How To Protect SEO Rankings When You Redesign: The Impact of Site Migrations

There’s a time for things to stay the same and a time for you to change things up, especially when it comes to your business site. Whether you’re switching from WooCommerce or Shopify to opting for a more affordable hosting provider, any changes can mean having to move your site.

Site migrations are simple on paper, you take your site’s assets in their respective file formats and plug them in. But know that site migrations do come with risks. While you may get your site up and running on a new CMS or hosting provider, don’t expect it to rank the way it did before the migration.

Should you just take the ranking and visibility losses on the chin?

We say no!

Below, we’re giving you our complete tried-and-tested SEO site migration checklist to help you minimize risks after you’ve switched things up with your business site.

Let’s dive in!

Why Website Migrations Damage Your SEO Rankings

First of all, you may be asking how a simple move from one CMS or hosting provider to another impacts your rankings.

You see, there’s a delicate relationship between your site and search engines, and changes in one (either on the search engine’s or your site’s end) can be disruptive to rankings and visibility.

Here are some of the reasons why site migrations affect SEO rankings.

Search Engines HATE Uncertainty

Think about it:

Why did Google rank your site in the first place?

Because, over time, its algorithms have learned enough about your business. And if you’ve experienced being on the first page, there’s a chance Google knows enough about how you deliver the best services (based on reviews, ratings, and even backlinks).

During a site migration, SEO becomes tricky because you’re essentially changing something about your site. And because you’ve changed something, Google’s search algorithms will be back to square one, figuring out what your business is.

Migration Mishaps

True, building and moving a site are two different things, but both mean following a process.

During site migration, SEO can be affected because many steps can go wrong between the site deconstruction and its move to a new CMS or hosting service.

There are many areas where mistakes can occur, including:

• Broken redirects: These create dead ends that search engines can’t follow.
• Missing meta data: Without data, search engines are forced to guess what your pages are about.
• Changed URL structures: The lack of proper redirects might signal that your old content has disappeared.
• Site speed issues: Expect some lag time with new hosting or CMS platforms.
• Internal linking problems: Sometimes, some of the links in your blogs or service pages won’t show up in a new CMS, which breaks the flow of authority between your pages.
• Content changes: If your content changes during redesigns, the alterations may affect your content and site’s keyword relevance.

The Goals of Website Migration SEO

So, we now know that site migrations risks occur, essentially, because your site is different in the eyes of search engines. To mitigate risks, the goal is to keep your website as similar as possible to what it was pre-migration.

Although it’s next to impossible to keep all ranking signals the same, you can still do the following to minimize disruptions to your site’s SEO and user experience.

Preserve Your Current Rankings

Your first priority is protecting the search visibility you’ve already built. This means ensuring search engines can find and understand your new site structure without losing track of your existing content value.

Maintain User Experience Continuity

Search engines prioritize user satisfaction, so your migration should improve or maintain the same user experience that earned your current rankings. Any degradation in site speed, navigation, or content accessibility can be a deal-breaker in how your newly migrated site performs.

Set Foundation for Growth

A successful migration creates opportunities for SEO improvements, like:

• Better technical infrastructure (bust out that dusty technical SEO playbook)
• Cleaner code
• Enhanced user interface optimization opportunities that weren’t possible on your old platform

The Complete Site Migration SEO Checklist

Now that the basic stuff is out of the way and you know your website migration SEO goals, it’s time to go over the boxes to tick when moving your site.

Step 1: Audit Meta Data, High-Performing Pages, Content, Internal Linking, and Keywords

Your current site contains valuable SEO assets that took months or years to build. So, before you change anything, take stock of what you’re working with. With tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb, you’ll be able to export your full URL list and site structure.

Another important step is identifying your highest-performing pages, so look at their:

• Organic traffic data
• Conversion rates
• Keyword rankings

Together, the data tells you which pages drive real business value. These pages will be in need of extra protection during the migration process.

Lastly, content inventory should include current URLs, target keywords, meta data, and internal linking relationships. Likewise, technical elements like schema markup and image optimization must be in your documentation before the migration.

Step 2: URL Structure and Redirect Planning

As much as possible, your URL structures should be the same as their pre-migration versions. When URL changes are unavoidable, however, there should be a redirect for each old URL.

Every old URL needs a 301 redirect to the most relevant new page. Right off the bat, the pages that need 301s include:

• Product pages
• Blog posts
• Category pages
• Utility and contact pages

Redirect chains are a nightmare for both users and search engines. For this reason, each old URL should point directly to its new equivalent and not through intermediary pages.

Step 3: Content Migration

Did your content take years and months to create and publish? The last thing you want is for it to be relegated to obscurity following a site migration.

To avoid this, double down on what made your content rank in the first place — its meta data, headers, and internal linking. Even your images need to be optimized during the migration process:

• Title Tags and Meta Descriptions: For your site’s and users’ sakes, keep these elements the same (lest you’re intentionally changing things up).
• Header Structures: These should also be the same as your pre-migration headers to prevent search engines from having to crawl and index your content again.
• Internal Linking: The way your pages connect to each other tells search engines about your site’s hierarchy and topic relationships. Maintaining these connections on your new site helps preserve authority flow between pages.
• Images and Media: Whether you’ve used JPEG, GIF or WebP, make sure these elements carry over into the new site.

Remember:

Google and other search engines have already learned about your business by crawling and indexing these elements. So, know that any changes will mean more legwork for these engines, leading to a dent in your site’s SEO.

Step 4: Prepping Technical SEO (Site Speed Testing, XML, Robots.txt)

Your new site’s technical foundation can make or break how well search engines can crawl and understand your content. If you need proof, ask any business owner how slow their site gets weeks after a migration.

Site speed is often one of the first things to suffer during migrations. There are numerous reasons, like a new hosting environment or bloated code. Luckily, you can avoid slowdowns with performance tests on your staging site before launch.

Your new URL structure should also be reflected in your XML sitemap. Submit the new sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools immediately after migration.

And lastly, don’t forget your Robots.txt file, which controls which parts of your site search engines can access. Review this to ensure it doesn’t accidentally block important pages or sections.

Step 5: Pre-Launch Monitoring and Testing (Site Speed and Mobile-Responsiveness)

So, you’ve audited your SEO signals like meta data and links and even made changes to your content and sitemaps. Now that you’ve done steps one to four, the last step is testing.

To test your site, do so in a staging environment or a test site, available in CMSs like WordPress.

When you’re testing, evaluate every redirect, check all internal links, and verify that meta data displays correctly. Page load speeds should either be faster or at par with your current site’s performance.

While you’re at it, check to see if your site is easy to use on mobile devices as it was pre-migration. After all, if there’s one thing that gets more critical with every Google update, it’s mobile-responsiveness.

Website Migration Day Doesn’t Need To Be Disaster Day

Yes, site migrations can affect your site’s rankings, but they don’t need to.

By following the steps in our SEO site migration checklist, you’ll be able to ensure that your site stays visible and delivers the user experience your customers have come to know you for.

Does this all seem a bit much for you to handle? Why not consider a site migration SEO partner who can handle the process for you?

If you’re planning a website migration, we can take care of everything so you can focus on running your business. Contact us and get a website migration SEO consultation on the house.