SEO Migration Plan

SEO Migration Plan

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when you need to:

• Migrate a website to a new domain, platform, or URL structure
• Create a comprehensive redirect map to preserve SEO value
• Assess and mitigate risks of traffic loss during migration
• Build a monitoring plan for post-migration recovery

DO NOT use this skill for routine site updates, content changes, or adding new pages. This is for structural website changes that affect URLs, domains, or platforms.

Core Principle

A BOTCHED MIGRATION CAN DESTROY YEARS OF SEO PROGRESS OVERNIGHT — THE GOAL IS ZERO LOST PAGES, ZERO BROKEN LINKS, AND MINIMAL RANKING DISRUPTION THROUGH METICULOUS REDIRECT PLANNING.

Phase 1: Migration Brief

Required Inputs

GATE: Confirm migration details before building the plan.

Phase 2: Pre-Migration Audit

Current Site Inventory

## Site Crawl Checklist

- [ ] Crawl entire current site (Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, or manual)
- [ ] Export all URLs with status codes
- [ ] Document all pages with organic traffic (Google Analytics)
- [ ] Document all pages with backlinks (Google Search Console or Ahrefs)
- [ ] Save current rankings for top 50 keywords
- [ ] Screenshot key pages (homepage, top landing pages)
- [ ] Export Google Search Console data (last 16 months)
- [ ] Document all current redirects already in place

Redirect Map

## Redirect Map Template

| Old URL | New URL | Status | Priority |
|---------|---------|--------|----------|
| /old-page-1 | /new-page-1 | 301 | High (has traffic) |
| /old-page-2 | /new-page-2 | 301 | High (has backlinks) |
| /old-page-3 | / (homepage) | 301 | Low (no traffic) |
| /removed-page | /relevant-alternative | 301 | Medium |

**Rules:**
- EVERY old URL gets a 301 redirect — no exceptions
- Redirect to the most relevant equivalent page
- If no equivalent exists, redirect to the parent category or homepage
- Preserve redirect chains from previous migrations

Risk Assessment

## Migration Risk Level

**Low Risk:** HTTPS migration, minor URL changes
- Expected traffic dip: 5-10% for 2-4 weeks

**Medium Risk:** Platform migration with URL changes
- Expected traffic dip: 10-20% for 4-8 weeks

**High Risk:** Domain change or major restructure
- Expected traffic dip: 20-40% for 2-4 months

**Mitigation:** Thorough redirect mapping, staged rollout if possible, immediate monitoring

GATE: Approve the redirect map and risk assessment before proceeding.

Phase 3: Migration Execution Plan

Pre-Launch Checklist

## Before Flipping the Switch

- [ ] All redirects configured and tested on staging
- [ ] New sitemap.xml generated
- [ ] Robots.txt updated for new site structure
- [ ] Canonical tags pointing to new URLs
- [ ] Internal links updated to new URLs (not relying on redirects)
- [ ] Google Analytics/tracking code installed on new site
- [ ] Google Search Console verified for new domain (if domain change)
- [ ] Schema markup updated with new URLs
- [ ] Social media profiles updated (if domain change)
- [ ] Email links and signatures updated

Launch Day Checklist

## Migration Day

- [ ] Deploy redirects
- [ ] Submit new sitemap to Google Search Console
- [ ] Request indexing for top 20 pages via URL Inspection
- [ ] Test 20 random old URLs — confirm redirects work
- [ ] Test all main navigation links on new site
- [ ] Verify analytics tracking is firing on new site
- [ ] Check for crawl errors in Search Console
- [ ] Monitor server response times (migration load)

Post-Migration Monitoring (First 30 Days)

## Daily (Week 1):
- Check Google Search Console for crawl errors
- Monitor organic traffic vs. pre-migration baseline
- Test random URLs for redirect functionality
- Check server logs for 404 errors

## Weekly (Weeks 2-4):
- Compare keyword rankings to pre-migration snapshot
- Review indexation rate of new URLs
- Check for redirect chains or loops
- Monitor Core Web Vitals on new platform

## Monthly (Months 2-4):
- Full ranking comparison vs. pre-migration
- Traffic recovery trend analysis
- Backlink profile check (ensure links pass through redirects)
- Address any remaining 404s or redirect issues

Phase 4: Polish

1. Communication Plan

• Notify key stakeholders of expected traffic dip
• Prepare customer-facing communication if domain changes
• Update third-party listings and directory citations

2. Recovery Timeline

Set expectations: most sites recover within 4-12 weeks. Full recovery to pre-migration levels takes 2-4 months for medium-risk migrations.

3. Rollback Plan

If critical issues arise:

• Define rollback triggers (traffic drop >50%, major functionality broken)
• Keep old site accessible on staging for 30 days
• Document how to reverse redirects if needed

Anti-Patterns

• No redirect map — launching a new site without redirecting old URLs is the fastest way to lose all organic traffic.
• Using 302 redirects instead of 301 — 302 is temporary and does not pass full SEO value. Always use 301 for permanent migrations.
• Redirect chains — old-page → intermediate-page → new-page loses value at each hop. Redirect directly from old to final URL.
• Removing old content without redirecting — even "low traffic" pages may have backlinks. Redirect everything.
• Not monitoring after launch — problems surface in the first 48 hours. Watch closely or they compound.

Recovery

• Migration already happened without redirects: Implement redirects immediately. Some rankings can be recovered even weeks later. Check Search Console for crawl errors.
• Traffic dropped more than expected: Verify all redirects are working, check for noindex tags on new pages, and ensure the sitemap is submitted.
• Too many pages for manual redirect mapping: Group old URLs by pattern (e.g., /blog/YYYY/MM/slug → /blog/slug) and use regex-based redirect rules.
• Old domain expiring: Renew the old domain and keep redirects active for at least 12 months, ideally 24 months.