WEBSITE MIGRATION SERVICES
Rankings protected
Traffic Monitored
Redirects Planned
Risks Identified
Launch Checked
MIGRATING A WEBSITE WITHOUT LOSING SEO
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PROTECT YOUR TRAFFIC
A website migration can change far more than the design people see. URLs move, internal links change, content gets removed, navigation is rebuilt and technical signals can disappear. If those changes aren’t planned properly, pages that have ranked for years can suddenly become harder for Google to find, understand or associate with the new site.
That’s where I come in.
I manage the SEO side of the migration alongside your developer or web agency. Before launch, I benchmark existing performance, review the proposed structure, map URLs and identify the SEO requirements that need carrying across. After launch, I crawl the new site, validate the migration and monitor organic performance for anything that needs attention.
Your developers move the website. My job is to make sure they don’t leave your SEO behind.
SEO SUPPORT FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF WEBSITE MIGRATION
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SAFE SITE MIGRATION
01.
Domain Migrations
Changing domains, moving to a different TLD or rebranding can affect every URL on your website. I identify the pages and organic visibility that need protecting, map existing URLs against the new domain and provide the redirect requirements your developer needs for launch.
02.
CMS & Platform Migrations
Moving to WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce or another CMS can change URLs, templates, internal links, canonicals and site architecture. I review those changes from an SEO perspective before launch and validate the new setup once the migration is complete.
03.
Website Redesigns
A redesign can look like the same website with a new appearance while changing a huge amount underneath. Navigation, content, URLs, headings, internal links and page templates all need checking before the new site replaces the old one.
04.
Site Structure & URL Changes
You don’t need to change domains or platforms for a migration to affect SEO. Major changes to categories, folders, navigation or URL structure can alter how search engines crawl and understand the site. I identify those changes before launch and plan how existing SEO value should be protected.
WHAT’S INCLUDED IN MY SEO MIGRATION SERVICE
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SEO Benchmark
Before anything moves, I establish what the current site is doing. That includes important organic landing pages, rankings, traffic, indexed URLs and the existing site structure. It gives us something concrete to protect and a baseline to compare against after launch.
Organic Traffic
Current Rankings
Landing Pages
Indexed URLs
Site Structure
URL Mapping & Redirect Strategy
Old URLs need clear destinations. I map existing URLs against the new site, identify pages that should remain, move or consolidate, and provide redirect requirements for your developer. This helps avoid unnecessary 404 errors, redirect chains and important landing pages being lost during the migration.
URL Mapping
301 Redirects
Old URLs
New URLs
Redirect Chains
Site Structure
Migration plans can change navigation, folders, categories and internal linking without the SEO impact being obvious. I review how the new structure changes the relationship between pages and flag anything that could weaken important sections of the website.
Navigation
URL Structure
Internal links
Categories
Site Hierarchy
Technical SEO Checks
I review crawlability, indexation controls, canonical tags, XML sitemaps, metadata and other technical signals on the new site. The aim is to find problems on staging rather than discovering them after Google has crawled the live website.
Crawlability
Indexation
Canonicals
XML Sitemap
Metadata
Pre & Post-Launch Crawls
I crawl the website before and after launch to compare URLs, status codes, redirects, canonicals, internal links and other important SEO elements. This makes it easier to spot changes that weren’t part of the migration plan and identify issues quickly.
Site Crawls
Status Codes
Redirects
Canonicals
Broken Links
SEO Monitoring
Once the new site is live, I monitor Google Search Console, organic traffic, rankings and indexation. Some movement can happen after a migration. The important part is identifying the difference between expected movement and a genuine migration problem.
Search Console
Organic Traffic
Rankings
Indexation
Performance
HOW I MANAGE THE SEO SIDE OF YOUR MIGRATION
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CLEAN SITE MOVES
01.
Benchmark
I establish how the existing website performs before anything changes, including important landing pages, rankings, organic traffic and indexation. This creates the benchmark for the migration.
02.
