A new website without losing your visibility: the migration checklist

A new website is an exciting moment, but also a risk: if you switch without a plan, you can lose a lot of visibility within a few weeks. Pages get different addresses, old links lead nowhere and Google has to learn everything again. Fortunately Google itself describes in its documentation how to handle a move properly. Below we translate that into a checklist for a business owner with an ordinary company website.

Why does it go wrong?

Search engines know your pages by their address (URL). If that address changes without you indicating where the page went, Google sees a disappeared page and a new page without history. Links from other websites, customers' bookmarks and social media mentions also point to the old addresses. The typical causes: no redirects, a different URL structure, pages that lapse for no reason, and a “do not index” setting accidentally left over from the test environment.

Step 1: make a complete inventory

Before anything changes, record what there is now:

1. A list of all current URLs. You get it from your sitemap, your CMS or a crawling tool.
2. The pages that bring traffic and enquiries. Use your analytics and Search Console to see which pages matter.
3. Page titles, descriptions, headings and important texts.
4. Pages that other websites link to.

This is your reference. Without this list you cannot check what changed after the move.

Step 2: decide what stays, changes or lapses

Not every page needs to come along. But pages that lapse must lapse deliberately. Decide per page:

• Keep on the same URL, where possible. The simplest migration is one where URLs do not change.
• Move to a new URL, with a redirect.
• Merge with another page, with a redirect to the best replacement.
• Remove, only if there is truly nothing left to offer.

Google stresses in its help documentation that it helps to keep content that already works as much as possible and not to leave searchers stranded on a page that has nothing left to offer.

Step 3: connect old and new URLs with permanent redirects

The key part: a table from old address to new address, and for each old address a permanent (301) redirect to the corresponding new page. According to Google:

• Point to the most relevant new page, not everything to the homepage.
• Avoid chains of multiple redirects in a row.
• Keep the redirects in place as long as possible. Google gives as a rule of thumb generally at least a year.

Use the new URL consistently in your internal links, sitemap and canonical tags, so all signals point the same way.

Step 4: keep content and technology up to standard

A redesign is a good moment to improve content, but do not just delete text. Take into account:

• Titles and headings: keep relevant search terms people already find you on, in plain language.
• Internal links: make sure important pages remain reachable from the menu and from other pages.
• Images: give them descriptive file names and alt text, and keep their URLs or redirect them.
• Structured data: carry over existing markup or improve it.
• HTTPS: make sure the new site works over a secure connection and that old HTTP addresses redirect.
• Speed and mobile: a new site should not be slower or harder to use on mobile than the old one.

Step 5: test on a separate environment

Build and test on a test environment that search engines cannot find, for example protected with a password. Check the redirects, forms, 404 page and email notifications there. And remember, at launch, to remove that test environment setting. A forgotten “noindex” is one of the costliest mistakes in a migration.

Step 6: launch day

1. Put the new site live and activate the redirects.
2. Spot-check old URLs and verify they land on the right new page.
3. Check that the new pages are indexable (no noindex, no block in robots.txt).
4. Submit the new sitemap via Search Console.
5. Test contact forms and order processes with a real enquiry.
6. Check that analytics measures correctly.

If your domain name changes, Search Console offers a change-of-address function. If you only move within the same domain, you do not need it.

Step 7: monitor the following weeks

It is normal for search results to fluctuate for a while after a migration. Google notes in its documentation that it can take some time for everything to be processed. In Search Console, watch:

• Indexing errors and “not found” pages.
• Changes in impressions and clicks per page, compared with your reference.
• Old pages that still appear in results and do not redirect properly.

Fix errors quickly; often it is a missing redirect or a wrong canonical.

What not to do

• Send all old pages to the homepage.
• Change the URL structure for no reason.
• Throw away old content because the new site should be “cleaner”.
• Go live on a Friday afternoon without anyone able to check the redirects.
• Change domain name, design, content and platform all at once, if you can avoid it. The more changes at once, the harder it is to trace what caused any drop.

In conclusion

A migration without loss is mostly organisation: take inventory, map, test and check. At CUBO Agency we include that in every website project and describe our approach on the process page. Want a new site, but worried about the move? Book a free intro call. Also read preparing your website project.

Sources

Reviewed on 28 October 2026 against the sources below. Rules and guidelines change; this article is general information, not legal or tax advice.

• Site moves with URL changes (Google Search Central)
• SEO Starter Guide (Google Search Central)
• Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content (Google Search Central)
• Why HTTPS matters (web.dev)

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