SEO Site Migration Checklist (2026): 12 Steps to Protect Rankings, Traffic and Revenue

Ranking at the top of search results is the price of admission to compete in the crucial product-discovery and consideration phases of a customer’s buying journey. Search engines are the number one online discovery channel globally: almost one-third of internet users discover brands via platforms like Google and Bing.

If you’re running a business in today’s ecommerce world, you already know these stats. And you’re still in business after six months, that means you and your team will have undertaken some successful efforts toward the one strategy the importance of which can’t be understated in today’s always-online world: search engine optimization (SEO). 

But what happens if you decide to replatform, move domains, or change your ecommerce website’s architecture? The rankings and search visibility you’ve worked so hard to build are vulnerable. 

With the right SEO migration strategy, you can not only maintain those rankings, but also boost organic traffic and sales after making the switch. This guide shares how to do it, with a website migration SEO checklist to follow as you go.

What is a website SEO migration?

A website SEO migration is the process of moving a website while retaining its SEO performance. Many successful ecommerce retailers go through an SEO migration process when they’re replatforming—like moving to Shopify from other ecommerce platforms.

Reasons for an SEO site migration

The reasons for an SEO migration can vary. Most often, ecommerce brands go through the website migration process for the following reasons:

• The old platform is no longer fit for purpose: A slow, clunky software that can’t handle your traffic or your business needs is a big reason to migrate your site.
• Change in site structure: Problems can arise if the site’s navigation is confusing for users or search engines. In such cases, an SEO migration is needed to prevent legacy pages from losing organic rankings.
• Domain migration: Many ecommerce brands start with a variation of their brand name for their domain, such as try(brand).com or use(brand).com. Once the idea has been validated, they invest in a new, shorter domain (brand.com). You may also want to move your domain to improve security.

Risks of an SEO migration

While there are a lot of reasons why you might plan to migrate your site, and big benefits for doing so, there are risks involved. These include:

• Poor user experience: Customers expect seamless shopping experiences from online brands. If they land on your ecommerce store and see duplicate content or broken links, it breaks their trust.
• Losing organic traffic: Search engines regularly crawl your site and index each page, recording metrics like traffic, site speed and bounce rates, and factoring them into your rankings. Each site change between crawls can impact your rankings. Changing on-page content, failing to tell search engines where your internal links moved, and letting outdated pages get lost are common site-migration pitfalls.
• Lower conversion rates: Poor user experiences contribute to low conversion rates, largely because 404 errors and duplicate content can diminish the trust a visitor has in your brand. This impacts cart abandonment—19% of online shopping carts are abandoned because shoppers didn’t trust the website with sensitive information. Another 15% exit because the site crashed or had errors.

SEO migration checklist (2026)

1. Back up your old site and metrics
2. Establish a communication plan
3. Isolate the website migration strategy
4. Audit existing pages
5. Map redirects one to one
6. Track and fix 404 errors
7. Submit a change of address in Google Search Console (for domain moves only)
8. Monitor duplicate content and use canonical URLs
9. Optimize Core Web Vitals
10. Submit a new sitemap to Google Search Console
11. Verify Google Analytics tracking and add launch annotations
12. Monitor and fine-tune SEO performance

The most important part of any successful migration is having a solid plan. Include these items in your enterprise SEO migration process to prevent important tasks from slipping through the cracks, ensure stakeholders are updated, and minimize the impact on user experience.

1. Back up your old site and metrics

Things can quickly go wrong when making changes to your website’s code, structure, or platform. Back up your old website and create a staging site for the new changes. That way, if there are major issues with the new site, you can reinstall the old version while you fix the bugs. Search engine crawlers won’t index the pages on your test site’s URL until they’re published.

Export Google Analytics 4 (GA4) data to compare pre- and post-migration traffic. Old analytics data helps you understand which pages, categories, or campaigns drove the most value, which helps with URL mapping and content prioritization during the migration. Importantly, you need to be able to compare metrics between the old and new sites to show stakeholders a good return on investment (ROI) for the expense, time, and effort required for the move.

Combine your GA4 export with detailed annotations, which act as a reference to pinpoint which URLs, pages, or tracking setups may need adjustments. These annotations also help create a timeline to understand the context behind metrics, reducing guesswork in post-migration analysis.

2. Establish a communication plan

Different teams do different activities on your website throughout the migration process. Product managers might make sure product descriptions migrate successfully or make changes to them as needed, while for UX teams, migration might be the ideal time to make adjustments to your site’s layout with the hopes of increasing conversions. 

