How to Migrate a Website Without Losing SEO (2026 Checklist)

Last updated: 29 October 2026

To migrate a website without losing SEO, keep every URL that ranks or permanently redirect it to its closest new page, carry over each page's title, description, headings and content, and remove every staging block on launch day. Google says permanent redirects do not lose PageRank and that most pages of a small or medium site move within a few weeks. Rankings are lost when URLs break, not because a site moved.

Most traffic lost in a migration comes from a short list of mistakes: old URLs that now return 404, pages sent to the homepage, a noindex tag left on from staging, or content cut during the redesign. This checklist goes through the move in order, before, on and after launch day, with each Google rule taken from Google's own documentation, read on 29 October 2026.

What Google says happens when a site moves

Question	Google's answer
Do redirects lose ranking signals?	No. 301 and other permanent redirects do not cause a loss in PageRank.
Which redirects count as permanent?	301 and 308, plus an instant meta refresh. 302, 303 and 307 are temporary.
How long until the new URLs show?	A few weeks or more for most pages of a small or medium site; longer for large sites.
Will rankings move during the switch?	Temporary fluctuation is expected while Google recrawls, then rankings settle.
All at once or in sections?	All at once for small and medium sites; large sites can move a section at a time.
How long to keep redirects?	Generally at least a year, and for visitors, ideally for good.
Is the Change of Address tool needed?	Only when the domain or subdomain changes, not for HTTP to HTTPS, www to non-www or path changes.

Sources: Google's guide to site moves with URL changes, last updated 20 August 2026, and its redirects documentation, last updated 14 April 2026.

First, work out which kind of move it is

The risk depends on what changes, so name the move before planning it.

Kind of move	Example	What protects rankings
Hosting only, same URLs	Same site, new host or CDN	Test the copy, remove crawl blocks, switch DNS, watch the logs. No redirects needed.
New platform, same domain	WordPress or Webflow to Framer	Keep URLs where you can, redirect the rest, carry over on-page SEO
New domain	example.com to example.net	Everything above, plus Change of Address in Search Console

A hosting move with no visible URL changes is the safest move there is; Google's hosting guide says to expect a short dip in crawling right after launch, followed by a steady rise. Most moves to Framer are the second kind: a new platform on the same domain, often with a redesign. That is where this checklist matters most.

Google also advises changing one thing at a time. If you plan a new domain, a new platform and a new design, its guide suggests moving the domain first and changing the layout afterwards. When a redesign and a platform move have to happen together, which is common, the safeguard is keeping URLs and content stable so that only the design changes.

Before the move

1. Record where you stand

Export the Performance report from Google Search Console for the last three and twelve months, by page and by query. Without a benchmark, nobody can tell a normal dip from a broken page after launch. Note the pages that bring the most clicks; those are the pages to check first on launch day.

Google suggests verifying every variant of the site in Search Console: www and non-www, and HTTP and HTTPS. If you verify with an HTML file or a meta tag, make sure the new site carries it, or verification breaks on launch day.

2. List every URL

Google's guide lists where to find old URLs:

• Your sitemaps, which hold the URLs you chose to submit
• Analytics or server logs, for the URLs that get traffic
• The Links report in Search Console, for pages other sites link to
• Your CMS, which can usually list every page and post

Include images, PDFs and other downloads. Google points out that they may already get traffic from search and links, and they move like every other URL.

3. Keep URLs where you can

A URL that does not change needs no redirect and carries no risk. If a blog lives at /blog/post-name today, keep that pattern on the new platform. Change URLs only where the old structure is genuinely broken, and never just for tidiness during a move.

4. Carry over the on-page SEO

A redirect passes signals to the new page, but the new page still has to deserve its rankings. For every page that gets search traffic, keep:

• The title tag and meta description, or deliberately improve them
• The main heading and the body copy that answers the search
• Image alt text
• Structured data such as Article, Product or FAQ markup
• Hreflang annotations, if the site has more than one language
• Internal links between related pages

Redesigns lose rankings most often here: a long page is cut to a short one, or three pages are merged into a hero and two lines. Check new titles in the SERP snippet preview and rebuild markup with the schema generator.

5. Build the redirect map

Map each old URL that changes to its closest new equivalent: a post to the same post, a service to the same service. Content you are dropping should return a 404 or 410, as Google's guide advises, rather than redirect somewhere unrelated. My redirect map guide covers the spreadsheet, wildcard rules and the limits on Framer, Webflow, Squarespace and Cloudflare Pages.

