Website Migration Checklist

This is the checklist I use to plan and run migrations, whether a site is changing domain, platform, URL structure or design. It has 47 tasks split by phase, from planning through to eight weeks after launch, plus a redirect map to track every old URL.

Every migration is different, so mark the tasks that do not apply as N/A and add any that are specific to your site.

What’s included

• Planning: scope, goals, launch timing, benchmarks, crawls and the full list of old URLs
• Pre-launch: staging checks, canonicals, sitemaps, robots.txt, internal links, tracking and a rollback plan
• Launch day: going live, testing redirects, crawling for errors and submitting sitemaps
• Post-launch week 1: daily monitoring, fixing 404s, updating backlinks and business listings
• Weeks 2 to 8: weekly comparisons with the benchmark, recrawls and a final migration report
• Redirect map: old URL, status, title, clicks, backlinks, new URL, redirect type and test status
• Owner, due date and status columns: so everyone on the project knows who is doing what and when

How to use it

1. Make your own copy of the sheet in Google Drive.
2. Add an owner and due date to each task, and mark any that do not apply as N/A.
3. Benchmark the current site and build the redirect map before any development work is signed off.
4. Test the redirects on staging, then again on launch day, and mark each row as tested.
5. Monitor indexing, 404s and clicks against your benchmark for at least eight weeks after launch.

Tips from my client work

• Sort the redirect map by organic clicks and backlinks so the most valuable URLs are tested first.
• Redirect each old URL to its closest equivalent. Sending everything to the home page throws away the relevance those pages had.
• Avoid launching on a Friday or just before your busiest season, so people are around to fix problems.
• Change as little as possible in one go. If the domain, platform and URLs all change at once, it is much harder to find the cause of a drop.

FAQs

How long does it take traffic to recover after a website migration?

It depends on the size of the site and how much changed. Some movement in the first few weeks is normal while Google processes the redirects. If clicks to specific pages are still falling after a few weeks, check those URLs first for missing redirects, lost content or noindex tags.

Should I use 301 or 302 redirects for a migration?

Use 301 (or 308) redirects for permanent moves, which covers almost every migration. A 302 tells search engines the move is temporary. Google recommends keeping migration redirects in place for at least a year, and I keep them for good where possible.

Do I need to redirect every old URL?

Redirect every old URL that has traffic, backlinks or a clear new equivalent. Pages with no traffic, no links and no replacement, such as an expired offer, can return a 404 or 410. Record those decisions in the redirect map so nothing is dropped by accident.