Website Migration Checklist

Following these steps will help reduce any drop in traffic (and revenue) post-migration.

Stage 1: Planning and Scoping Checklist

Define the objective of the migration

You need to be very clear about the objectives of the migration. Whether it’s a design overhaul of the website or changing the CMS, the objective of the migration will differ. It’s important to be clear about the objective and set the right expectations.

The site migration is also a good opportunity to fix any critical issues on the website, as the resources required for fixing these issues post-launch will be significantly higher.

Identifying the best time for migration

When you migrate your current site is just as important. If it fits with your marketing and business strategy – choosing an off-peak time is preferred.

Create a project plan

Planning is always important – identifying the objectives and laying out a detailed plan to tackle those objectives will be critical for success. A complex project with multiple phases and stakeholders needs the structure of a project plan. All dependencies should be identified and included in the project plan so that every task owner is aware of the dependencies.

Identify task owners

In order to keep your migration on track – identify the task owners – those responsible for the execution of specific tasks within the migration plan. Once identified, task owners should know what’s needed, the timelines, and the dependencies.

Stage 2: Pre-migration Checklist

Backup the website

Seems obvious, but backing up the site is a best practice. Consider creating a dev (and staging) environment. A dev environment allows the development to go unimpeded – adding a staging environment gives you the ability to test new functionality and be able to quickly revert if need be.

Block access to the new website

After your site is migrated, it needs to be crawled and indexed by search engines to ensure your SEO efforts don’t miss a beat. Blocking access to the site as the migration is in full swing will reduce the potential for content duplication issues. Learn how to add a ‘noindex’ tag to your site here

Check the backlink profile and health of the new domain

It’s important to check the backlink profile of the new domain, especially if it was recently purchased. The backlink profile can be checked using a tool like Semrush. Always good to double-check that the domain didn’t receive a manual penalty (this can be checked in the Manual Actions Report on Google Search Console).

Crawl the old website

Crawl the old website using a tool like ScreamingFrog and keep a copy of all SEO parameters like URLs, page titles, descriptions, redirections, etc. Keep a copy of this crawl even after the site launch, just in case you need the old data.

Identify the URLs to be redirected

If the structure of the new website is different, it’s important to identify those pages which require a redirect. Consider creating a redirect document to track all pages requiring it.

Implement 301 redirects

HTTP code 301 identifies content or a page that has been permanently moved. It’s important to redirect the old URLs to the updated ones. Not doing this, will negatively impact your site ranking and traffic.

Update internal Links

If there are URL changes involved, update the site’s internal links so that they don’t trigger internal redirects. These internal redirects could add latency to the crawl and impact the crawl budget.

Create a Custom 404

During the migration, some of the pages may be deleted. A custom 404 page allows users to easily navigate to other pages if the page they are looking for is unavailable.

Update GMB and Bing Places

Update the new URLs on Google My Business and Bing Places. Not updating the URL could result in traffic loss from these listings.

XML sitemap

We recommend creating 2 sets of XML sitemaps, one for the older website and another for the new website. The sitemap for the new website will inform Google of the new URLs, and the sitemap of the old URLs will help Google be aware of the 301 redirections.

This will ensure the authority of the old URLs is passed on to the new ones.

Make sure the new website is mobile-friendly

Mobile-friendly websites increase traffic and revenue by providing easy access to users on mobile devices. Make sure the new website is mobile-friendly. Google’s mobile-friendly test is a great way to test your site.

Add schema

Add schema to the new website. Bringing schema from the old website to the new site will help improve optimization.

Update the robots.txt file

Not updating the robots.txt file during a site migration is an easily missed opportunity. Ensure you update the file for the new website before the launch so the new site is easily accessible to search engines.

Update your backlinks

Update the backlinks of the website with the new URLs. Reach out to the referring websites and request they update the backlinks. Also don’t forget to change the URLs on all social media profiles and any other directories.

Conduct a pre-migration SEO audit

A pre-migration audit will help find and fix SEO issues before launch. This will ensure that the website is well-optimized. Tools like Semrush and Screaming Frog can be used to conduct an SEO audit.

Benchmark pre-migration performance and compare it with the post-migration performance

During migration, the primary SEO objective is to ensure that traffic (and revenue) don’t drop off. Capturing a pre-migration benchmark of business-critical metrics will help you measure the new website’s performance after the launch.

Update the GA code on your new website

Make sure your GA code is added on the staging website so that the website’s performance can be measured right after the launch.

Stage 3: Migration Day Checklist

Check the load performance of the new site

Immediately after the launch, check the load performance of the website and make sure site loading is optimized. A slow-loading site could impact the organic performance of the website since it’s an important factor SEO ranking factor.

Technical Checks

Here are some of the technical checks to do immediately after the website launch. This will ensure the website performs well after the launch.

• Validate site redirects
• Validate robots.txt
• Validate sitemap.xml
• Check canonical tags
• Check noindex/nofollow tags

Search Console Checks

Here are the Google Search Console (GSC) checks that help make sure Google can crawl and index the pages on the new website properly.

• Test and upload XML sitemap
• Submit new and old sitemap to GSC
• Check international targeting
• Upload disavow files
• Use the change of address tool

Check server performance

After the new website is launched, Google will have to crawl and re-index the website. If the server response time is high, the process of re-indexation will be slow. So, it’s important to make sure the server response is quick.

Stage 4: Post-migration Checklist

Check if Google can access all the pages on the new website

Check the crawl stats available on the Google Search Console to check if Google is crawling the new website. If you can’t see a spike in crawls after the launch, there could be something wrong with the crawling.

Conduct a post-migration SEO audit

Conduct a post-migration audit to make sure all the SEO parameters are in place, and nothing is missed out during the launch of the new website. Any errors identified during the audit must be fixed immediately to avoid impacting search performance.

Add annotation on Google Analytics

There could be a drop in organic metrics after the launch. Adding an annotation on Google Analytics will help make a note of this drop in the future.

Track the performance of the new website

Track the performance and compare it with the pre-migration benchmark numbers. This will help identify the efficiency of the migration and check if there is any major drop in metrics.

Keep control of the old domain

We’re recommending you maintain control over the old domain (unless you are planning on selling the old domain). If you’re keeping the old domain – redirect it to the new domain, page by page, to ensure the authority is passed on to the new URLs. If you don’t retain control over the old domain, the authority earned by the old domain will be lost, and you won’t be able to redirect them to the new domain and pages.

In conclusion, website migrations are complex and have many moving parts to them – a bad migration can result in a hit to your Brand’s reputation, a dropoff in traffic, and a potential loss of revenue.

If you’re planning a site migration, please use this website migration checklist to ensure you’re tracking and accounting for the critical tasks that are needed to maintain your site’s performance post-migration.