Websites · Project

SEO-Safe Website Migrations

Launch the new site without losing the rankings the old one earned.

Overview

A redesign or a move to a new platform is where a lot of organic traffic gets lost. URLs change without redirects, pages that ranked quietly disappear, and metadata, schema and internal links get dropped in the rebuild. The damage often shows up after launch, when the project team has moved on and it's harder to trace.

I treat the migration as its own project alongside the build. I inventory every URL and what it earns in traffic and links, map each one to its new home, and check the staging site before it goes live. After launch, I crawl again, verify every redirect and watch Search Console for anything that slipped through.

Who it's for

For teams redesigning a site, changing platforms or merging domains, who can't afford to start search from zero.

You're moving from WordPress to Webflow, or the other way around.
An agency is redesigning your site, and nobody owns the SEO side of the launch.
You're changing your URL structure, merging sections or consolidating domains.
You've already launched, traffic dropped, and you need to find what broke.
You have years of content and need to decide what to keep, merge or retire.

What you get

A content inventory of every URL, with its traffic, rankings and backlinks
A keep, merge or retire decision for each page
A 301 redirect map from every old URL to its new home
A pre-launch audit of the staging site: metadata, canonicals, schema, internal links and indexing rules
Playwright QA checks on staging before the switch
Redirect verification and sitemap submission on launch day
Post-launch monitoring in Search Console, with fixes for anything that slipped

How it works

Inventory. I crawl the current site and pull its search data, so we know what every URL earns before anything moves.
Map. Each URL gets a decision and a destination, and the redirect map is built from those.
Check staging. I audit the new site before launch and compare it with the old one for anything missing.
Launch and monitor. I verify the redirects on launch day, submit the new sitemap, and track indexing and rankings until they settle.

From the articles

Read the guide first.

Websites

The website migration SEO checklist, from inventory to launch day

How to redesign or replatform without losing search traffic: a URL inventory, a redirect map, checks on staging and a launch-day verification routine.

6 min read

FAQ

Common questions

When should we bring SEO into a migration?

Before the new site's structure is final. The cheapest time to protect rankings is while URLs, templates and content decisions are still on paper. If you've already launched, it isn't too late: I can compare the old and new sites, rebuild the redirect map and find what went missing. It's still easier to prevent losses than to recover from them.

Will we lose any traffic?

Some movement after a migration is normal while search engines recrawl and re-evaluate the new URLs. The goal is to keep it small and short-lived, and to make sure nothing that earned traffic is lost for good. I can't promise zero change, but careful redirects, preserved content and close monitoring after launch are what separate a quiet launch from a painful one.

Do you have to build the new site too?

No. I can work alongside another agency or your in-house team while they handle design and development. I own the SEO side: the inventory, the redirect map and the checks before and after launch. If you're moving to Webflow, I can also do the build itself as part of the same project through my Webflow development service.

Not sure where to start?

Tell me what you're trying to fix. I'll tell you which service fits, or whether you need one at all.

Book a call See client websites