Without a communication plan between these teams and stakeholders, SEO migration tasks like redirect mapping, content updating, page removals, or sitemap updates can be missed or mistimed.

Your migration communication plan should include:

• The site-migration timeline
• Exactly what changes are happening
• Who is responsible for each part of the checklist
• How issues are tracked and escalated

Coordinating the timing of each step in the migration process is a key element that needs to be communicated to all participants. You may want to establish one or more content freezes throughout the process—periods during which all content updates are paused. This can prevent mistakes like your product team updating descriptions on your old site after the product information is already en route to the new site.

3. Isolate the website migration strategy

Many ecommerce brands fall into the trap of looking at an SEO migration as an opportunity to revamp their entire website. When you’re doing an SEO migration, it’s wise to stick to one change at a time. For example, if you’re migrating to a new ecommerce platform, keep your website’s design, content, domain name, and metadata the same.

“If a merchant changes too many things during migration, it’s hard to tell why the data points are changing,” says Carla Wright, solutions engineer lead at Shopify, who’s helped lead the replatforming SEO strategies of brands like ColourPop, Quay, Kylie, and CR7.

“Only after you’ve completed your migration and have a benchmark on your new platform should you begin implementing changes to your content strategy.”

If Google has been crawling your site for a while, a major overhaul—including the words and images on the page, meta descriptions, or your site architecture—will be noticed. This can lead to a reindex and a dip in your organic traffic.

The fewer site changes made during the replatforming process, the easier it’ll be to identify the root cause of any issues. That’s because you’ll have a baseline for measurement. It’s as important for testing site performance as it is for improving your overall conversion rate optimization (CRO) strategy.

4. Audit existing pages 

Large ecommerce websites often have thousands of pages—many of them with information that’s stale, outdated, or no longer relevant. Instead of migrating them all to your new site, review all existing pages and don’t transfer any that are just taking up space or holding dead weight. This can include URLs with poor rankings that generate little to no organic traffic.

Not only does removing dead pages make your website migration easier, it can improve SEO performance. Search engines like Google reward sites with high-quality content. Once URLs with low traffic or rankings are removed and redirected, you’ll improve the ratio of great content on your domain.

Start by creating two inventories as part of your enterprise SEO audit:

• Content inventory: A list of all your current site pages, including their site traffic and keyword rankings. This will help you decide which ones are worth migrating and which should be redirected. Keep an eye out for 404 pages and any other orphan pages.
• Backlink inventory: A record of all external links pointing to your site, along with the pages they link to and the link authority. This helps remove dead links post-migration and reach out to sites that link to yours to update the new string.

5. Map redirects one to one 

It’s rare to simply switch ecommerce platforms while keeping the exact same URL structure across your site. Platforms like Shopify, for example, use a specific URL structure for product and category pages.

Redirects ensure visitors are still able to access the same content on new URLs while directing search engines to the new URLs and informing them the content is legit.

“If managed correctly, your migration will not result in any traffic loss,” says Carla Wright. “That involves informing search bots of the new URL of every page and making as few changes as possible to both the content and the structure of your site.”

Carla always advises retailers to spend time on their redirect-mapping to ensure accuracy. This is where your list of current URLs comes in handy. Use it to match each old URL to a new URL.

Best practices for handling crawl errors include:

• Using 301 (permanent) redirects
• Avoiding redirect chains
• Keeping redirects active for at least one year
• Updating internal links to final URLs
• Opting for one-to-one redirection. For example, avoid redirecting 100 product URLs to a collection. Instead, spend the time mapping each product URL to the same new page.

Here’s an example of redirects from an ecommerce website that’s replatforming. The old URLs are redirected to the default new URL structures to prevent 404 errors:

• website.com/clothing-category/shoes > shopify.com/collections/shoes
• website.com/white-blouse-size12 > shopify.com/products/white-blouse
• website.com/aboutus > shopify.com/pages/about-us

6. Track and fix 404 errors 

Replatforming is a great time to identify and resolve 404 errors on your site—including those old internal links missed in your redirection strategy.

Also known as broken links, 404 errors are the virtual equivalent of dead ends. Shoppers land on these dead pages and their shopping experience is disrupted. They either go back to your homepage, hit the back button, manually search for the item they want to buy—or give up on your site altogether.

