There are several reasons for a website or URL migration. Perhaps you’re changing your domain name or the website’s URL structure is changing. You might be switching CMS platforms or merging websites—whatever the reason, every website migration involves risks.
If not carried out correctly, a migration can have disastrous consequences for the website’s current ranking in search results. You can easily lose crucial rankings in search results if you make mistakes. Regaining those rankings will take more time than you’d like.
A website migration isn’t a simple task, because it’s easy to overlook things. That’s why we’re happy to help you with a step-by-step plan for website migration; our plan will help you stay organized and ensure a smooth migration.
Before the website migration begins, it is important to conduct an assessment and baseline measurement. First, identify which parts of the website will change. You should also create an overview of who is involved and what each person’s role is.
When problems arise, this makes it easy to adapt, and you can assign the task to the right person. Think carefully about who will perform each task and who is best suited for it.
During and after the project, you don’t want to lose your rankings in search results. To gauge whether everything is going well, you should conduct a baseline assessment beforehand. This involves collecting data on current rankings, visitor numbers, crawl errors, and other key metrics.
You’ll assess the current rankings of the landing pages and the keywords for which your site ranks well. You’ll compile all this information into a summary. This baseline measurement determines the impact of the website migration after it goes live.
In this overview, you can easily see which values and positions should be reflected after the website migration is complete.
The next step for a successful website migration is to collect all current URLs. You can easily collect these URLs using:
Create a list of the current URLs in a program like Excel. If you think it’s important, also track the current metrics for each URL, such as the number of incoming backlinks and other metrics.
To collect this information, you can use ContentKing, Semrush, or SE Ranking. By exporting this information and consolidating it into an Excel document, you can ensure that all the data is gathered in one place.
In addition to collecting the old URLs, you should also immediately create a list of all the new URLs. Once you’ve collected both the new and old URLs, proceed to step 3.
Once you have completed steps 1 and 2, it is important to start developing the new URL structure. The link structure of a website or online store is often determined based on keyword research, the type of website, and the type of page.
For keyword research, you can use the Google Keyword Planner or various other tools featured on our blog as alternatives to the Google Keyword Planner. We ourselves frequently use SE Ranking and Semrush to conduct keyword research.
When determining the new link structure, it is important to take the current pages into account. The old pages will eventually need to be redirected to new pages that are as relevant as possible.
Since a user-friendly website is so important, you also need to consider the menu structure so that visitors can easily navigate to key pages. You can schedule a card sorting session for this purpose to collaboratively determine the new structure.
Once the URL structure has been determined, you can implement it in the new website’s test environment. Next, test the new structure using crawlers such as Screaming Frog or ContentKing.
This way, you can quickly see whether all pages are accessible and whether any pages are missing. It also quickly becomes clear whether valuable content will be lost on the new website.
By the time you reach this point, you’ll have an overview of all the URLs, and the link structure will have been planned out. To redirect the old URLs, set up 301 redirects; this tells Google that the old URL has been permanently moved.
You can create an overview of all redirects in the migration plan: this involves determining which URLs or URL groups need to be redirected to the new URLs.
If any old pages are removed in the new setup, be sure to create redirects for those pages. Set up redirects for these pages to other relevant pages or the homepage.
In an Excel document, you map the old URLs to the new relevant URLs, and that’s how you set up the 301 redirects.
Tip: For groups of URLs, it’s best to set up a RegEx redirect so that all URLs with a specified structure are automatically redirected. This saves a lot of work.
This creates a list of redirects that you will eventually set up correctly on the old website’s server.
Tip: Also make sure that HTTP URLs are redirected to their HTTPS counterparts.
Once you have a clear overview of which redirects are being set up, forward this overview to the person responsible for this task. Avoid redirect loops and test the website for them during the testing phase.
Before you put the redirects into production, they should ideally be tested in a test environment. By testing redirects, you can prevent negative consequences and detect problems before the new website goes live after migration, ensuring a seamless migration.
Test the redirects in a test environment using crawlers such as Screaming Frog and ContentKing. This also allows you to immediately verify whether the crawler has access to the website.
The robots.txt file and the HTTP header are often overlooked during a website migration. The first error messages also tend to appear quickly in the test environment. This is not only the time to resolve error messages, but also to set up the 404 page correctly.
Provide navigation options and a search function on the 404 page. Also explain the problem that caused this error. This will help your visitors in the future when errors occur.
