Platform and CMS migrations
WordPress to Shopify, Magento to BigCommerce, Wix or Squarespace to WordPress, any CMS to Next.js. Nearly every URL changes, so every one needs a destination.
Migrations · Technical SEO
Website Migration SEO Services That Keep Your Rankings
A redesign, a new platform or a new domain changes the URLs Google has spent years learning. Miss a redirect and the page's rankings go with it. SeoChopper maps every URL, tests every redirect before launch and monitors the move until traffic settles, then fixes the technical SEO problems that were holding the old site back.
Planning a move or already lost traffic? We crawl the site, check what's at risk and send you the list. No call required.
Need SEO beyond the move? See our SEO services →
What website migration SEO covers
Website migration SEO is the planning, redirect mapping, launch testing and post-launch monitoring that carries a site's search rankings across a significant change: a new CMS or ecommerce platform, a new domain, a redesign that changes URLs, an HTTPS switch, or two sites merging into one.
Technical SEO fixes are the same skills applied without a move: crawl and indexing problems, redirect chains, slow templates, JavaScript rendering, duplicate URLs and broken structured data. Most migrations need both, because the move is the cheapest moment to fix what the old site got wrong.
Why website migrations lose traffic
Google doesn't rank websites, it ranks URLs. When a URL changes, its history only moves if you tell Google where it went.
- Missing or wrong redirects. Old URLs that 404, or that redirect everything to the homepage, drop out of the index along with the links pointing at them.
- Content and metadata left behind. Titles, descriptions, headings, internal links and schema that quietly didn't make it onto the new templates.
- Launch-day accidents. A staging noindex tag left on, a robots.txt that blocks the whole site, or a sitemap still listing the old URLs.
Website migrations we handle
Every type changes something different, so every plan starts with what's actually moving.
Domain name changes
Rebrands and new domains, with redirects on every page, the Search Console Change of Address tool, and the old domain kept and redirecting.
Redesigns and URL restructures
New navigation, new templates or a cleaner URL structure. The riskiest kind, because nobody thinks of a redesign as a migration until traffic drops.
Site mergers and consolidation
Two sites into one, blogs moved off subdomains, or thin sections combined, with the strongest page kept as the home for each topic.
HTTPS and hosting moves
Protocol switches, server and CDN changes, where mixed content, caching and status codes can break crawling without changing a single URL.
International restructures
Moving to subfolders or country domains, adding languages or markets, with hreflang rebuilt so each country sees the right version.
How a website migration runs
- 1
Benchmark and inventory
Crawl the live site, export every URL with traffic, rankings and backlinks from Search Console, GA4 and link data.
You get: a full URL inventory and the pages you can't afford to lose.
- 2
Map and specify
Every old URL mapped one-to-one to its new home, plus the metadata, content, schema and internal links that must move with it.
You get: the redirect map and a spec your developers can build from.
- 3
Test before launch
Crawl the staging site against the map: redirects, status codes, canonicals, noindex tags, robots.txt and rendering.
You get: a go/no-go list, fixed before anything is public.
- 4
Launch and monitor
Live redirect checks on launch day, sitemaps submitted, then daily monitoring of indexing, errors, rankings and traffic.
You get: issues caught in days, and a report until traffic settles.
Start us six to eight weeks before launch if you can. Most of the protection happens in steps one to three, and redirects can't be planned in an afternoon.
Website migration SEO checklist
What we verify on staging before a migration goes live:
- Every URL with traffic, rankings or backlinks has a mapped 301 redirect to its closest equivalent
- Redirects go in one hop, with no chains, loops or blanket redirects to the homepage
- Titles, meta descriptions, H1s and body content match or improve on the old pages
- Canonical tags point at the new URLs, not the old domain or staging
- No stray noindex tags, and robots.txt allows crawling of the new site
- Internal links point straight at new URLs instead of relying on redirects
- Structured data, hreflang and image alt text carried over and valid
- XML sitemaps list only new, indexable URLs and are ready to submit
- Core Web Vitals on key templates are no worse than the old site
- Analytics and Search Console tracking are live from the first minute
Red flags: launching on a Friday, redirecting every old page to the homepage, deleting the old domain, and “we'll sort out SEO after launch.”
