Website Migration
A website migration is any major change to a website that can affect how search engines crawl, index and rank it. That includes changing domain, moving to a new platform or CMS, redesigning, restructuring URLs, merging sites or switching from HTTP to HTTPS. Migrations are one of the riskiest moments for organic traffic.
Types of website migration
- Domain migration: moving to a new domain name or merging domains.
- Platform migration: moving to a new CMS, such as from Wix to WordPress or Magento to Shopify.
- Structure migration: changing URLs, categories or navigation.
- Design migration: a redesign that changes templates, content or internal links.
- Protocol migration: HTTP to HTTPS.
- Hosting migration: moving servers, which can affect speed and uptime.
Many projects combine several of these, which increases risk.
Why migrations lose traffic
- Missing or wrong redirects from old URLs.
- Content removed or rewritten without considering rankings.
- Changes to titles, headings and internal links.
- Staging site noindex settings or Robots.txt blocks carried over to the live site.
- Slower templates hurting Core Web Vitals.
- Broken structured data, canonicals or hreflang.
Before the migration
- Benchmark everything: rankings, traffic, conversions and indexed pages per URL.
- Crawl the current site and export every URL, including those in sitemaps, analytics and backlink tools.
- Identify your most valuable pages by traffic, conversions and Backlinks.
- Create a redirect map matching every old URL to the most relevant new URL, one to one where possible.
- Review the new site on staging: content, titles, headings, internal links, canonicals, structured data and speed.
- Keep staging blocked from search engines with password protection.
- Plan the launch for a quieter period, not just before peak season.
On launch day
- Remove staging blocks and confirm the live site is indexable.
- Implement and test redirects using your full list of old URLs.
- Check for Redirect Chains and loops.
- Submit the new XML Sitemap in Google Search Console.
- For domain changes, use the Change of Address tool in Search Console.
- Check analytics and conversion tracking.
After the migration
- Monitor indexing, crawl errors and 404s daily for the first weeks.
- Compare rankings and traffic for key pages with your benchmark.
- Update important backlinks, social profiles and business listings with new URLs.
- Keep redirects in place permanently, or at least for a year.
- Fix issues quickly; delays make recovery slower.
Some fluctuation is normal for a few weeks. A sharp, lasting drop usually points to a technical mistake. For domain mergers in particular, read what happens when a highly ranked domain is redirected to a new domain.
Get help early
The best time to involve an SEO specialist is before design and development begin, not after launch. A pre-migration audit and redirect plan cost far less than recovering lost rankings.
Further reading: Google’s guide to site moves with URL changes.
Key Takeaways
- Migrations include domain, platform, structure, design and HTTPS changes.
- Benchmark performance and crawl every old URL before you start.
- A complete one-to-one redirect map is the most important safeguard.
- Remove staging blocks and test redirects immediately after launch.
- Monitor indexing, errors and rankings closely for several weeks.
Related Terms
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