Google Search Console’s Page Indexing report and SEO tools like Screaming Frog can crawl your ecommerce website and highlight broken links. If you find a URL that hasn’t already been moved, create a redirection in your website’s back end. Anyone who lands on this broken link will automatically be sent to the next-most relevant page.

Top tip: This is a great time to optimize your 404 error page, if you haven’t already done so. Baby brand MORI apologizes for the error and points shoppers to their main product categories. This ensures customers get back to buying.

7. Submit a change of address in Search Console (for domain moves only)

If a domain migration is part of your SEO site migration process, you’ll need to submit a change of address in Google Search Console. It tells the platform that your website has moved from one domain to another, and helps Google understand that URLs on your old domain should now be associated with the new one.

Note that this step is only required if you’re changing domains. You can’t use the Change of Address tool when:

• You’re changing from HTTP to HTTPS (Google figures this out automatically) 
• You’re moving some pages but not others (use redirects instead)
• You’re moving from www. and non-www. (use canonical tags instead) 
• You’re moving a site without any user-visible URL changes 

Google runs a signal transfer period (~180 days) when you’ve used the Change of Address tool. After this period, it doesn’t recognize any relationship between the old domain and the new one. 

8. Monitor duplicate content and use canonical URLs

Watch for pages with duplicate content—the same words or images used across multiple URLs. Search engine algorithms don’t like duplicate content because they don’t know which URL is most relevant for the search term. In some cases, both URLs can be ranked lower.

Some degree of duplication is not always possible to avoid. There are many reasons why your site might have duplicate content, including:

HTTP and HTTPs

Most software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms default to hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) and should issue an SSL for every shop’s domain. If you miss a redirect from HTTP to HTTPS, the HTTP version would be accessible and would be hosting duplicate content.

Subdomains versus TLD

Using a number of top level domains (TLD) means you as a domain administrator also need to put in the extra work to inform a search engine that your two, or many, domains are related. Subdomains imply that to the search engine.

Hreflang (for international sites)

If you sell internationally, a hreflang tag tells search engines which version of a page to show to users based on their language or region. 

For example, if you use example.com/en-us/product for American users and example.com/fr-fr/product for French audiences, an hreflang signals to Google which one to serve depending on the user’s language or country. Search engines see multiple versions of the same page but understand they’re intentional, not duplicate spam. 

💡Tip: Managed Markets lets you sell internationally—without the logistical headache of operating multiple storefronts. It detects a visitor’s IP address to automatically translate website copy and convert currencies, so each shopper gets a truly personalized experience.

Dev environments

Whether you host your own dev shops or use additional stores to create a staging environment, be sure they include no-index tags. In the event that you remove the password on the development shop, you don’t want that indexed by a search bot.

In many of those cases, use canonical URLs (the most authoritative URL you want search engines to see) to direct search engines to the original content. “Canonicals basically say to Google, ‘Hey, if there is more than one result, I want you to pick this one,’” says Carla.

On Shopify, canonicals are set by default to help manage any duplicate content that is created over time. However, they are still editable to accommodate advanced SEO strategies.

If you have dynamic product pages that display different content each time they’re viewed, make sure they’re not indexable. These steps ensure your product pages won’t have diluted rankings and you won’t be penalized for duplicate content.

9. Optimize Core Web Vitals 

Core Web Vitals (CWV) are a set of key metrics that Google uses to monitor website performance. A migration often involves changes to templates, scripts, images, or hosting—all of which can impact CWV and affect both user experiences and rankings, even if surface elements like redirects and backlinks are preserved. 

Core Web Vitals have largely become the standard metrics for measuring UX, including for mobile sites, surpassing Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) framework in relevance.

Use the Google PageSpeed Insights tool to track website performance using the latest CWV metrics in Google Analytics 4 (GA4):

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures the time it takes for the largest visible content element on the page (like a hero image, product image, or main heading) to appear. A good LCP is ≤2500 milliseconds.
• Interaction to Next Paint (INP): Measures responsiveness by tracking the time between a user interaction (like a click or tap) and the next visible change on the screen. This replaces the old First Input Delay (FID) metric.A “good” INP is ≤200 milliseconds.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures visual stability by quantifying unexpected layout shifts during page load—for example, buttons, images, or banners that move around as content loads. A good CLS is ≤0.1.

Websites collect small snippets of data each time a page is loaded in a customer’s browser. A tag management system like Google Tag Manager condenses these JavaScript requests to speed up page=load time, which can positively impact CWV post-migration. 

10. Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console 

After the launch of your website migration, verify the new property in Google Search Console. 