Technical SEO fixes
Not every site is moving. Plenty are just carrying years of technical debt that keeps good pages from ranking. We find it, rank it by the traffic at stake, and fix it.
Redirect chains are the most common thing we find on sites that have been redesigned more than once. Each hop slows crawling and adds a chance for something to break.
Crawling and indexing
Pages Google can't reach, pages it shouldn't index, and crawl spent on filters, parameters and duplicates. Fixed with robots rules, sitemaps and internal links.
Redirects, 404s and chains
Chains collapsed to one hop, loops removed, and broken pages that still have links pointing at them redirected to where they belong.
Core Web Vitals and speed
LCP, INP and CLS improved on the templates that carry the most traffic: images, fonts, third-party scripts and server response time.
JavaScript rendering
Content and links that only appear after JavaScript runs, checked against what Google actually renders, and moved into the server HTML where it matters.
Duplicate content and canonicals
The same page at several URLs, trailing slashes, parameters and http/https variants, consolidated so one URL collects the signals.
Structured data
Organization, Product, Article, FAQ and LocalBusiness schema fixed or added, validated, and matched to what's visible on the page.
Platforms we work with
We work in your CMS directly or brief your developers, whichever you prefer. The redirect map and spec are written to be built on any of these.
- WordPress
- WooCommerce
- Shopify
- Webflow
- Next.js
- Squarespace
- Wix
- Adobe Commerce (Magento)
- BigCommerce
- Drupal
- HubSpot CMS
- Headless builds
Moving an online store? See ecommerce SEO services.
Moving to Shopify? See Shopify SEO services.
What website migration SEO costs
Two ways to work with us. Both start with a free audit or a 30-minute call.
Pricing depends on the number of URLs, the type of move, how many languages or markets are involved, and how much implementation your own developers handle.
Free 30-minute consultation
Book a call and get a clear plan
Pick a time that suits you. You'll leave with next steps whether or not we work together.
Calendar not loading? Open the booking page ↗
Website migration questions
Will I lose traffic when I migrate my website?
Some short-term movement is normal while Google recrawls the site and processes the redirects. A well-planned migration usually sees a small dip that recovers within weeks. Large, lasting drops almost always come from missing redirects, lost content or launch-day mistakes, which is what the plan prevents.
How long does it take rankings to recover after a migration?
For most small and medium sites, rankings settle within a few weeks of launch. Large sites, domain changes and moves that also change content can take a few months. We monitor daily for the first weeks so problems are fixed before they compound.
When should we involve an SEO in a website migration?
Before the new site is designed, ideally six to eight weeks ahead of launch. URL structure, templates and content decisions all affect rankings, and they're far cheaper to get right in a spec than to fix after launch.
Do I need to redirect every old URL?
Every URL that has traffic, rankings or backlinks needs a 301 redirect to its closest equivalent. Genuinely dead pages with no value can return a 404 or 410. Redirecting everything to the homepage is treated by Google much like a 404, so it doesn't preserve rankings.
Should migration redirects be 301 or 302?
Use 301 (or 308) permanent redirects for a migration, because they tell Google the new URL should replace the old one in search results. Keep them in place for at least a year, and longer if the old URLs still get links or visits.
Can you fix a migration that has already lost traffic?
Usually, yes. We compare the old site's URLs (from Search Console, analytics, backlink data and archived crawls) against the new site, find the pages that lost their redirects or content, and restore them. The sooner it's caught, the more recovers.
Do you do the development work or brief our developers?
Either. On WordPress, Shopify, Webflow and similar platforms we can implement redirects and fixes ourselves. For custom builds we write the redirect map and spec for your developers and test their work on staging before launch.
Planning a move? Find out what's at risk first.
A crawl of your site, the URLs carrying your traffic, and the technical issues worth fixing on the way. Free, and yours whether or not you hire us.