Website migration and SEO: URLs, redirects, and indexing

Define the changes before moving the site

A team plans to redesign a website, change its CMS, simplify URLs, remove articles, and move domains at the same time. These changes are possible, but doing them together makes a traffic decline harder to investigate.

Record the migration scope: hosting, technology, design, domain, URL structure, or several of these. Changing hosting with unchanged URLs needs different checks from moving every page address.

No migration can promise unchanged traffic. Search visibility can fluctuate while the move is processed. Planning aims to reduce avoidable mistakes and establish how to investigate problems after release.

Collect old URLs and comparison data

Gather URLs from the CMS, sitemap, website crawl, Search Console, and other available sources. Do not rely only on the main menu. Older articles, categories, and documents linked from other websites can still be used.

Flag pages important for traffic, business enquiries, or external links. Save titles, canonicals, response statuses, and core content before changes. This helps check that new pages still answer the same needs.

Record the comparison period and known seasonality. Comparing a quiet week with a promotion can mislead. Keep existing redirect rules too, so the migration does not create unnecessary redirect chains.

Map each URL to a relevant destination

Create a table of old URLs, new destinations, and actions. Working URLs can stay. Permanently moved content needs its replacement. Consolidated content can lead to the combined page when it genuinely covers the earlier need.

Use a server-side permanent redirect such as 301 or 308 for a permanent move. Do not send every old URL to the homepage. Google explains that irrelevant destinations can be treated as soft 404s. This table illustrates planning; it does not describe redirect rules applied to this website.

Check canonicals, links, and staging before release

On the new site, internal links should use final URLs directly. Canonicals must identify the appropriate production URL. The sitemap should contain new addresses intended for indexing rather than staging or redirected URLs.

If staging has noindex during preparation, ensure it does not carry over to production pages intended for indexing. Review robots.txt alongside access settings. A canonical pointing to production does not replace access protection for private staging.

Test redirect mapping in an appropriate environment, including URL variants previously in use. The final destination must be active, relevant, and not redirect back to the old address. Avoid chains where a direct final destination is possible.

Check the move on release day

After release, test important old URLs and their final destinations. Open new pages directly rather than only through the menu. Check forms, contact details, images, and 404s. Use the website launch checklist for the user journey.

Submit the new sitemap in Search Console. For domain or subdomain changes, review Google’s Change of Address requirements. The tool is not needed for every path change or an HTTP-to-HTTPS move.

Google recommends keeping redirects as long as possible, generally at least a year. Plan old-domain ownership and redirect hosting so they do not expire after a short contract. External links people still use can make redirects valuable for longer.

Monitor with data rather than daily rankings alone

Review indexing, queries, clicks, URL statuses, and business enquiries. If an important page loses visibility, trace its old URL, redirect, canonical, and content fit. Separate technical errors from demand changes and intentional content removal.

Maintain an issue list with owners and clear actions. A spike in important 404s needs different work from a fluctuation in one query. A pre-migration SEO audit provides a useful comparison.

For a website development project, agree on post-release monitoring and redirect maintenance. Judge the new site by how it serves visitors and preserves relevant information routes, alongside its improved presentation.