Short answer: you keep your SEO during a website migration by preserving or 301-redirecting every important URL, keeping content and metadata at least as strong as before, avoiding launch-day technical errors (noindex tags, blocked robots.txt, broken internal links), and monitoring Search Console closely for several weeks afterwards. Most traffic losses come from missing redirects and removed content.
Types of migration
- Hosting migration: same site, new server — lowest SEO risk.
- Platform migration: for example WordPress to Shopify — URLs often change.
- Redesign: new structure and content — medium to high risk.
- Domain change: new domain name — highest risk; requires Search Console's Change of Address tool.
Before migration
- Benchmark: export traffic, rankings and top landing pages from Google Analytics and Search Console.
- Crawl the old site: list every URL, title, meta description, H1 and canonical.
- Identify valuable pages: pages with traffic, conversions or backlinks.
- Build a URL map: every old URL → the most relevant new URL. Never redirect everything to the homepage.
- Keep content parity: don't drop text, FAQs or schema that pages currently rank with.
- Set up staging: password-protect or noindex the staging site.
Launch day
- Implement 301 (permanent) redirects from the URL map.
- Remove staging noindex tags and robots.txt blocks — the most common launch mistake.
- Check canonical tags point to the new live URLs.
- Update internal links to the new URLs instead of relying on redirects.
- Submit the new XML sitemap in Search Console.
- For domain changes, verify both properties and use the Change of Address tool.
- Confirm analytics, conversion tracking and pixels fire correctly.
After launch
- Crawl the old URL list to confirm each returns a single 301 to the right page (no chains, no 404s).
- Watch Search Console coverage, crawl errors and performance daily for two weeks, then weekly.
- Expect some ranking fluctuation for a few weeks; sustained drops point to missing redirects or content.
- Update backlinks you control (social profiles, directories, Google Business Profile).
- Keep redirects in place long term — at least a year, ideally permanently.
Hosting and data migration specifics
When moving servers, lower DNS TTL a day in advance, copy files and databases, test on the new server via a hosts-file override, then switch DNS during low traffic. Keep the old server running until propagation completes. Migrate email separately if it's hosted on the same server. Globalique handles data migration with integrity checks and minimal downtime.
Speed and Core Web Vitals
A migration is a good chance to improve page speed. Compress images, use modern formats, reduce scripts and choose good hosting — faster pages help both rankings and conversions.
Need a safe migration?
Globalique plans redirects, content parity and technical SEO for every website rebuild and supports post-launch monitoring through our SEO service.