Website Migration SEO Checklist: How to Switch Platforms Without Losing Rankings
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A website migration keeps your rankings when you do three things well: map every old URL to a new one, redirect each one with a 301, and carry over the content and settings Google already trusts. Skip any of those and traffic usually drops within days.
We follow this checklist on every platform move, whether it's WordPress to Webflow, Webflow to Framer, or a store moving to Shopify. Most recently we used it to move Kona Kai Oasis, a Key West boutique resort, from Webflow to a new Framer site.
What Counts as a Website Migration?
Any change that alters how Google finds and reads your pages. The common ones:
Platform change: moving from one builder or CMS to another.
Domain change: moving to a new domain name or merging two sites.
URL structure change: renaming pages or folders, like /services/seo becoming /seo-services.
Redesign with new content: rewriting or removing pages during a redesign.
HTTPS or subdomain change: moving from http to https, or from blog.yoursite.com to yoursite.com/blog.
A platform change often includes several of these at once. That's why migrations go wrong so often.
Before Launch: Plan the Move
1. Benchmark your current traffic and rankings
Export the last 12 months of data from Google Search Console and Google Analytics. Record your top pages by clicks, your top queries, and your total indexed pages. Without a baseline you won't know if something broke.
2. Crawl the old site
Use a crawler like Screaming Frog to list every URL, title tag, meta description, H1, canonical tag, and status code. Add URLs from your sitemap, Search Console, and Analytics, because crawlers miss orphan pages that still get traffic.
3. Build a URL map
Make a spreadsheet with every old URL in one column and its new home in the next. Every page with traffic, backlinks, or rankings needs a match. Keep URLs the same when you can. If a page is going away, point it to the closest related page, not the homepage.
4. Decide what content stays
Pages that rank and convert should move over with their content mostly intact. Big rewrites at the same time as a platform change make it hard to tell what caused a drop. If you want to rewrite, do the move first and improve content after rankings settle.
5. Copy over SEO settings
Title tags and meta descriptions
H1s and heading structure
Image alt text and file names
Canonical tags
Structured data (Organization, LocalBusiness, FAQ, Product, Article)
Open Graph and social share images
Hreflang tags if you run multiple languages
6. Build on a staging site
Build and test on a staging URL that's blocked from search engines with a noindex tag or password. Confirm the staging block is removed at launch. A leftover noindex tag is one of the most common reasons a new site disappears from Google.
Launch Day: Make the Switch
7. Set up 301 redirects
Load your URL map into the new platform's redirect manager. Use permanent 301 redirects, not 302s. Avoid redirect chains, where one old URL hops through several before landing. Each old URL should go straight to its final page.
8. Update internal links
Links inside your content, menus, and footer should point to the new URLs directly, not rely on redirects.
9. Submit the new sitemap
Submit the new XML sitemap in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. If the domain changed, use Search Console's Change of Address tool too.
10. Move your tracking
Install Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Search Console verification, ad pixels, and any call tracking before the site goes live. Test every form and conversion event. A migration that loses tracking makes it look like leads stopped even when they didn't.
11. Test redirects in bulk
Run your list of old URLs through a crawler and confirm every one returns a 301 to the right page. Fix any 404s right away.
After Launch: Monitor for 90 Days
12. Watch Search Console daily for the first two weeks
Check the Pages report for spikes in 404s, "Crawled, currently not indexed," or "Excluded by noindex tag." Use URL Inspection to request indexing for your most important pages.
13. Compare traffic to your baseline
A small dip in the first few weeks is normal while Google reprocesses the site. A sustained drop of more than 20% on key pages usually points to a missing redirect, lost content, or a technical issue.
14. Keep redirects in place
Leave 301 redirects live for at least a year, and ideally forever. Old backlinks keep sending authority through them.
15. Update your listings
If your domain or page URLs changed, update your Google Business Profile, directory listings, and social profiles so they point to the new pages.
Common Migration Mistakes
Redirecting everything to the homepage. Google treats this like a missing page, and the rankings are lost.
Forgetting image and PDF URLs. Files that rank in image search or get linked need redirects too.
Launching with noindex on. The site quietly drops out of Google.
Changing content and URLs at the same time. It's hard to diagnose what caused a drop.
Losing structured data. Rich results like FAQs and reviews disappear.
No tracking on launch day. You can't measure the impact of the move.
Which Platform Should You Move To?
It depends on your site and your team. Framer is great for fast marketing sites, Webflow for content-heavy sites, WordPress for complex functionality, and Shopify for stores. Our Framer vs Webflow vs WordPress guide breaks down the differences.
A migration is the right moment to fix what's been holding your site back, as long as you protect what's already working. If you'd rather not risk your rankings doing it yourself, our website migration team handles the full checklist above.
Want help with this? Explore our Website Migration, Framer Website Development, and Webflow Development services, or request a quote.
