SEO Migration Consultant
Website migrations are one of the most common causes of sudden ranking drops. The right SEO input before and after launch turns a high-risk project into a manageable one.
Migration SEO support
Redesigns, replatforms and domain moves change URLs, template structures, internal links, canonicals and metadata — often in ways that are not caught until organic traffic has already dropped. By then, the damage is done and recovery takes months.
SEO input before a migration identifies what needs protecting. A redirect plan ensures the right URLs pass authority to the right destinations. Post-launch monitoring catches anything that slipped through before it compounds.
Review of current URLs, authority, internal links and redirects before any URLs change.
Common migration problems
When URLs change without redirects, every inbound link, cached Google URL and bookmarked page hits a 404. The organic authority those URLs carried disappears. A redirect map ensures that authority transfers correctly to the new URL structure before launch.
Staging environments are typically blocked from indexation. If that setting carries over to the live site — or if a developer forgets to remove a sitewide noindex after launch — Google stops crawling and indexing the site entirely. This is one of the most common post-migration disasters and one of the easiest to prevent.
A redirect map handles external links and bookmarks, but internal links should point directly to the new URLs. Every internal link that goes through a redirect adds latency and dilutes crawl efficiency. Post-migration, internal links should be updated to point to final destination URLs.
CMS migrations often start with fresh templates. If title tags, meta descriptions, heading structures and schema are not explicitly migrated or rebuilt, the new site launches with generic or empty metadata. This affects both rankings and click-through rates from search results.
The first 30 days after a migration are critical. Crawl errors, indexation drops, missing pages and redirect failures surface quickly in Search Console and crawl data. Without monitoring, small problems become large ones before anyone notices.
A crawl of the current site produces a full URL inventory with organic authority signals. High-value URLs are identified. A redirect map is built before any URLs change. Template structures, metadata patterns and canonical logic are reviewed before the new build goes live.
The goal is to have everything agreed and tested before launch day, not discovered as problems after it.
A post-launch crawl checks that redirects are working, canonical signals are correct, indexation is open, and Search Console is not surfacing new crawl errors. Any issues are caught in the first days after launch rather than weeks later when rankings have already moved.
If issues are found, the fixes are clear, specific and actionable for developers immediately.
FAQ
As early as possible — ideally before URL structures, navigation or template decisions are finalised. Changes made early in a build are much cheaper to fix than changes made after launch.
Redesigns, replatforms (WordPress to Shopify, Magento to custom, etc.), domain moves, URL restructures and CMS migrations. The SEO considerations differ by migration type but the core principles — protect URLs, map redirects, check indexation — apply to all of them.
Yes. A post-migration recovery audit identifies where traffic dropped, which URLs are missing redirects, what indexation issues exist and which fixes are most likely to restore visibility fastest.
Yes. Redirect maps and technical recommendations are written so developers can understand the requirements, implement changes and confirm fixes without needing SEO translation at every step.
SEO migration support
Send details of the migration — platform, timescale, scope of URL changes — and I will come back with a suggested approach and what needs to be reviewed before launch.
Discuss your migration Technical SEO support