Redirects working, no noindex, sitemap submitted, enquiries tracked | Crawler, Search Console, analytics |
| Week 1 | Crawl errors and 404s from old links; fix missing redirects | Search Console page indexing report, server logs |
| Weeks 2 to 4 | New URLs being indexed, old ones dropping out | Sitemaps and page indexing reports |
| Months 1 to 3 | Clicks and queries for top pages compared with before | Search Console performance report |
| Ongoing | Ask sites linking to you to update links; keep redirects live | Your backlink list, server config |
Google says to keep redirects in place generally for at least a year.
Common website migration SEO mistakes
- Launching with noindex still on. A noindex tag tells search engines not to index the page, so the whole new site is asking to be left out.
- Redirecting everything to the home page. Google advises against it, and visitors from old links land somewhere irrelevant.
- Temporary redirects. Using 302s where the move is permanent.
- Redirect chains built up over several redesigns, such as old page to older page to new page.
- Cutting ranking content in the name of a cleaner design.
- Forgetting images and PDFs that receive search traffic or links. Price lists, brochures and data sheets often have links from other sites; give them redirects too.
- Losing tracking, so nobody can tell whether enquiries fell or just stopped being recorded.
- Changing everything at once: domain, URLs, content and design in one go makes problems hard to diagnose. If you can stage the changes, do.
Who should own the migration on your side?
Agencies run the technical work, but someone in your business should own three things: approving the list of pages to keep, merge or remove; checking that key service content survives; and confirming enquiries are still arriving after launch. Put the redirect map and post-launch checks in the project scope, so they are not treated as an extra. Agree in writing who will watch Search Console for the first month and how quickly missing redirects will be added when they show up. Our website design process builds them into the plan from the start.
A shared spreadsheet with one row per checklist task, a named owner and a due date keeps everyone working from the same list on launch day, and shows at a glance what is still open.
Frequently asked questions
Will I lose rankings when I launch a new website?
Some movement is normal; Google says rankings can fluctuate for weeks or longer while it recrawls old and new URLs. Lasting losses usually come from missing redirects, removed content, blocked crawling or broken internal links. A complete redirect map, carried-over content and close monitoring after launch protect most of your visibility.
What is the difference between a 301 and a 302 redirect?
A 301 is a permanent redirect, telling search engines the page has moved for good. A 302 is temporary. For a migration, Google recommends server-side permanent redirects, 301 or 308, so search engines treat the new URL as the replacement for the old one.
How long should I keep redirects after a migration?
Google's guidance says generally at least a year. Many sites keep them indefinitely, because old links from other websites, emails and bookmarks continue to send visitors long after the move. Redirects cost very little to keep, so remove them only if there is a specific reason.
Do I need the Change of Address tool?
Only if you are moving to a new domain or subdomain. Google says it is not needed for switching to HTTPS, changing between www and non-www, or changing page paths on the same domain. In those cases redirects, sitemaps and updated internal links do the work.
Should old blog posts be redirected or deleted?
Check traffic and links first. Posts that still bring visitors or have links from other sites should be kept or merged into a better page and redirected. Genuinely obsolete posts with no traffic or links can return a 404 or 410 rather than being redirected to an unrelated page.
Relaunch with a plan, not a hope
Start your redirect spreadsheet now, before design is signed off, and make it part of the project scope. If you would like a migration handled end to end, from crawl and redirect map to post-launch monitoring, our SEO team can run it alongside your rebuild. Start a project or contact us to talk about your relaunch.
