Website Migration SEO Checklist: Keep Your Google Rankings

Short answer: to keep your rankings during a migration, map every old URL to its new equivalent, use permanent 301 redirects page by page, update your canonical tags, sitemap and internal links, tell Google through Search Console, and monitor the results for several weeks. Expect some short-term movement, especially when the domain changes.

Before the move

• Crawl the old site and keep a full list of URLs
• Record current traffic, rankings and top pages as a baseline
• Decide the final address, including whether to use www, and use it consistently

During the move

• Redirect page to page: send each old URL to its closest new page with a 301 redirect. Do not send everything to the homepage.
• Update canonicals: every page should point to its own new address.
• Fix internal links: link straight to the final URLs, not through redirects.
• Refresh the sitemap and robots.txt: make sure they list the new domain and do not block it.
• Check tracking: confirm that analytics and conversion tracking work on the new site.

After the move

• Add the new domain to Google Search Console and submit the sitemap
• For a domain change, use the Change of Address tool when both domains are verified
• Update your Google Business Profile, social profiles and directory listings
• Ask important sites that link to you to update their links
• Keep the redirects in place for at least a year
• Watch indexing, errors and traffic weekly

Common mistakes

• Leaving a noindex tag from the testing site
• Redirecting everything to the homepage
• Forgetting to move or recreate the structured data
• Changing page content and addresses together, which makes problems hard to trace

Frequently asked questions

Will rankings drop after a migration?

A temporary dip is common. A careful redirect plan reduces the risk and shortens recovery.

How long should I keep the old domain?

Keep it, with redirects, for at least a year, and preferably for as long as you own it.

Our website migration service covers planning and redirects, and our technical SEO and SEO audit services help you check the result.

Related guides

• How Long Does SEO Take to Work?
• How Much Does a Business Website Cost in India?
• Local SEO for Ankleshwar and GIDC Businesses

Need help with this? Talk to Uplink Technology. We are a digital and AI agency based in GIDC Ankleshwar, Gujarat.