Don't lose your SEO during a migration

Migrating your website is one of the highest-risk moments for your search engine rankings. Google has indexed your existing pages at their current addresses. If those addresses change without proper handling, your rankings can drop, sometimes significantly, and sometimes for months.

The good news: SEO drops after a migration are largely preventable. This guide explains what causes them and how we prevent them.

Why migrations hurt SEO (and why they don't have to)

Google ranks your specific pages, at their specific addresses, based on signals it has built up over months or years. When a page moves to a new address, Google has to re-discover it and decide whether to transfer those signals to the new location.

A 301 redirect (a permanent redirect) tells Google and browsers: "This page has permanently moved to this new address." Google's own guidance is that permanent redirects don't cost you ranking value. It does take time, though: for a medium-sized site Google says it can take a few weeks or more before it starts showing the new URLs instead of the old ones, and longer for larger sites.

Without redirects, Google sees the old URLs as deleted pages and the new URLs as entirely new, unproven pages. That is when rankings crash.

SEO dips are normal: crashes are not

Google tells site owners to expect ranking fluctuation during a move, while it re-crawls and re-indexes the site. That part is normal. A large drop, or one that lasts and lasts, usually means redirects were missed, content was lost, or technical issues are blocking Google from crawling the new site.

Step 1: Audit your current URLs before migration

Before anything moves, you need a complete list of every page that currently exists on your site and its exact address.

Export your sitemap. Most platforms publish one at yoursite.com/sitemap.xml. Try that address in a browser. It lists the pages your site is asking search engines to find, which makes a good starting list. Save the page or copy the URLs.

Check Google Search Console. Log in at search.google.com/search-console and open the Page indexing report, which shows the indexing status of the URLs Google knows about on your site. Use the report's export button to save the list. See what Google Search Console is if this is new to you.

Note your highest-value pages. Pages with the most traffic, the most backlinks (links from other websites), or the best ranking positions should be treated with extra care.

Step 2: Preserve page titles and meta descriptions

Your page title and meta description (the short text that appears in Google search results) are SEO signals. They must be transferred to the new site exactly.

Document every important page's SEO title and meta description. Screenshot or copy them into a spreadsheet. This is tedious but essential.

Carry them over during setup. On WordPress, a plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math holds these values. On other platforms, look for an SEO settings panel on each page.

Check headings too. The main heading on each page (the H1, your page's primary title) matters for SEO. Make sure it is preserved.

Step 3: Map old URLs to new URLs

If any page addresses are changing during the migration, create a mapping table before the migration starts.

Old URL	New URL	Match type
`/about-us`	`/about`	Exact rename
`/blog/post-slug`	`/news/post-slug`	Folder change
`/services/branding-packages`	`/services/branding`	Shortened

If the URL stays exactly the same, no redirect is needed. Only pages that change address need redirects.

One old address, one closest new address. Only pages whose address changes need a redirect.

Read this as text

Each changed address gets a 301 redirect to its new address:

/about-us redirects to /about (an exact rename).
/blog/post-slug redirects to /news/post-slug (a folder change).
/services/branding-packages redirects to /services/branding (shortened).

If a URL stays exactly the same, no redirect is needed.

Avoid sending many old pages to the homepage. Google may treat that as a “soft 404”. Redirect each page to its closest equivalent instead.

Step 4: Implement 301 redirects

A 301 redirect tells both browsers and Google: "This page has permanently moved." This is how ranking value transfers to the new URL.

Set up redirects before the switch. A redirect has to be served by whatever answers the old address: the new site if the domain stays the same, or the old host if you are moving to a different domain. Either way, they must be live before visitors and Google arrive.

Test every redirect after setup. Visit each old URL in a browser and confirm it lands on the correct new page.

Redirect to the most relevant page. If an old page has no direct equivalent, redirect to the closest matching page, not just the homepage. A homepage redirect is a last resort.

Do not redirect everything to the homepage

Redirecting dozens of old pages all to the homepage is a common shortcut. Google's guidance is explicit: don't send many old URLs to one irrelevant destination such as the new homepage, because it confuses visitors and might be treated as a "soft 404". Each page should redirect to its closest equivalent. Merging several old pages into one genuinely combined new page is fine.

Step 5: Handle domain changes carefully

If the domain itself is changing (e.g. moving from oldname.com to newname.com), the SEO challenge is greater because Google must re-associate all ranking signals with the new domain.

Use Search Console's Change of Address tool. Google says to use it after you have moved the site and put the redirects in place. Two conditions catch people out: you have to own both the old and the new property under the same Google account, and both have to be domain-level properties (example.com, not example.com/shop). Once submitted, Google forwards signals from the old site to the new one for 180 days.

Keep the old domain active for at least a year. Keep redirects running from the old domain to the new one, incoming links still flow through them. Google also recommends continuing to pay for the old domain for at least a year, so nobody else can buy your abandoned name and misuse it.

Update your Google Business Profile. If you have a Google Business Profile (Google Maps listing), update the website URL there too.

Step 6: Post-launch technical checks

After the migration goes live, run these checks within 24 to 48 hours.

Submit a new sitemap to Google Search Console. Go to Search Console, select your new property, and submit the new sitemap URL (usually yoursite.com/sitemap.xml).

Check that Google can crawl the site. In Search Console, use the URL Inspection tool to check a few key pages. Confirm they return "URL is on Google" or "URL is available to Google."

Confirm no pages are accidentally blocked. A setting called robots.txt can accidentally block Google from reading your site. Check that it is not set to block all crawlers.

Test your redirects again from a fresh browser. Confirm old URLs still redirect correctly after the domain is live.

What a normal post-migration timeline looks like

There is no fixed schedule. Google says the speed depends on how many URLs you have and how fast your server is, and that a site move isn't complete until Googlebot has visited every old and new URL at least once. As a rough shape:

Timeframe	What to expect
Right after the switch	Google starts re-crawling. Rankings fluctuate.
A few weeks or more	On a medium-sized site, Google gradually starts showing the new URLs instead of the old ones. Larger sites take longer.
Still not settled?	Investigate missed redirects, lost content, or technical issues blocking crawling.

Common questions

Will my rankings definitely drop after migration?

Google's own advice is to expect fluctuation during any significant change, because it needs time to re-crawl and re-evaluate the new site. A large or lasting drop indicates a problem (missed redirects, lost content, or a technical crawling issue) that needs to be diagnosed and fixed.

How long do redirects need to stay in place?

Google says to keep them as long as possible, and generally at least a year. That is the timeframe it needs to transfer all the signals, including re-crawling and reassigning links on other sites that point at your old URLs. Backlinks (links from other websites pointing to your old URLs) keep arriving indefinitely, so longer is better.

Does changing hosting providers affect SEO?

Changing hosting without changing the domain or URLs has minimal SEO impact, as long as the site is back online quickly and the server responds fast. See migrating between hosting providers for more.

What if I have hundreds of old blog posts?

Each post needs its own redirect if the URL changes. This is one reason migrations of large sites take longer and cost more. We use tools to create bulk redirect mappings, which makes this feasible even for large content libraries.

Go deeper: The website redesign checklist on our main site puts these SEO steps in the order a full redesign needs them.

When to call a pro

Platform moves are where sites most often lose search rankings. Missing redirects, changed URLs and dropped page titles can cut your traffic from Google for months.

If any of that sounds risky for your business, book a free call and we'll tell you whether you need help. Clients can email support@chykalophia.com.