Maintaining SEO Rankings After Website Migration: A Practical Guide
Website migration or redesign can significantly impact your SEO ranking. Follow these best practices to minimize disruption and maintain your search visibility.
Before Migration:
- Document your current URL structure in a spreadsheet
- Keep your existing domain name
- Plan URL redirects for changed page locations
- Create a migration timeline
Key Steps During Migration:
- Preserve URL Structure
- Match existing URLs when possible (e.g., keep /about as /about)
- Update URL slugs in page settings to maintain consistency
- Document old and new URL pairs for redirect planning
- Implement 301 Redirects
- Set up redirects for all changed URLs
- Ensure old links point to new content locations
- Maintain link equity from external sources
- Use proper redirect mapping for blog posts and other content
- Domain Management
- Keep your current domain if possible
- Transfer domain to new platform or use domain mapping
- Ensure proper DNS configuration
- Error Management
- Create a custom 404 error page
- Include helpful navigation options
- Consider adding migration notification
- Monitor for broken links
Post-Migration Tasks:
- Search Engine Tools
- Submit new sitemap to Google Search Console
- Request site reindexing
- Monitor indexing status
- Track search performance
- Monitor and Optimize
- Check for broken links regularly
- Monitor search rankings
- Address technical SEO issues promptly
- Continue regular SEO maintenance
Remember that temporary ranking fluctuations are normal after migration. Consistent monitoring and quick issue resolution will help maintain long-term search visibility.
By following these steps and maintaining focus on SEO best practices, you can minimize ranking drops and potentially improve your site's search performance over time.