Conserve Your SEO: The Definitive Website Migration Checklist

There are certain situations that search engine optimisation (SEO) professionals always want to avoid. Black hat backlinks. Targeting the wrong keywords. Getting left behind with SEO trends. While these can be avoided, there are some circumstances that cannot be avoided and need to be handled correctly and carefully.

One such example is a website migration.

Successful website migrations can result in an enhanced user experience and better SEO rankings. Conversely, a poorly executed migration can disrupt site operations, leading to a loss in traffic and a significant drop in search engine rankings. So, even though a site migration can be deemed necessary to keep your SEO efforts firing on all cylinders, the wrong approach will result in your entire strategy – one you’ve put years into – stalling on the motorway.

To prevent that type of situation from happening, we have put together this comprehensive website migration checklist. If a web migration is deemed absolutely necessary, you need to get it right. That’s where this list can make all the difference, ensuring you can conserve – and even improve – your current SEO efforts.

What Is Website Migration?

So, first things first, what is a website migration? Website migration is a process where significant changes are made to a website. These changes can significantly affect the site’s visibility with Google and other search engines. Examples include:

• Moving to a new domain
• Changing hosting provider
• Modifications to the website structure
• Content overhaul
• Major update to the site’s design and UX
• Switching to a different platform, such as going from one CMS to another

The goal is often to improve performance, user experience, or functionality. However, it requires careful planning and execution to ensure that such changes do not negatively impact the website’s SEO and search engine rankings. Keep in mind that minor changes don’t count as a site migration.

If you’d like to learn more, make sure to read our Ultimate Guide to Website Migration.

Website Migration SEO Checklist

You understand what a website migration entails. Now, it’s about following a site migration checklist. That’s where we have you covered. Along with reading our Free Website Migration Checklist, make sure you follow the below step-by-step instructions.

Step #1: Put together a migration roadmap

A website migration plan should always start with a roadmap. This roadmap provides a general outline, one that guides the transfer process from the existing website environment to the new one. It begins with defining your objectives. This could be a platform upgrade or an improved UX, to use two examples.

Following this, an inventory of all website assets (think URLs, media, content, etc.) should be catalogued. As any SEO consultant would tell you, this is also the time to set key performance benchmarks that can be used to monitor SEO and functionality post-migration.

The roadmap then covers each step. This ranges from technical components, like updating internal linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages. and setting up 301 redirectsA redirect is a web page that loads in place of another web page., to post-launch activities, such as a performance comparison. This systematic approach not only minimises risks but also reduces downtime during the migration.

It’s recommended that you use project management software for this task. Additionally, it is wise to set a launch date for your migration. This gives you an overall target to aim for, which can help with achieving deadlines. Just remember to select a date that supplies you ample time to get everything done.

Step #2: Create a site backup

The next step on the SEO migration checklist is a simple yet important one: create a website backup in its current state. If the migration is a disaster, don’t worry – you can just go back to your old website and start again. Additionally, this original site backup can be useful to keep around for working out possible issues during the migration process. However, it is good practice to opt for a separate staging site to act as your experimentation playground.

Step #3: Crawl your old website

When crawling your website, we always recommend using Screaming Frog. This tool is fantastic for conducting an in-depth crawl of your site, where it detects errors and highlights these as part of a comprehensive report. That’s not all. Here are some other key reasons why crawling your website is necessary before a migration:

• Content inventory of your existing URLs to ensure no page is overlooked
• Create an accurate map of old URLs to new ones, which is vital for setting up 301 redirects and preserving SEO value
• Gain structural insights regarding the architecture of your website.
• Determine what current content to keep, modify, or discard.
• By understanding the size and complexity of your current site, you can allocate the appropriate time and resources in specific areas for the migration process.

Step #4: Analyse your new domain’s organic health

If you’re not moving over to a new domain, feel free to skip this step. However, if this is part of your SEO migration plan, analysing your new domain’s organic health is vital. This can be done by using a domain authority checker tool. Via this tool, you can learn more about the current strength of the domain. An ideal SEO scenario would be to migrate to a high authority domain.

However, you could face a scenario where your new domain is being punished due to a range of spammy, low-quality backlinks pointing back to it. That’s not good. It is best to know about this early on as part of your SEO audit – and you can then take the necessary steps to clear up the existing backlink profile.

Step #5: Block Google from accessing your new website

At least while you’re still in the middle of your website migration process. Picture the scenario:

You are currently working on your staging site. Now, as the name implies, this staging site is not ready for a live audience. Yet this isn’t stopping Google from finding and crawling these pages – and that can lead to confusion for the search giant. They won’t know whether to index and rank your old or staging site pages, and that will only hurt your SEO efforts.

Fortunately, there is a quick and easy way to prevent this scenario: use the robots.txt fileA robots.txt file is a simple text document that you can use to control the behavior of search engine crawlers in your site directory. on your staging site. Just remember that, as part of your SEO site migration checklist, you need to remove this file once the new website is launched!

Step #6: Implement 301 redirects

As part of your SEO migration strategy, a map of 301 redirects should be created. This is necessary for ensuring all previous URLs redirect to the new URLs properly. Not only that, but it also helps to check that all internal links are going to redirect correctly. While completing this step, it’s wise to ensure you have an SEO-friendly URL in place for each new page.

Step #7: Produce a new XML sitemap

Your URLs are ready to go. Producing a new XML sitemap is the next addition to your SEO checklist for website migration. Once attached to your site, make sure to upload it to Google Search Console. With a focus on SEO, migrations should always upload XML sitemaps because it ensures your content is discovered quicker by search engines – and it is then indexed and ranked.

Step #8: Update your backlinks

Ask any managed SEO professional what element of their work takes the most effort, and they’ll all answer the same thing: backlinks. As a result, you don’t want to lose all of your hard work – all of those years building up your link equity – due to your website migration. This is why it’s highly recommended you discover all of the links directing to your current site and then take the necessary steps to keep them in place for your new site.

Sadly, there is no quick and easy way of completing this task. You will have to reach out to each external site owner who is sharing your link, asking them to update the backlinks to reflect your new URLs.

Step #9: Audit

The above site migration SEO checklist items have been completed. The last step before you initiate the launch is another audit of your site. After all, you want to make sure everything is working correctly. URLs, tags, pages, links, content – all of these need to be in the right place.

Then, once you have completed the launch, another audit should be completed. This is to show up any problems and analyse how your SEO performance has been affected. For example, the migration could result in a drop in your current keywordKeywords are the words and phrases that potential customers might search for to find your business. rankings.

Read more: Drop in Keyword Rankings and How to Fix It

Conclusion

A lot of work is needed, but completing a website migration is made a little easier thanks to this checklist. However, this is a massive task you cannot underestimate. Without the right approach and expertise, it could cause your SEO strategy to crumble.

Want to avoid that situation, skip the stress, and get professional assistance? Learn more about our website migration service. As experts in both migrations and SEO, we can take on this task and ensure your website – and business – only benefits from the move.