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Site Migration SEO Checklist

Complete 35-point checklist to preserve SEO during website migrations. Covers pre-migration planning, migration execution, and post-launch monitoring.

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35
Total Tasks
18
Critical
3
Phases

Critical Tasks Must Not Be Skipped

Items marked with ⚠ CRITICAL can cause major ranking drops if missed. Skipping redirect setup or failing to preserve meta tags has cost sites 40-60% of organic traffic. Test everything on staging first.

1

Pre-Migration Planning

Complete these steps before making any changes to your live site

Document current site performance baseline

CRITICAL

Export Google Analytics and Search Console data for the last 3-6 months. Save organic traffic, top pages, and keyword rankings.

Crawl your entire current site

CRITICAL

Use Screaming Frog or similar tool to export all URLs, meta tags, h-tags, and internal links. Save this as your reference.

Identify your top 100 pages by traffic

CRITICAL

From Google Analytics, export your top landing pages. These are critical to get right during migration.

Export all current meta tags

Document title tags and meta descriptions for all important pages. You'll need to preserve these.

Use Meta Tags Comparison

Export all schema markup

Document existing JSON-LD structured data. Don't lose rich snippets during migration.

Use Schema Comparison

Document heading structure

Export H1-H6 tags from key pages. Preserve the hierarchy that's working.

Use H-Tag Comparison

Map all internal links

Document internal linking structure, especially to money pages and cornerstone content.

Use Internal Links Audit

Export backlink profile

CRITICAL

Use Ahrefs, Semrush, or Search Console to export all inbound links. You'll need to preserve these URLs.

Set up development/staging environment

CRITICAL

Never migrate on production. Build and test everything on staging first.

Create URL mapping spreadsheet

CRITICAL

Start your redirect map: Old URL → New URL. Use our redirect mapping template below.

Use Redirect Mapping Template
2

During Migration (Staging)

Complete these on your staging site before going live

Implement 301 redirects for all URLs

CRITICAL

Every old URL must redirect to its new equivalent. Use permanent 301 redirects, not 302s.

Use Redirect Checker

Test redirects in bulk

CRITICAL

Validate all redirects return 301 status codes and point to correct destinations.

Use Bulk Redirect Checker

Verify no redirect chains

CRITICAL

Ensure Old URL → New URL in 1 hop, not Old → Temp → New. Chains waste link equity.

Preserve all meta tags

Title tags and descriptions should match old site (or improve them). Don't lose optimized copy.

Use Meta Tags Comparison

Migrate all schema markup

Copy over all JSON-LD structured data. Verify it validates with Google Rich Results Test.

Use Schema Comparison

Preserve heading hierarchy

Keep H1-H6 structure the same. If improving it, ensure primary keywords remain in H1.

Use H-Tag Comparison

Recreate internal linking structure

Ensure topic clusters and PageRank distribution matches old site.

Use Internal Links Audit

Set canonical URLs correctly

CRITICAL

Every page should have a canonical pointing to itself (or intended duplicate). No broken canonicals.

Update XML sitemap

CRITICAL

Generate new sitemap with all migrated URLs. Submit to Search Console after launch.

Verify robots.txt allows crawling

CRITICAL

Ensure production robots.txt doesn't block important pages. Common migration mistake.

Test page speed and Core Web Vitals

CRITICAL

Run Lighthouse on key pages. Ensure LCP < 2.5s, FID < 100ms, CLS < 0.1.

Verify mobile responsiveness

CRITICAL

Test all important pages on mobile. Google is mobile-first indexed.

Check for broken images

Ensure all image URLs still work. Update CDN URLs if infrastructure changed.

Validate all external links still work

Outbound links should still resolve. Broken links hurt user experience.

Test Open Graph and Twitter Cards

Share a few URLs on social media to verify OG images and descriptions render correctly.

3

Post-Migration Monitoring

After going live, monitor these daily for 2-4 weeks

Submit new sitemap to Search Console

CRITICAL

Help Google discover your new URLs faster. Submit updated sitemap immediately after launch.

Monitor Search Console for 404 errors

CRITICAL

Check daily for broken pages. Create redirects for any URLs showing 404s.

Track organic traffic in Analytics

CRITICAL

Compare to pre-migration baseline. Small dips (5-10%) are normal. Large drops (20%+) need investigation.

Monitor keyword rankings

CRITICAL

Track your top 20-50 keywords. Rankings may fluctuate for 2-4 weeks as Google re-crawls.

Check crawl stats in Search Console

Ensure Google is successfully crawling your new site. Watch for crawl errors.

Verify redirects are still working

Re-test your top redirects weekly. Server configs can break unexpectedly.

Use Bulk Redirect Checker

Monitor page speed performance

New hosting or CMS might affect speed. Track Core Web Vitals in Search Console.

Check for new backlinks to old URLs

If someone links to old URLs post-migration, redirects will capture that equity.

Update internal documentation

Document what was migrated, redirect map, and lessons learned for future migrations.

Update Google Business Profile (if local)

Ensure your GBP links to new URLs. Update NAP if business info changed.

Need Help With Redirect Mapping?

Use our free 301 Redirect Mapping Template to plan and validate all your redirects before migration. Includes bulk testing with our redirect checker tool.

Migration Best Practices

Common Migration Mistakes

  • • Forgetting to set up 301 redirects (causes 40-60% traffic loss)
  • • Using 302 temporary redirects instead of 301 permanent
  • • Not preserving meta tags and losing optimized copy
  • • Blocking Google with robots.txt on production
  • • Not testing redirects before launch
  • • Changing URL structure without good reason

Timeline Expectations

  • • Week 1-2: Rankings may fluctuate as Google re-crawls
  • • Week 3-4: Traffic should stabilize near baseline
  • • Month 2-3: Rankings should fully recover if done correctly
  • • Important: 5-10% traffic dip is normal short-term
  • • Red flag: 20%+ drop indicates migration issues

Tools You'll Need

  • • Google Search Console (free, essential)
  • • Google Analytics (free, track traffic)
  • • Screaming Frog (freemium, crawl your site)
  • • TurboSEO Tools (free, validate redirects & meta tags)
  • • Excel/Google Sheets (redirect mapping)
  • • Rank tracking tool (monitor keyword positions)

When to Migrate

  • • ✅ Off-peak traffic days (avoid holidays/sales)
  • • ✅ When you have 2-4 weeks to monitor afterward
  • • ✅ After thorough testing on staging environment
  • • ❌ During busy season or major campaigns
  • • ❌ Without a full backup and rollback plan
  • • ❌ On Fridays (you need time to fix issues)