Website migration SEO is mostly preparation: list every old address that has search history or links, send each one to the closest new page in a single redirect, then test them all on launch day. That’s what we did when we moved our own site to a new build, and these are the steps that matter for search.
It’s the same groundwork we put into every new site we build for a client: redirects from any old pages, a sitemap, titles and descriptions for every page, and indexing requested once it’s live. Doing it on our own site meant we could show the working.
1. Before launch: know what you’re moving
Screenshot the old site
Before anything changed, we took full-page screenshots of 12 pages of the old site, on desktop and on mobile. It sounds like a small thing, but once the old site has gone, it’s the only record of what each page said and how it looked. If something drops after launch, it’s the first place you look.
List every address that matters
The redirect map started with Search Console. We pulled every page that had appeared in Google over the last 16 months, and again over the last three months, and added our own list of old addresses. Anything with search history or links pointing at it needed somewhere to go.
On our old site, the page Google showed most was our old SEO packages page: 679,358 appearances in search and 174 clicks over 16 months. That one page accounted for more than a third of the times Google showed our site in that period, so losing it without a redirect wasn’t an option.
2. The redirect map
Send each page to the one that answers the same search
A redirect only keeps its value if the new page does the same job as the old one. So the old pricing page went to our new websites page, which covers what that page used to answer, and the old SEO packages page went to the new SEO page. Hosting and maintenance pages went to the websites page too, because that’s where hosting now lives.
Google’s guidance on site moves is clear on the alternative: sending lots of old pages to the homepage can confuse people, and Google may treat those redirects as if the old pages had simply gone.
One hop from the https address
Some old addresses already redirected somewhere, and that somewhere then redirected again. Google advises redirecting straight to the final page rather than chaining redirects, so every one of those now goes directly to its new home in one step.
There’s one exception. If someone uses an old address starting with plain http, or with www, it takes two hops: first to https://thesocialbay.co.uk, then to the new page. Typed the standard way (https, no www), every redirected old address is one hop.
Don’t carry old rules over without checking
It’s tempting to export the old site’s redirect list and import it into the new one. We didn’t. One old rule sent /services/seo/ to another address, which we were now redirecting back to /services/seo/. Carried over, the two would have looped and stopped the new SEO page loading at all. Every rule on the new site was written from the map, not copied.
What to do with posts you’re retiring
A move is a good time to look hard at old content. One old guide had been aimed at the same searches as our websites page. In the three months before the move it appeared in search about 47,500 times and was clicked twice. We retired it and redirected it to the websites page, so the two weren’t competing.
3. Titles, descriptions and copy
A new site built on staging usually has none of the old site’s titles and descriptions, so they’re lost at launch unless someone puts them back. We put titles and descriptions on every page before launch: 84 in one approved batch, plus each page added after it.
We also took the chance to change how we describe ourselves. The old site leaned on the word “affordable”, and we dropped it. That meant knowingly giving up two searches that had brought in 38 and 47 clicks over 16 months. A move is when those decisions are cheapest to make, as long as you make them on purpose.
4. Launch day, step by step
On the day itself, in order:
- Let search engines in. A staging site is set to keep search engines out, and that setting comes across with the copy. Switching it back, and checking the pages now say “index”, comes first.
- Check the homepage’s addresses. The http, www and https://www versions of the homepage all went to https://thesocialbay.co.uk in one step.
- Test every redirect. Every rule in the redirect map: a single 301 redirect, then a page that loads.
- Test every page with search history. All 53 addresses that had appeared in search over the previous three months: 44 loaded directly and 9 through a single redirect.
- Submit the sitemap in Search Console, and remove the old sitemaps that no longer exist.
5. Checking every old address on launch day
The redirect map covers the pages that matter most. But old sites leave addresses everywhere: in old sitemaps, in old internal links, in archived copies of pages. So on launch day we ran a wider check of every old address we could find.
We gathered them from Search Console, our old-address list, archived copies of the old site in the Wayback Machine, its old sitemaps and the links on archived old pages. That came to 253 addresses, and each one was requested and followed hop by hop, 327 requests in all.
The audit is there to catch what a checklist can’t, and it did its job. The launch-day test had covered the homepage’s http and www versions; the audit extended that check to every page and led to a server-level rule the same day, sending the http and www versions of every page to https in one step. It also led to two more redirects: old numbered blog pages now go to the blog, and a hosting address that WordPress was sending to our hosting terms now goes to the websites page. That made 24 redirect rules in all: 22 set up at launch, plus these two.
6. Helping Google catch up
Asking Google to recrawl
On launch day we asked Google to recrawl our 10 most important pages through Search Console. Google limits how many of these requests you can make each day, so the remaining pages were scheduled for the following days. Google also says a sitemap can help it find moved pages faster.
Measuring from day one
Enquiry tracking was in place from launch day, set up so it only records visitors who accept statistics cookies. A new site is the easiest time to start measuring properly, because there’s no old setup to untangle later.
7. What we’ll check at eight weeks
Google says to expect rankings to move around while it recrawls a site after a move, and that a medium-sized site can take a few weeks or more to settle, longer for big ones. So we’re not drawing conclusions yet.
Search Console gets checked daily for the first week, then weekly to day 60. The full check is at eight weeks, against the snapshot of the old site’s search performance we took before launch.
Your website migration checklist
If you’re planning a move, this is the short version:
- screenshot the old site, page by page, on desktop and mobile
- list every old address with search history or links (Search Console is the place to start)
- map each one to the new page that answers the same search, not the homepage
- redirect straight to the final page, in one hop
- don’t import old redirect rules without checking each one
- put titles and descriptions on every page before launch
- on the day: let search engines in, test every redirect, test every page with search history, submit the sitemap
- check every old address you can find, not just the ones in your map
- keep the redirects in place for at least a year
Most of the work happens before launch
A website move goes well or badly long before launch day. The map, the redirects and the titles are where the search history you’ve built up is kept or lost, and launch day is mostly about proving they work.
If you’re planning a new website and want your search history to come with you, we’ll plan the move as part of the build. And if you’re starting from nothing, there’s no history to protect: our guide to SEO for a new website covers that instead. If you’re still deciding whether it’s time, these are the signs you need a website redesign. For help afterwards, have a look at our SEO work.
You can email us at hello@thesocialbay.co.uk, fill in our start a project form, or call or message us on 07441 918230.
Frequently asked questions about website migration SEO
Can you redesign a website without losing SEO?
Usually, yes, if the old addresses are redirected to pages that answer the same searches and the new pages aren’t weaker than the old ones. Google says to expect some movement in rankings while it recrawls the site, so a short wobble isn’t a sign something’s gone wrong. The big losses tend to come from missing redirects and pages that were dropped without anything replacing them.
How long do redirects need to stay in place?
Google recommends keeping them for as long as possible, and generally at least a year, so it can pass everything across to the new addresses. For people following old links or bookmarks, there’s a case for keeping them indefinitely.
Should I redirect old pages to the homepage?
Not as a catch-all. Google says redirecting lots of old pages to the homepage can confuse people, and it may treat those redirects as if the pages had simply gone. Send each old page to the closest match. If several old pages have been combined into one new page, redirecting them all to that page is fine.
How long does Google take to catch up after a move?
For a medium-sized site, Google says it can take a few weeks or more for the new addresses to replace the old ones in its results, and longer for big sites. A sitemap and a fast server help.
Do I need to tell Google I’ve moved?
Submit your new sitemap in Search Console either way. If you’re changing your domain name (or moving to a different subdomain), use the Change of Address tool in Search Console as well. You don’t need it if you’re keeping the same domain, or only moving from http to https.