Plan
I review the proposed migration, including changes to URLs, content, navigation and site structure. This identifies the areas most likely to affect existing search visibility before they become part of the finished site.
03.
Map
I map old URLs against their new destinations and prepare redirect requirements for your developer. Important pages are accounted for rather than automatically sending everything to the homepage or the nearest category.
04.
Test
I review and crawl the staging website before launch, checking the new structure and looking for crawl issues, missing content, incorrect indexation settings, broken internal links and other SEO problems while there is still time to fix them.
05.
Validate
Once your developer has completed the website migration, I crawl the live site and check URLs, redirects, canonical tags, internal links, XML sitemaps, tracking and indexation signals against the migration plan.
06.
Monitor
I compare post-launch rankings, organic traffic and Google Search Console data against the original benchmark. If something moves unexpectedly, we have the data needed to investigate what changed and where the problem started.
Ryan’s been a real help with our SEO. He’s made it much easier to understand what needs doing and why, and he’s given us a clear plan we can actually follow. Nothing overcomplicated, just practical steps and steady progress.
You brought such calm confidence and creativity, and it made working with you genuinely easy. You understood our riding school straight away, listened to what we were trying to achieve, and then came back with ideas that actually fitted us.
Ryan, genuinely, thank you. You’ve been brilliant. The SEO work has been clear, structured, and easy to follow, and we’re already seeing encouraging signs with clicks and visibility. You’re transparent about what’s involved, realistic about timescales, and focused on doing things properly. Your quote is fair, and it’s money well spent.
SUPPORTING SERVICES
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Refines page structure, headings, and content to align with search intent, helping search engines understand each page and improving visibility for relevant queries.
On-Page SEO Services
A structured review of the website to identify technical issues, content gaps, and missed opportunities, with a clear, prioritised plan to improve search performance.
SEO Audit Services
Make sure your site is fast, crawlable, and built to support rankings, so your pages can be properly found, indexed, and trusted by search engines.
Technical SEO Services
WEBSITE MIGRATION FAQS
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WHAT PEOPLE ASK
01.
Will my rankings drop after a website migration?
A website migration can cause ranking movement, but significant losses are often linked to things being missed during the move. Changed URLs, missing redirects, removed content, altered internal links and technical issues can all affect organic visibility. Planning the SEO migration before launch gives you a much better chance of protecting the performance you already have.
02.
When should SEO be involved in a website migration?
Ideally, SEO should be involved while the new website is still being planned. That gives me time to benchmark existing performance, review URL and structural changes, plan redirects and identify potential problems before they are built into the new site. I can still help later in the process, but preventing migration problems is usually easier than fixing them afterwards.
03.
What’s included in your SEO migration service?
My SEO migration service covers the SEO work surrounding the move rather than the website development itself. This can include benchmarking existing performance, reviewing site structure, URL mapping, redirect planning, staging checks, technical SEO reviews, pre and post-launch crawls and ongoing performance monitoring.
04.
Can you work with my developer or web agency?
Yes. That’s how I expect most website migrations to work. Your developer or agency handles the build and implements the migration, while I provide the SEO requirements, review the proposed changes and check that important SEO elements have been carried across correctly.
05.
Can you fix a migration that has already caused traffic loss?
Yes. I can audit the old and new versions of the site to identify what changed and where visibility may have been lost. That can include missing or incorrect redirects, lost pages, internal linking changes, indexing problems, canonical issues, removed content and changes to site structure. From there, I can prioritise the fixes most likely to help recovery.
06.
How long should SEO be monitored after a website migration?
There isn’t one fixed monitoring period for every migration. I start checking the site as soon as it goes live and watch Search Console, organic traffic, rankings and indexation as search engines recrawl the new setup. Larger migrations or sites with significant URL changes may need closer monitoring for longer.
LET'S CHAT
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Send me your current website and migration plans. I’ll look at what needs protecting, what your developer needs to consider before launch and what should be checked once the new site goes live.
RWSEO BY
©2026
RYAN WEBB