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Website migration SEO

Website Migration SEO: Move Platforms Without Losing Rankings

A migration is the riskiest day in a website's life. Change URLs, templates or the domain without a plan and years of rankings can disappear in a week. I plan the move, build the redirect map, test the new site before launch and monitor recovery afterwards.

Plan my migrationBook a consultation
  • Redesigns, replatforms and domain moves
  • URL-by-URL redirect mapping
  • Post-launch monitoring included
Website migration timeline covering planning, redirect mapping, launch and monitoring
Live client results 1/6
W
W11StopEcommerce: IT hardware
+844%
Before9,000 clicks/mo
After85,000 clicks/mo
O
OXO PackagingB2B custom packaging
+50%
Before30,000 clicks/mo
After45,000 clicks/mo
P
PJBoldEcommerce: silicone molds
+789%
Before1,800 clicks/mo
After16,000 clicks/mo
G
Golf Shaft WarehouseEcommerce: golf equipment
Strong growth
BeforeLow / stagnant
After12,800 clicks/mo
K
Kures.coHealth and wellness
+1,700%
Before500 clicks/mo
After9,000 clicks/mo
C
CADDrafterCAD drafting services
0 → 8K
Before0 (new domain)
After8,000 clicks/mo
Top Rated PlusUpwork's highest freelancer tier
Search Console verifiedResults shown from Google data
7+ yearsSEO and web development
160+ websitesUK, US, AU, CA and UAE clients
White-hat onlyFollows Google Search Essentials
NDA on requestYour data stays confidential
Migration types

Every migration carries a different risk

Platform migration

WooCommerce to Shopify, Wix to WordPress or a custom CMS to anything else. URL formats almost always change, so every ranking page needs mapping.

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Website redesign

New templates can drop content, headings, internal links and schema that pages relied on to rank. I compare old and new templates before launch.

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Domain change or merger

Rebrands and site mergers need sitewide redirects, Search Console change of address and careful link reclamation.

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HTTPS, subdomain or structure changes

Moving a blog into a subfolder, consolidating subdomains or restructuring URLs to fix architecture.

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The redirect map

Every URL with traffic, links or rankings gets a destination

The redirect map is the heart of a migration. I build it from a full crawl of the old site, Search Console pages with clicks or impressions, analytics landing pages and URLs with external backlinks. Each one is matched to the closest equivalent on the new site, not dumped on the homepage.

  • One-to-one 301 redirects, with no chains or loops
  • Pattern rules for large catalogues, tested against samples
  • Internal links updated to point straight at new URLs
  • Canonicals, hreflang and sitemaps rebuilt for the new structure
Redirect map matching old URLs to new URLs with 301 status codes
Process

Before, during and after launch

Most migration damage comes from decisions made weeks before launch day. I get involved as early as possible.

  1. 01

    Benchmark

    Record rankings, traffic, indexed pages and backlinks for the old site, and crawl it in full.

  2. 02

    Map and specify

    Build the redirect map and SEO requirements for templates, metadata and schema.

  3. 03

    Test on staging

    Crawl the new site, check redirects, canonicals, noindex rules and rendering before go-live.

  4. 04

    Launch and monitor

    Release, submit sitemaps, watch Search Console daily and fix issues quickly.

Monitoring

Watching recovery in Search Console

After launch, I track crawl errors, indexing of new URLs, redirected pages dropping out of the index and clicks for the highest-value pages. I report with the same period-on-period comparison I use on every ongoing programme. For WeBuyBackElectronics, for example, it shows 10.1K clicks in the last six months against 7.83K in the previous six, a 29% increase, with 973K impressions.

Some temporary fluctuation is normal while Google recrawls a migrated site. The goal is a quick return to the pre-migration baseline and growth after it.

Search Console comparison for WeBuyBackElectronics showing 10.1K clicks versus 7.83K in the previous period
Client feedback

What clients say about their migrations

Every review below is quoted word for word and links to where the client wrote it.

Read client feedback where it was written

I don't paste anonymous testimonials on this site. Client reviews live on the platforms where they were left, so you can check who wrote them.

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FAQs

Website migration SEO FAQs

Diagram of Google recrawling and indexing a migrated website
Will I lose traffic when I migrate my website?

Some short-term fluctuation is common while Google recrawls and reprocesses the new URLs. Large, lasting losses usually come from missing redirects, removed content or technical errors on the new site, and those are exactly what migration planning prevents.

When should I involve an SEO in a migration?

Before the new site is designed. The URL structure, templates and content scope are decided early, and changing them a week before launch is expensive. Ideally I am involved from the planning stage, and at the latest during staging.

How long should redirects stay in place?

Keep 301 redirects permanently where you can. Google recommends keeping them for at least a year, but backlinks and bookmarks continue to point at old URLs for much longer.

Can you fix a migration that has already gone wrong?

Yes. I compare the old site (from crawls, archives, analytics and Search Console) with the new one, find the missing redirects and lost content, and prioritise fixes by the traffic and links each URL used to have.

Do you build the new website too?

I can. Combining the build and the migration removes the hand-off between developer and SEO, which is where most migration mistakes happen.

Still have a question? Ask it directly and get a straight answer.

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Portfolio

Client websites I have worked on: 98 and counting

A selection of the 160+ websites from my SEO and development work. Traffic and keyword counts are third-party tool estimates; open "View stats" to see each screenshot.

See keyword rankings by country

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