Site Migration SEO Checklist with Auditite

Overview

Site migrations are one of the highest-risk events in SEO. Whether you are changing domains, restructuring URLs, moving to a new CMS, or redesigning your site, this checklist ensures you preserve your search traffic by covering every critical step before, during, and after the migration.

Pre-Migration Checklist (2-4 Weeks Before)

Baseline Documentation

• Export full crawl data from current site (all URLs, status codes, meta data)
• Document current rankings for all tracked keywords
• Record current organic traffic levels by page and section
• Export all backlinks pointing to the current site
• Download Google Search Console performance data (last 16 months)
• Screenshot current SERP appearances for priority keywords
• Document all current redirects

Technical Preparation

• Create complete URL mapping: old URL to new URL for every page

Old URL	New URL	Status Code	Priority	Notes
		301	High

• Verify all 301 redirects are configured and tested
• Ensure new site has XML sitemap with all new URLs
• Verify robots.txt on new site allows crawling
• Confirm canonical tags point to new URLs
• Validate structured data on new site templates
• Check hreflang tags are updated (if applicable)
• Verify internal links use new URL structure
• Test new site on staging environment thoroughly

Content Verification

• Confirm all content has been migrated completely
• Verify title tags and meta descriptions are preserved or improved
• Check heading structure is maintained on all pages
• Validate image alt text is preserved
• Confirm no content is accidentally blocked by noindex tags

During Migration

• Implement all 301 redirects simultaneously with the switch
• Verify redirects are working with HTTP header checks
• Submit new XML sitemap to Google Search Console
• Submit new XML sitemap to Bing Webmaster Tools
• Request indexing for top 20 priority pages in Search Console
• Verify robots.txt is accessible and correct on live site
• Monitor server logs for 404 errors in real time
• Test site from multiple devices and locations

Post-Migration Checklist

Week 1

• Monitor Google Search Console for crawl errors daily
• Check indexing status of priority pages
• Verify redirect chains are not forming (single hop only)
• Monitor organic traffic for unexpected drops
• Check rankings for priority keywords daily
• Review server logs for high-volume 404 patterns
• Fix any broken internal links discovered

Week 2-4

• Compare indexed page count: old vs new
• Verify old URLs are being deindexed in favor of new ones
• Monitor backlink profile for link equity transfer
• Check rich results are appearing for new URLs
• Review Core Web Vitals on new site architecture
• Verify analytics tracking is accurate on all pages

Month 2-3

• Compare organic traffic to pre-migration baseline
• Compare keyword rankings to pre-migration baseline
• Identify any pages that lost significant traffic and investigate
• Remove old sitemap from Search Console once migration is confirmed
• Document lessons learned for future migrations

Traffic Recovery Timeline

Timeframe	Expected Recovery	Action if Behind
Week 1	70-80% of baseline traffic	Check redirects, fix 404s
Week 2-4	85-95% of baseline traffic	Investigate specific page drops
Month 2	95-100% of baseline traffic	Address remaining edge cases
Month 3+	At or above baseline	Optimize new architecture advantages

Risk Assessment

Before proceeding, score your migration risk:

Risk Factor	Low (1)	Medium (3)	High (5)	Score
Number of URLs changing	Under 100	100-1,000	1,000+
Domain change	Same domain	Subdomain change	New domain
CMS change	Same CMS	Similar CMS	Different CMS
URL structure change	Minor tweaks	Moderate changes	Complete restructure
Content changes	No changes	Minor updates	Major rewrites
Total Risk Score				/25

Scores above 15 indicate high-risk migrations requiring additional planning time and resources.