Submit a new XML sitemap through this dashboard, which can speed up the indexing of your new website. Search crawlers will also highlight any errors you missed throughout the website migration process.

11. Verify Google Analytics tracking and add launch annotations

Make sure your website is set up correctly in Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager for seamless data tracking. You can use the real-time analytics report in Google Analytics to quickly see if your website is getting traffic.

It is important that data is being collected accurately so you have a clear view of your site traffic, demographics, and customer journey post-migration. This will also ensure you’re making accurate comparisons between your old data and newly migrated site data.

A correct setup will help you identify any site performance issues that may have popped up during the migration. This includes 404 pages, which can be identified quickly and redirected for a better user experience.

Don’t panic if you’re seeing a drop in organic traffic. This is normal as Google crawls and relearns your site. Use:

• Google Search Console to monitor how Google is crawling and indexing your pages and to help you identify errors that can be corrected quickly.
• Google Analytics 4 to create an annotation on the day the new live site launches and validate key events (purchase, begin_checkout) in real time. Note that this process may have changed since you last configured Google Analytics, as Universal Analytics (UA) was sunset and replaced with GA4 in July 2023.

Organic traffic should bounce back, and can even exceed your previous organic traffic records. Still, it is important to monitor organic traffic on key pages such as your homepage to ensure authority is being transferred to your new site.

Monitor your site rankings post-migration, and use a tool like Semrush to track keywords and see how you rank against competitors. This can help you identify any site issues before you see a significant drop in traffic.

12. Monitor and fine-tune SEO performance

With ever-changing algorithms and updates, SEO should be an ongoing part of your ecommerce growth strategy. You’ll need to keep the momentum going after you make the switch. Even if your site is performing well, it can always do better.

Think of your website migration as an opportunity to perform an SEO SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) for your site, which can provide you with valuable insights on how to move forward.

For further SEO growth opportunities, ask yourself these questions:

1. Is Google Search Console configured correctly?

Google Search Console is your main window into how Google views your website. Use this checklist to confirm your account is set up correctly:

• Have you verified the new property?
• Have you resubmitted your sitemap after launch?
• Are all pages—particularly priority product, category, and landing pages—indexed?
• Is the Error report (nestled within the Coverage tab) displaying 404 errors?
• Are hreflang signals being picked up (for international sites)?

Is my content valuable and helpful to readers?

As Carla Wright says, content is the most important factor in your search engine rankings. Consider optimizing your product descriptions for SEO to build on the success you’ve achieved.

Does my site use meaningful and targeted keywords?

The more relevant your pages are to a user’s specific searches, the better. Keep an eye on which keywords your website is ranking for—and which ones your competitors are using. Integrate more keywords into your website copy and metadata and create helpful content surrounding them to drive more organic traffic.

Does my site use HTTPS?

HTTPS stands for hypertext transfer protocol secure, which is an important trust signal for customers who give you private information or credit card information. Every domain on Shopify has an SSL certificate issued for it. Shopify also gives you Extended Validation (EV) certification, another trust signal which is often overlooked.

Are my URLs optimized?

It’s important to ensure URLs are as straightforward and driven by the most relevant keywords for each product or page. Use short, descriptive, stable URLs that contain keywords.

Are my directory structures simple, with three or fewer levels of depth?

Sites can use specific markup code that makes it easy for search engines to understand page content and the new site structure. Well-structured sites are easy for users to navigate and for Google to understand. Keeping your site to three or fewer levels makes it simpler for Google to crawl and faster for shoppers to find what they’re looking for.

Is my site mobile-friendly and do pages load quickly?

It’s always a good time to test how your pages can be improved even further. Don’t worry if you migrate to another platform and website performance takes a hit. Google completed mobile-first indexing in October 2023—so ensure the mobile version of your site contains all critical content.

Retain SEO performance with a successful site migration 

Although the thought of replatforming can be scary, it’s important to consider all of the benefits that come from doing it right. One of those positive outcomes is improved SEO.

Use this SEO migration checklist to retain your site’s performance throughout the move, and remember it may take 4-6 weeks for your site to normalize. 

Experienced site-migration consultants can also support the transition of your content and ensure technical changes are well planned out. If you’re unsure how to choose one, this ecommerce RFP template can help.

It might take a few months for organic traffic to stabilize, but there’s the potential to improve SEO performance tenfold after making the switch—especially if you’re replatforming from an outdated ecommerce platform to Shopify or Commerce Components by Shopify.