In the test environment, also check for redirect loops. These are links from an old URL to another URL using a 301 redirect, which prevent a visitor from ever reaching the unique page.
After a thorough and successful test, it’s time to implement the redirects on the live site and begin the migration. We recommend that you keep the 301 redirects in place as permanent redirects for at least one year.
Search engines need to update their indexes with the new URLs and values. In addition, there will still be backlinks pointing to the old URLs.
When you change your server location, you must also change your DNS settings. Changes to these settings often take some time to take effect and may not be visible for several hours to a day. If you clear the DNS cache, the change will take effect more quickly.
It is possible that problems may still arise despite the extensive testing. Therefore, be sure to monitor all statistics closely, especially during the first few days after the website migration. You should definitely pay attention to the following points:
During the monitoring process, you’ll identify any remaining issues and work to ensure a seamless migration for every visitor. When a website migration is carried out correctly, the impact on Google will be minimal.
Just keep in mind that you may see a dip in your rankings for a few days, because Google needs to update the rankings for the new website.
In many cases, a website migration has a significant impact on search engine rankings. This is because certain elements are often overlooked. Take the robots.txt file, for example. A new website needs a new robots.txt file with updated instructions. Remove the old instructions and apply the new ones.
In the past, you’ve built a strong backlink profile through link building, for example. By reaching out to all the websites in the backlink profile and asking them to update the link, you ensure that the full value is passed on to the new URLs.
See also: Methods for obtaining high-quality backlinks.
Often, all redirects are set up correctly, but internal links are overlooked. You don’t want to have internal links with a 301 redirect on your website, as this will use up your crawl budget. Therefore, make sure that all internal links are also updated correctly. It’s recommended to include at least one internal link on every page.
Don’t forget to check all titles and meta descriptions. If you’ve copied URLs one-to-one, be sure to include the title and meta description as well. For new URLs, create accurate and effective titles and meta descriptions as part of your search engine optimization.
You’ll want to track data accurately after the website migration, but one small detail is often overlooked in this process. Place the old Google Analytics script on the new website. That way, you’ll be able to track everything accurately right away and also have access to historical data.
Also, don’t forget to update any campaigns—such as those in Google Ads—as they likely still contain old URLs.
In addition to the points mentioned above, as an SEO agency, we’d also like to draw your attention to the common mistakes made during website migrations. By avoiding these mistakes, you can minimize the impact on your current search engine rankings. It’s easy to make a mistake during a website migration—often without even realizing it.
A website migration is complex. It’s common for people to forget that issues can arise after the website goes live. For example, indexing issues caused by a “noindex” tag, which prevents search engines from accessing the website. As a result, the website isn’t indexed or crawled.
Many website migrations provide an opportunity to write new content. However, it’s a missed opportunity not to include existing content. It was already valuable, so be sure to include it!
People often create a new Google Analytics account when they start using a different website. Don’t do this; instead, transfer the old tracking code to the new website. This way, you’ll retain your data and be able to compare it effectively.
Of course, don’t forget to install the Facebook Pixel, ad tracking scripts, Tag Manager, and other (conversion) tracking scripts on the new website. Also, be sure to update the conversions and events in Google Analytics.
Ultimately, failing to perform a final check is the biggest mistake people make. This allows you to detect error messages and incorrect redirects, which you can quickly resolve.
By actively keeping an eye on this, you can minimize the consequences. Therefore, it is not wise to skip a final inspection or monitoring.
Are you planning to start a website migration soon? Or are you already in the middle of one? If so, use our step-by-step guide with the 7 steps described above to ensure a seamless SEO migration of your website or online store. An SEO migration doesn’t have to have a major impact on your search visibility if you carry it out properly.
With a passion for SEO and an unmatched drive for results, Jarik Oosting is the driving force behind SmartRanking. With over 15 years of experience in the field, he has built an extensive body of knowledge spanning technical SEO to complex site migrations. As the founder of SmartRanking, he has assembled a team of like-minded SEO specialists who help businesses achieve sustainable online growth.
His academic background in information science at the University of Groningen, with a specialization in natural language processing, gives him a unique perspective on the world of SEO. For Jarik, it’s not just about visibility in search engines, it’s about sharing knowledge and guiding businesses toward sustainable online success. That mission also led him to write a Dutch book about GEO.