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Site Migration SEO

Preserves search visibility when a website moves to a new domain, platform, structure, or URL set through careful redirects, mapping, and monitoring.

If you have ever launched a migration without a complete URL-to-URL redirect map, you know how fast traffic can vanish.

Key points

  • Map every old URL to a new equivalent before launch.
  • Block staging environments from indexing but keep them crawlable for testing.
  • Update internal links, canonicals, and sitemaps to point at final URLs, not redirects.
  • Benchmark traffic and rankings pre-migration so you can measure post-launch changes against a baseline.
  • Monitor crawl errors, indexation, and response codes on both old and new URLs post-launch.

A retailer moves from .com to .co.uk

An e-commerce site with 12,000 indexed pages moved from example.com to example.co.uk. The team created a full URL mapping, set 301 redirects for every old URL, updated internal links, and submitted a new sitemap. Post-launch, they found 340 crawl errors from canonicals still pointing at the old domain. Fixing those restored indexation within two weeks, but traffic took six weeks to return to baseline.

Three common mistakes that kill traffic

  • Incomplete redirect map Launching without a full URL-to-URL redirect map causes 404s and lost link equity. Every old URL needs a corresponding new destination.
  • Staging settings left live Leaving staging noindex or disallow directives in place after launch blocks crawling and indexing of the new site. Always check robots.txt and meta tags.
  • Skipping post-launch monitoring Failing to monitor crawl errors, indexation, and rankings misses traffic drops or redirect failures. Check both old and new URLs daily for the first week.

Three checks before you flip the switch

  • URL mapping completeness Inventory every existing URL and map it to a new equivalent during an SEO migration. Include pages, images, and assets. A missing map means a broken redirect.
  • Internal link audit Update all internal links to point at final destination URLs. Relying only on redirects adds latency and risks losing link equity.
  • Robots.txt and indexing controls Ensure robots.txt allows crawling of important pages and that noindex directives are absent from pages you want indexed. A single disallow can block an entire section.

Common questions

When is the best time to execute a site migration?

Low-traffic periods, such as weekends or holiday lulls, give you a buffer to catch errors before peak traffic resumes.

How long does ranking recovery take after a migration?

Recovery varies from weeks to months depending on crawl frequency, redirect quality, and site size. There is no fixed schedule.

Can I migrate without losing rankings?

Yes, with a complete redirect map, updated internal links, validated canonicals, and diligent post-launch monitoring. But some ranking fluctuation is normal.

Sources

  1. Google Search Central: Site Moves and Migrations Official guidance on planning and executing site moves.
  2. Google Search Central documentation General documentation on crawlability and indexation.
  3. Google Search Central: Search Console Help Tools for monitoring post-migration crawl errors and indexation.
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