Migrate Site
Guide a domain migration, CMS switch, or URL restructure without losing
rankings — redirect mapping, monitoring plan, and rollback criteria.
Migration Types
| Type | Risk Level | Example |
|---|
| Domain change | High | olddomain.com → newdomain.com |
| Protocol change | Low | HTTP → HTTPS |
| CMS switch | Medium-High | WordPress → Next.js, Shopify → custom |
| URL restructure | Medium | /blog/2024/post → /blog/post |
| Subdomain migration | Medium | blog.example.com → example.com/blog |
| Design/template change | Low-Medium | Same URLs, new templates |
All migrations carry SEO risk. The goal is to minimize the traffic dip and speed up recovery.
Phase 1: Pre-Migration Audit
Inventory Everything
Before touching anything, document the current state:
Pages:
Technical:
Performance:
Save everything. You need this data to compare against post-migration.
Identify High-Value Pages
Not all pages are equal. Flag these for extra attention:
- Pages with the most organic traffic (top 20%)
- Pages with external backlinks
- Pages that rank for high-value keywords
- Landing pages tied to conversions
- Pages with featured snippets
These pages must have working redirects and should be verified individually after migration.
Phase 2: Redirect Mapping
The redirect map is the most critical artifact. Every old URL must map to the right new URL.
Mapping Rules
| Old URL | New URL | Type | Notes |
|---|
| /old-page | /new-page | 301 | Content matches |
| /removed-page | /closest-relevant-page | 301 | Consolidated into related page |
| /deleted-page | / | 301 | No relevant page — send to homepage (last resort) |
Rules:
- Use 301 redirects for permanent moves (not 302)
- Map each old URL to the most relevant new URL (not all to homepage)
- Preserve URL structure where possible (fewer redirects = less risk)
- Avoid redirect chains (old → intermediate → new). Every redirect should be direct.
- Handle URL variations: with/without trailing slash, with/without www, HTTP/HTTPS
Common Pitfalls
- Forgetting to redirect paginated URLs (/page/2, /page/3)
- Missing query parameter URLs that have backlinks
- Case sensitivity issues (some servers treat /Page and /page differently)
- Redirecting everything to the homepage (kills page-level authority)
Phase 3: Technical Setup
Before the Switch
The Switch
Phase 4: Post-Migration Monitoring
Week 1 (daily checks)
Weeks 2-4 (weekly checks)
Months 2-3 (monthly checks)
Expected Timeline
- Traffic dip: Normal. Expect 10-30% drop in the first 2-4 weeks.
- Recovery: Most sites recover within 2-3 months if redirects are correct.
- Full stabilization: 3-6 months for large sites.
- Red flag: If traffic hasn't started recovering after 4 weeks, investigate.
Phase 5: Rollback Plan
Before migrating, define rollback criteria:
Rollback if:
- Organic traffic drops > 50% for more than 7 days
- More than 20% of redirects are broken
- Critical conversion pages are not accessible
- Server errors exceed acceptable threshold
Rollback steps:
- Revert DNS (if domain change) or redeploy old site
- Remove or reverse redirects
- Re-submit old sitemap
- Investigate what went wrong before attempting again
Output Format
Migration Plan: [old] → [new]
Migration Type: [domain change / CMS switch / URL restructure / etc.]
Risk Level: [low / medium / high]
Estimated Timeline: [preparation + execution + monitoring]
Pre-Migration Inventory
- Total indexed pages: [count]
- Pages with backlinks: [count]
- Top traffic pages: [list top 10]
- Current monthly organic traffic: [baseline]
Redirect Map
[Table — full mapping of old → new URLs]
Technical Checklist
[Checklist from Phase 3]
Monitoring Schedule
[Checkpoints from Phase 4]
Rollback Criteria
[Defined thresholds and steps]
Risk Areas
- High-value pages that need extra attention
- Known technical challenges for this migration type
- External backlinks that must be preserved
Pro Tip: Use the free
Broken Link Checker
to verify redirects post-migration, and the
Htaccess Generator
to build redirect rules. SEOJuice MCP users can run
for a full
page inventory with link data,
/seojuice:keyword-analysis
to identify high-value pages,
and
to detect content differences post-migration.