Site Migration Checklist
For SEOs and developers moving a site to new URLs, a new structure or new infrastructure. Use it from the planning stage through the weeks after cutover, when most problems surface.
0% 0 of 11 done
- critical
Why and how
- Why it matters
- You cannot map or verify what you have not recorded. This crawl is the reference for every later comparison.
- How to check or fix it
- Run Screaming Frog on the full site, include sitemap URLs, and save the crawl file. Add top landing pages from Search Console and analytics so orphaned pages are covered.
- critical
Why and how
- Why it matters
- Without a baseline you cannot tell a normal fluctuation from a real loss after the move.
- How to check or fix it
- Export 16 months of Search Console performance data, current rank tracking, and the Pages indexing report totals.
- critical
Why and how
- Why it matters
- Redirecting everything to the home page is treated like a soft 404 and loses the ranking signals of the old page.
- How to check or fix it
- Match old and new URLs in a spreadsheet by content. Prioritize pages with backlinks or traffic and send the rest to the most relevant parent.
- critical
Why and how
- Why it matters
- Errors found after launch cost traffic every day they stay live.
- How to check or fix it
- Run the old URL list through Screaming Frog in list mode against staging and check that each returns a 301 to a 200 page.
- important
Why and how
- Why it matters
- An indexed staging copy competes with the live site as duplicate content.
- How to check or fix it
- Protect staging with HTTP authentication, and make sure the production robots.txt and noindex tags are not carried over wrongly in either direction.
- important
Why and how
- Why it matters
- Content changes made during a move make it hard to identify the cause of any ranking changes.
- How to check or fix it
- Compare the staging crawl to the old crawl in Screaming Frog using the compare feature and review changed titles and H1s.
- important
Why and how
- Why it matters
- Links that rely on redirects add extra hops and slow crawling.
- How to check or fix it
- Search the database or templates for old URL patterns and replace them, then confirm with a crawl that internal links return 200.
- important
Why and how
- Why it matters
- The old sitemap helps Google rediscover the old URLs and process the redirects faster.
- How to check or fix it
- Submit the new sitemap in Search Console. Leave the old sitemap URL reachable for several weeks, then remove it.
- important
Why and how
- Why it matters
- Server errors, redirect loops and blocked paths show up in reports first and are easy to fix early.
- How to check or fix it
- Check the Pages and Crawl stats reports in Search Console and review server logs for 404 and 5xx spikes.
- nice
Why and how
- Why it matters
- Removing redirects early breaks old backlinks and bookmarks, and the signals may not have fully transferred.
- How to check or fix it
- Document the redirect rules in the server config and put a review date in the project calendar.
- nice
Why and how
- Why it matters
- Direct links avoid the redirect hop and are more reliable long term.
- How to check or fix it
- Export top referring pages from Ahrefs or Search Console and email the sites with the new URL.
Checklist complete. Re-run it after your next release or major change, and use the related lists below to keep going.
Progress is saved in this browser only. Nothing is sent to a server.
Common questions
Will I lose rankings during a site migration?
Some short-term fluctuation is common even when a migration is done well. Accurate one-to-one redirects and unchanged content keep the losses small and temporary.
How long should 301 redirects stay in place?
Keep them for at least a year, and longer when the old URLs still have backlinks or traffic. There is little cost to leaving them permanently.