A website migration is one of the highest-risk moments in any business's digital life. Done without proper SEO planning, it can wipe out years of hard-won rankings in days. Our senior specialist manages the full process so your organic traffic survives the move intact.
A website migration covers any significant structural change to your site: moving to a new domain, changing your URL structure, switching platforms, migrating from HTTP to HTTPS, or merging two sites into one.
Each of these changes disrupts the signals Google has been building trust in for months or years. Without a careful SEO migration strategy, rankings drop, organic traffic disappears, and revenue follows. The impact can last months even after the technical issues are resolved.
Our approach covers every layer of the migration, from a full pre-launch crawl and redirect mapping through to post-launch monitoring in GA4 and Google Search Console. We also coordinate with your developers and platform team so nothing falls through the gaps.
Most migration SEO problems are entirely avoidable. They stem from treating the migration as a purely technical or design exercise, with SEO considered only after launch.
Businesses map redirects in spreadsheets without checking for chaining. A 301 that points to another 301 dilutes link equity and slows crawling. Loops cause Googlebot to give up entirely.
Impact: lost link equity, crawl errorsURL structures change and hundreds of old URLs are left returning 404 errors. Pages that earned backlinks over years stop passing any authority to the new site.
Impact: 404s, lost backlink authorityA staging environment indexed by accident or robots.txt not updated on launch means Googlebot crawls the old staging site instead of the new live one. Rankings collapse within days.
Impact: indexation failure, ranking dropWithout a clear traffic and rankings snapshot taken before the migration, there is no way to tell whether a post-launch dip is a migration problem or normal seasonal fluctuation.
Impact: no recovery baseline to work fromA new design strips out carefully optimised title tags, heading structures and internal links that took months to build. Developers copy page content but ignore the metadata, schema markup and canonical tags entirely.
Impact: ranking signals reset to zeroWhen two sites merge, duplicate content across both domains can appear unless canonical tags and redirects are implemented methodically. Google may split authority across both properties for months.
Impact: duplicate content, diluted authorityThe pre-migration phase is where the majority of migration SEO work happens. By the time your new site goes live, every ranking signal should be mapped, documented and ready to transfer. The goal is that launch day is uneventful.
We begin with a comprehensive SEO audit of your current site so we have a complete baseline. That audit informs every decision in the migration plan.
Every indexed URL on the current site is crawled and catalogued. We record status codes, title tags, meta descriptions, H1s, canonical tags, internal links and backlink counts for each page.
We export a full traffic and keyword rankings snapshot from GA4 and Google Search Console before any changes are made. This is the baseline we compare against after launch.
Every old URL is mapped to its new equivalent. We prioritise pages with organic traffic, backlinks and internal link equity. Redirect chains and loops are eliminated before the map is signed off.
Title tags, meta descriptions, heading structures, alt text and schema markup are all transferred or improved for the new site. No ranking signal is left behind.
We check that the staging site is blocked from indexation via robots.txt and noindex tags, and that these are removed correctly on launch. A staging site indexed by Google is one of the most common and costly migration errors.
A detailed launch-day checklist is prepared for your development team. This covers sitemap submission, Search Console property verification, hreflang (if applicable), crawl rate settings and immediate post-launch checks.
Launch day is not the finish line. The weeks following a migration are critical. Google needs time to recrawl, reindex and re-evaluate your new site. During this window we watch closely and act quickly on any signals that need attention.
Post-migration monitoring runs for a minimum of 90 days across all projects. For larger sites or domain changes, this window extends to six months.
We monitor Google Search Console daily in the first two weeks for any spike in crawl errors, 404s or redirect failures. Issues are triaged and passed to your development team with precise fix instructions.
We track how quickly Google is indexing your new URLs against the old indexed count. A significant shortfall signals a crawl budget or sitemap problem that needs immediate investigation.
Tracked keywords are compared against the pre-migration benchmark weekly. Pages that have lost significant ranking positions are reviewed individually and remediation steps are identified.
Monthly reports compare organic sessions, click-through rates and conversions against the pre-migration baseline in GA4. Reports include commentary on what is happening and any actions being taken.
We verify that referring domains are reaching live 200-status pages via correct 301 redirects. Any high-authority backlinks still pointing to 404s are flagged for outreach.
Platform changes often affect page speed and Core Web Vitals. We run a post-launch technical review to identify any regressions in LCP, CLS or INP scores that could affect rankings.
Every migration project is different, but each one draws from the same set of disciplines. Select a category to see exactly what is included.
The technical foundation of a migration determines how well Google can discover and index your new site. Our technical SEO work starts before launch and continues until all signals are healthy.
Every ranking signal on the page needs to transfer to the new site. Our on-page SEO work ensures no optimised element is lost in the rebuild.
Backlinks are a core ranking factor. During a domain change or URL restructure, protecting the authority carried by inbound links is a priority.
Keyword research informs the URL structure and content hierarchy of the new site. We review any structural changes against your target search queries before launch.
A migration is only measurable if tracking was correctly configured before it happened. We verify GA4 and Search Console are capturing the right data throughout the process.
Every migration follows the same structured sequence. The timeline varies by site size, but the steps never change.
We crawl your current site, export rankings data and map your full URL inventory against organic performance.
Redirect map, URL structure recommendations, on-page migration plan and a staging review checklist are prepared.
The new site is reviewed on staging against the migration strategy. All issues are logged and resolved before launch sign-off.
We are available on launch day to run immediate post-launch checks: crawl, redirect test, sitemap submission and Search Console verification.
Weekly monitoring for 90 days minimum. Rankings, crawl errors, indexation and traffic tracked against the pre-migration baseline.
The earlier we are involved, the more risk we can prevent. We work alongside your developers, agency or platform team from day one.
A website migration is not the place to cut costs or hand the SEO work to a developer who dabbles in it. The financial cost of a botched migration, in lost rankings and months of recovery effort, far exceeds the cost of getting it right first time.
Our team has managed migrations across multiple platforms, including WooCommerce, Shopify, WordPress and custom-built systems. We are based in Donaghadee, serving businesses across Northern Ireland, the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
Talk to us before you migrateMost agencies bolt SEO on after the migration has been designed. We involve ourselves from the initial architecture decisions so that SEO is baked in, not retrofitted.
Every decision, redirect map, crawl report and monitoring result is documented and shared. You always know exactly what has been done and why. Nothing is a black box.
Your migration is handled by a senior specialist, not passed to a junior account manager or outsourced. Every decision is made by someone with deep technical SEO experience.
We do not consider a migration complete on launch day. Post-launch monitoring runs for a minimum of 90 days so that any recovery work is identified and acted on quickly.
We work across all major platforms. Whether you are moving to Shopify, rebuilding in WordPress, or migrating from a custom CMS, our approach adapts to your technical environment. We work directly with your developers using clear, implementation-ready instructions.
You will never wonder what is happening. We provide plain-English updates at every stage and flag any risks before they become problems. If something needs your attention, you hear about it promptly.