If your website is changing, your SEO is at risk. Whether you're redesigning your site, switching platforms, merging domains, or cleaning up your URL structure, a poorly planned migration can cost you traffic, rankings, and revenue.

We handle SEO website migrations for both e-commerce and service-based businesses. This post explains the most common risks, our detailed SEO migration process, and how we make sure your traffic stays intact.

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What Counts as a Website Migration?

A website migration refers to any major change that affects how search engines crawl, index, or rank your site. Some of the most common types of migrations include:

  • Domain name changes (example.com → example.net)
  • Platform migrations (moving from Shopify to WooCommerce, WordPress to Webflow, etc.)
  • Site structure changes (reorganizing URL structures, changing category pages)
  • Content migrations (merging multiple websites into one)
  • HTTPS migrations (switching from HTTP to HTTPS)
  • Subdomain or subfolder restructuring (moving blog.example.com to example.com/blog)

Each of these can break your SEO if not handled properly, leading to ranking drops, lost traffic, and potential revenue loss.

Why SEO Gets Messed Up During Migrations

Most traffic drops after a website migration happen because critical SEO elements are ignored or mismanaged. Here are the most common reasons:

  • Redirects are missing or done incorrectly – If Google or users land on a 404 page instead of the correct new URL, rankings will plummet.
  • Internal links still point to old URLs – Even if redirects are in place, Google prefers direct, updated links over redirect chains.
  • High-performing pages get deleted or merged – If a page has backlinks and rankings, removing it without a proper redirect can wipe out that value.
  • Title tags, meta descriptions, and schema markup are lost – If meta data is not carried over, rankings can drop due to changes in relevance.
  • Canonical tags are misconfigured – If canonicalization is incorrect, Google may ignore new pages or consider them duplicates.
  • Google is not informed of the changes – Search Console sitemaps and settings should be updated immediately to speed up reindexing.

A well-planned migration prevents all of these issues by preparing in advance, executing carefully, and monitoring post-launch.

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Our SEO Website Migration Process

We follow a structured migration process that ensures rankings and traffic are maintained. Each step addresses a specific risk and is designed to prevent SEO-related issues before they happen.

1. Pre-Migration SEO Audit

Before anything changes, we audit the entire existing site to identify critical pages and elements that need to be preserved. This includes:

  • Crawling the site using tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb
  • Exporting all existing URLs, including pages, posts, and media files
  • Identifying the most valuable pages based on traffic, backlinks, and conversions
  • Documenting top-performing keywords for important pages
  • Checking for duplicate content, thin content, and outdated pages
  • Reviewing current site structure to ensure logical URL mappings

This audit helps us create a migration strategy that protects SEO value instead of losing it.

2. Redirect Mapping

One of the biggest SEO mistakes during a migration is not properly handling old URLs. Every changed or removed page needs a 301 redirect to the closest relevant page.

We create a comprehensive redirect map, including:

  • One-to-one redirects for all important pages
  • Category and product redirects for e-commerce sites
  • Service and location page redirects for local businesses
  • Blog post redirects to ensure no content gets lost

Redirect chains and loops are avoided, since excessive redirects slow down crawling and hurt rankings.

3. Content and Meta Data Transfer

Many migrations accidentally wipe out SEO-optimized content, meta tags, and structured data. We prevent this by ensuring:

  • Title tags and meta descriptions are transferred correctly
  • H1, H2, and H3 headings are structured properly on the new site
  • Alt text and image optimization are preserved
  • Schema markup (structured data) is correctly applied to service pages, product pages, and reviews

This prevents rankings from dropping due to missing on-page optimizations.

Redirects help, but internal links should point directly to the correct new URLs instead of relying on 301s. We:

  • Crawl the entire site to identify internal links pointing to old URLs
  • Update links in navigation menus, footer, and sidebar sections
  • Adjust contextual links within blog posts and service pages
  • Ensure breadcrumb navigation reflects new page structures

This helps search engines crawl the new site efficiently without encountering unnecessary redirects.

5. Staging Site Testing

Before launching, we fully test the new website on a staging environment. This includes:

  • Crawling the staging site to check for broken links, missing pages, and SEO issues
  • Verifying redirects work correctly before going live
  • Testing mobile-friendliness and page speed to ensure a smooth user experience
  • Checking robots.txt and canonical tags to prevent indexing issues

This step catches SEO issues before they impact the live site.

6. Launch Day SEO Checklist

When the migration goes live, we go through a final checklist to ensure a smooth transition:

  • Verify redirects are active and working
  • Submit new sitemaps to Google Search Console
  • Update Google Analytics tracking
  • Monitor Google indexing and rankings in real time
  • Fix any unexpected 404 errors or redirect issues

7. Post-Launch Monitoring and Adjustments

After the migration, we monitor performance closely to catch and fix any issues. We track:

  • Traffic fluctuations in Google Analytics
  • Indexing status in Google Search Console
  • Keyword ranking shifts using rank tracking tools
  • 404 errors and crawl issues

We make adjustments as needed to stabilize traffic and rankings post-migration.

E-Commerce Website Migrations

E-commerce websites require special attention during migrations due to complex product structures, categories, and dynamic filtering. We focus on:

  • Preserving product and category URLs to avoid ranking drops
  • Managing pagination, filters, and faceted navigation to prevent duplicate content
  • Transferring structured data like product schema to maintain rich snippets
  • Minimizing redirect chains to keep crawling efficiency high

For Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and BigCommerce, we also ensure platform-specific best practices are followed.

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Service-Based Business Migrations

For local and service businesses, SEO often relies on well-structured service and location pages. Our process includes:

  • Maintaining service page URLs to avoid losing rankings
  • Redirecting old location pages properly so local search presence is not lost
  • Preserving Google Business Profile landing pages to keep local rankings stable
  • Ensuring schema markup remains intact for reviews, services, and contact details

Common Migration Scenarios We Handle

  • Website redesigns that need SEO safeguards
  • Platform switches that require seamless SEO transfer
  • Domain changes that must retain rankings and traffic
  • Multiple site consolidations that need structured SEO redirection

Each situation requires a custom migration plan to protect organic visibility.

Need a Website Migration Checklist?

We’ve created a step-by-step checklist you can use to plan your migration the right way.

Download the Website Migration Checklist PDF