Performing an SEO website migration: the 2024 guide

10 July 2024

Reading time: 9 minutes

Senior SEO-specialist

Performing an SEO website migration: the 2023 guide

A SEO website migration is a drastic change with major implications for your website’s search engine optimization and performance. It is therefore crucial to make the right preparations and take the necessary steps to ensure migration goes smoothly. This is how you keep the impact on SEO minimal.

In this guide, I cover various aspects of a website migration, including different types of migrations, risks and pitfalls. I also created a checklist for successful migration. In addition, I tell you what needs to be done before, during and after the migration to ensure that the website continues to perform optimally and maintains its SEO value.

A website migration is complex, which is why consulting an experienced SEO specialist may be advisable. That way, you can be sure that the migration will be done successfully. With proper planning, preparation and monitoring, a website migration can be an important step in the development of a successful and effective website.

Table of contents show

What forms of an SEO website migration are there?

There are different types of website migrations. Each is aimed at improving the search engine optimization (SEO) of a website. Here are some of the most common types:

Domain migration: in domain migration, you completely change the URL structure of a website. You do this, for example, when your company changes its name and therefore needs a new domain name. A domain migration can affect a website’s SEO because search engines have to index the new URLs, while the links and backlinks on the old website are no longer relevant.
Platform migration: a platform migration is the change of the Content Management System (CMS) on which a Web site is hosted. This happens, for example, when a company switches from WordPress to Shopify. A platform migration can affect a website’s SEO because the website’s structure and coding change.
URL change: a URL change involves changing the URLs of the pages on a website. For example, when you change the titles or content of your pages. A URL change can affect a website’s SEO. Indeed, search engines must learn to index the new URLs. Also, old links may no longer work(1).
Design and structure change: in a design and structure change, you change the look and feel of your website. A design and structure change also affects a website’s SEO, because search engines need to learn the new content and the website structure changes.
HTTPS migration: an HTTPS migration involves moving the website from HTTP to HTTPS. HTTPS is a secure version of HTTP and offers the user more security and privacy. This positively affects a website’s SEO because search engines rank secure websites higher than unsafe ones.

Any website migration can have a huge impact on SEO. In whatever form this is done. I have seen cases where a website migration resulted in a decrease in organic traffic of 80% or more. So always be careful with this.

An SEO website migration in a nutshell

No time for a long article? No problem. Check out the bird’s eye view below for a summary of this article.

The biggest pitfalls of an SEO website migration

There are many pitfalls in an SEO website migration that can be avoided just by being aware that it exists. Actually, for every migration, I would say; hire an SEO specialist to guide this. There are so many specific things from SEO that must be taken into account, this cannot possibly be done by someone who does not understand this.

Pitfall	Explanation	Potential damage (1-100)
Forgot to test	Not testing the new website before going live can lead to unexpected errors and problems that can negatively affect SEO performance.	85
Loss of backlinks	If other sites link to pages on your old website that are not properly redirected, you may lose valuable backlinks.	90
Failure to update XML sitemaps	Not updating XML sitemaps can cause search engines to have trouble crawling and indexing your new website.	75
Migration too fast	Migrating too quickly without adequate preparation and consideration can lead to numerous problems, including many of the pitfalls mentioned above.	80
Poor communication with stakeholders	Poor communication can lead to confusion and mistakes. For example, if the marketing department is not aware of the migration, they may continue to promote outdated URLs.	70
Failure to track performance before and after migration	Without this data, it will be difficult to determine whether the migration was successful and where any problems are occurring.	80

Website migration pitfalls, explanations and potential damages.

As can be seen, much of this deals with technology and project management within website migration. Pay close attention to this during the migration phase.

What should I pay attention to during an SEO website migration?

Every SEO website migration deserves a plan of action. I would rather invest too much time in this initially than too little. It is important to note here that point blank, it is always a complex situation where a lot goes wrong (something goes wrong in every migration).

Create a detailed migration plan: create a plan that includes all aspects of the migration. By this I also mean the technical aspects, such as URL redirects, metadata and 301 redirects. The plan should clearly describe the sequence of steps, as well as the components involved in the migration(2). At this stage, make sure you take into account everything that can go wrong.
Analyze the current website and, based on this analysis, create a list of SEO-related action items. I always divide these into things I want to address before, during and after the migration.
From this analysis, I formulate a strategy. I share these with all stakeholders (management, content, development and the project managers).
Before the migration, I perform a thorough analysis on the website’s designs. I perform this analysis over the latest version of the designs (to avoid having to analyze another newer version as well). Make sure that you have enough time between this analysis and the actual going live of the website.
During the go-live, I perform go-live testing, particularly checking that everything has been transferred correctly and that Google can still access everything.
After the migration, it is a good idea to once again thoroughly analyze the entire website. In the process, you will always come across things that are not implemented correctly.
After this, it’s “business” as usual again and you can continue with the monthly optimizations.

What are the risks of an SEO website migration?

You can think of thousands of different scenarios in which something goes wrong and very few in which everything goes right. My back hairs already stand up when I think about it. Risks of an SEO website migrations include:

loss of key positions in Google;
loss of conversions from SEO;
loss of organic traffic;
A penalty from Google (possibly when something about structured data comes along incorrectly).

Pay close attention to this. The implications of a wrong website migration can be huge and take years to resolve.

My SEO website migration checklist

This is a short checklist you can use when go-live testing an SEO website migration. For each type of migration, you do need to consider different elements, but in basic terms, these things are about this:

are all the redirects in there correctly;
there are many 4xx pages on the website;
there are many 5xx pages on the website;
states the Robots.txt correctly;
Are the XML sitemaps still good;
are the internal links to the appropriate version of the website;
came along with the most important content;
are the canonicals to the correct version of the website;
how are the meta tags;
are the inbound links still good from external sites;
works well on all screens;
can convert people (contact forms);
works over HTTPS;
there is still content from the old website live;
Has the website become slower or faster;
are the xml sitemaps notified in the GSC;
migration has been notified in the GSC;
Google Analytics 4 has been reinstalled;
there are redirect chains in the website.

This is purely my website migration checklist in the basics. I always like to look at what type of migration has taken place with customization, and of course every migration has its own specific pitfalls/challenges.

After migration

Now it’s time for a beer … or wait?

Some considerations I have after the website migration from an SEO point of view.

I know pretty quickly whether a migration is successful or not. You can see this by the initial position the URLs obtain in Google.
What is interesting is that this is a great time (when the URLs have been modified) to measure the website crawl budget. You can see in Google exactly when new URLs are indexed, which gives you a good idea of how much crawl budget you have.
I monitor the GSC daily looking thoroughly at the crawl statistics.
Take quick action when things are not yet right. Time is literally money in this case. The sooner you can pick up issues the better.

Conclusion

A website migration can have a major impact on the search engine optimization (SEO) of the website. To ensure that the process goes smoothly and the impact on SEO is minimal, follow several steps before, during and after the migration.

The migration requires a detailed migration plan. You should also test all aspects of the website before it goes live. During the migration, it is important to monitor the website thoroughly and resolve any problems quickly. After migration, you continue to monitor search engine rankings and intervene immediately if there is a problem.