Website migration SEO checklist

Weeks before launch. Everything here becomes impossible to recover once the old site is gone.

• Export a complete list of existing URLsCriticalFrom Search Console, your analytics, your sitemap and a crawl — each source misses different pages. The union is your real inventory.
• Record what currently ranks, and for whatCriticalTop pages by impressions and clicks, with position. This is the baseline that makes any later loss visible rather than arguable.
• Record what currently convertsCriticalPages driving form submissions and calls. These are the ones most often redesigned away because nobody checked which they were.
• Identify pages with external links pointing at themCriticalEarned links are the hardest asset to replace. A page with backlinks needs its URL preserved or redirected precisely, never dropped.
• Save a copy of the content that performsDepth that earns rankings should migrate intact. Rewriting it for a new tone of voice is a common and avoidable way to lose position.
• Note current Core Web VitalsSo you can tell whether the new site is genuinely faster or merely newer.

Before build work starts, not after. Retrofitting this is where projects overrun.

• Map every old URL to exactly one new URLCriticalOne to one. A page that has no obvious equivalent still needs a destination — the closest relevant page, not the homepage.
• Avoid redirecting everything to the homepageCriticalSearch engines treat a mass redirect to the root as a soft 404 and the equity is lost. This is the single most common migration error.
• Use 301, not 302CriticalA 302 signals a temporary move and does not consolidate ranking signals the way a permanent redirect does.
• Eliminate redirect chainsOld → interim → new wastes crawl budget and dilutes signals. Point the original directly at the final destination.
• Decide what to do with retired pagesA genuine 410 is sometimes correct and cleaner than redirecting an irrelevant page. Decide deliberately rather than defaulting.
• Handle both locales if the site is bilingualEach language version needs its own mapping, and the hreflang relationships must be rebuilt on the new URLs.

The last point at which mistakes are cheap.

• Confirm staging is not indexableCriticalA staging site indexed alongside production creates duplicate content and occasionally outranks the real site.
• Test the redirect map against the full URL listCriticalAutomated, not sampled. A map that works for the twenty URLs someone checked is not a tested map.
• Verify canonicals point to the new URLsCriticalA canonical left pointing at the old domain will remove the new page from the index.
• Check the content renders without JavaScriptView source rather than the inspector. Substance that only exists after hydration is often invisible to crawlers and retrieval agents.
• Confirm robots.txt allows the agents you wantCriticalStaging robots files routinely ship to production. Check each agent individually rather than scanning the file.
• Verify analytics and conversion tracking fireTest an actual submission end to end. Tracking that breaks at launch means you cannot tell whether the migration worked.

The first twenty-four hours.

• Submit the new sitemap in Search ConsoleAnd keep the old sitemap available briefly so the redirects get discovered.
• Spot-check redirects on live productionCriticalStaging behaviour and production behaviour differ more often than anyone expects, usually because of CDN rules.
• Confirm the site is not accidentally noindexedCriticalThe single most damaging launch-day error, and it happens on real projects with experienced teams.
• Test the primary conversion path yourselfCriticalSubmit the form. Receive the email. Do not assume.

Problems surface between two and eight weeks out, not on day one.

• Watch indexation daily for two weeksA drop in indexed pages is the earliest reliable signal something is wrong.
• Monitor crawl errorsNew 404s indicate URLs your map missed. There are almost always some.
• Compare rankings against your baselineSome fluctuation is normal during reindexing. A sustained drop after three weeks is a problem, not noise.
• Compare conversion rate, by deviceAggregate figures hide a mobile regression, which is the most common post-launch conversion failure.
• Keep the redirects permanentlyCriticalRemoving them after six months discards the equity you spent the migration preserving. They are not temporary.