6. Block the staging site, and plan to unblock it

A staging copy should not be indexed, so use a noindex rule or a robots.txt block while you build. Google's advice is to write down, before launch, exactly what the live robots.txt should say and which pages need their noindex removed. A forgotten noindex is one of the mistakes Google lists first.

On launch day

1. Turn on the redirects before or together with the DNS switch, not after.
2. Remove staging blocks: the robots.txt disallow and any noindex rules.
3. Check canonicals: each new page should name itself as canonical, not an old URL or the staging address.
4. Test the redirects: Google suggests the URL Inspection tool for single pages and a crawler or script for the full list. Every old URL should land on its mapped page in one hop, with a 301 or 308.
5. Submit the new sitemap in Search Console. Google says the old one can be removed at this point.
6. Use Change of Address if the domain changed, for every verified variant of the old domain.

The first 30 days

Search Console is the main tool. Google's guide suggests watching three things:

• Sitemaps: indexed pages from the new sitemap should rise as old ones drop. Warnings that old URLs redirect are expected and can be ignored.
• Indexing: watch the page indexing report for a spike in not found or other errors.
• Queries: new URLs should start earning the impressions and clicks the old ones had.

Alongside that, update links so visitors skip the redirects: menus and links inside your content first, then your social profiles, your ads, and the sites that link to you most. Compare the top pages against the benchmark from step 1 each week. A page that has lost its clicks while the rest of the site holds is usually a redirect, content or noindex problem on that one page.

Keep the redirects for at least a year, as Google's site move guide advises. If the domain changed, Google's Change of Address help page asks for redirects of at least 180 days and recommends keeping the old domain registered for at least a year, so nobody else can buy it.

The mistakes that cost rankings

Mistake	Why it hurts
Redirecting everything to the homepage	Google says it can treat this as a soft 404, so the old pages' value is not passed on
Redirects to URLs that do not exist	Google says it often sees this; each one sends visitors and crawlers to a 404
Leaving noindex or a robots.txt block on	The new site cannot be indexed at all
Temporary redirects by accident	A 302 tells Google the old URL may come back, so the old page keeps its place in search
Redirect chains	Google follows up to 10 hops but advises one; each hop slows visitors
Cutting content in the redesign	The redirect works, but the new page no longer answers the search
Old URLs left in the sitemap	Google lists sitemaps not updated to the new URLs as a common mistake
Cancelling the old site too soon	Redirects hosted on the old platform stop working

What is normal after launch, and when to worry

Some movement is normal. Google says visibility may fluctuate during a move and that rankings settle over time.

It is time to dig in when:

• Not found errors rise in Search Console, which usually means missing or wrong redirects
• Important pages are missing from Google; check them with URL Inspection for a noindex or robots.txt block
• One section loses traffic while the rest holds, which usually points to a pattern rule that misses a set of URLs
• Old URLs still show in search weeks later, which can mean the redirect is temporary rather than permanent

Each of these can be fixed once it is found, which is why the first two weeks deserve daily checks.

Platform notes for a move to Framer

• Framer: redirects need the Pro plan or above, $30 a month billed yearly on 27 October 2026. Framer's own site answers its redirects with a 308, which Google treats as permanent, and wildcards can move a whole blog with one rule.
• Webflow: importing a redirect CSV replaces every existing redirect, so export the current list first.
• Squarespace: URL mappings cannot redirect the homepage or image and file URLs.
• Cloudflare Pages: a rule in a _redirects file without a status code is a 302, so write 301 on every rule.

The platform limits come from each platform's documentation, read on 28 October 2026. The full step by step for each source platform is on the migration pages, and the honest trade-offs of Framer itself are in Is Framer good for SEO?

How I protect SEO on a migration

I move WordPress, Webflow, Squarespace and Wix sites to Framer on my website redesign sprint, $1,999 fixed and 14 days for a site of up to about 25 pages. On the SEO side, the sprint includes:

• Two days reading which pages earn their traffic before anything is redrawn
• Every existing URL mapped and redirected before launch
• The old site kept live until you approve the new one, and 30 days of support after launch

If you are still weighing the move, website migration cost covers what each option costs and how to migrate to Framer covers the rebuild itself.