While there are numerous ways to migrate a website, including using a plugin and hitting a button, use this WordPress website migration checklist to begin the site migration process seamlessly or without incident. This migration checklist helps you avoid errors during your site migration process, ensuring optimal search engine rankings and visibility.
Share: For people who don’t know, a website migration is when you move an internet site from one web website hosting environment to another — this involves a full site migration process.
Site migration can be a challenging prospect, mainly if it is your first time. There is indeed a lot at stake, including your site structure, internal links, and even site speed, but don’t worry. We’ll assist you in making sure your migration process went as planned so you’re not stuck with a big problem server or a constrained content management system.
See also: WordPress website migration errors
What is website migration?
What is website migration? Website migration relates to the procedure of making setup or technological changes to a website. Simple website upgrades are not assumed website migration, as site migration generally entails substantial changes to the site structure, UI, data, locations, and layout — affecting how search engines index your content.
Even though moving your new site could be necessary to solve an issue, if it isn’t done correctly, there are hazards involved, including the possibility of losing some or all of your website’s functionality and visibility on search engines.
That’s why having a well-defined website migration strategy in place is essential. When preparing for a website migration project, it’s critical to involve your web development team early on to ensure technical factors such as redirects, URL structure, and the robots.txt file are correctly configured before going live. Without attention to these details, a migration may result in poor SEO performance and even lost rankings on search engines like Google and Bing.
A properly configured robots.txt file helps control what search engines can and cannot crawl during the migration process. Additionally, setting up your new website in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools allows you to monitor crawl errors, indexing issues, and performance metrics in real time. This ensures your new website remains visible and optimized post-launch.
Furthermore, connecting the new website to Google Analytics helps track user behavior, monitor bounce rates, and evaluate whether the seo performance improves after the domain migration. It’s also crucial to ensure that your URL structure remains consistent or is redirected appropriately to prevent broken links and maintain the user journey.
Monitoring Google Search Console allows site owners to identify and fix broken links quickly. During the process of domain migration, proper management of redirects and submission of updated sitemaps via Google Search Console contributes directly to a successful migration.
Lastly, don’t forget to review the robots.txt file again after launch to avoid blocking important sections of the new website, ensuring long-term discoverability on all major search engines.
See Also: Migrating a WordPress website to AWS
SEO Guidelines for Proper WordPress Website Migration
SEO Guidelines for Proper WordPress Website Migration The following WordPress website migration checklist is designed to help customers at every point of the project, from pre-migration preparation through everything you need to know when migrating, and also to avoid common mistakes and errors found in a typical SEO site migration checklist.
So let’s get taking off!
Pre Web site WordPress Migration Checklist
Before diving into the technical process, it’s essential to assess the current performance of your website. Take time to benchmark your existing keyword rankings to understand which pages drive the most traffic. This insight will help you preserve critical SEO value during migration. A dip in keyword rankings is common if important elements like missing meta tags or redirect issues are overlooked. Additionally, review your search engine visibility and compare it pre- and post-migration to track progress. By identifying vulnerabilities ahead of time, you reduce the risk of lost traffic and drops in keyword rankings after launch.
Prefer the ethical method: Manual site migration vs migration with a tool.
Migrating an internet site manually is time-consuming. You may also spend hours migrating your vintage web page to a new site, only to overlook a critical step that affects your site crawl and breaks the internal links that matter to search engines.
To avoid this, you can always hire us for WordPress migration. Our team ensures we follow a proper SEO migration checklist, migrating all of your documents and databases correctly.
Set the adequate criteria for selecting a site migration device
There is a collection of plug-ins available for site migration. However, you need to prioritize your needs and tools that integrate with Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools for better search engine coverage.
One-click-on WordPress migration system fulfills all the standards and is as smooth as possible! Plus, net web website online migration is unbuttoned with all types of equipment to be had through WordPress.
Put up a brand new WordPress web website online
Earlier, you were ready with the proper WordPress migration plugin, and you want to ensure that you have a brand new space to which you’ll migrate your website online. You can moreover want to shop for a brand new space or put it up in case you already have one.
Without this step, your internet site will not have any extent to migrate.
Install WordPress in the new location
You want your new site up and running before the migration process begins. This staging ensures a smooth transition and helps with site speed testing and Google Analytics setup.
Get FTP credentials on your new site.
The FTP credentials are critical to migrating your internet site, and you need to hold them accessible earlier than you begin the migration technique to avoid setbacks later on.
The diplomae comprise the server address, port digit, username & password. To get them, you can touch your website hosting issuer, who will offer FTP, SFTP, or FTPS credentials relying on which protocol your internet site uses.
Take a fresh backup before migration
Before beginning the site migration, take a full backup of your staging site and live site. This is crucial for protecting your URL structure, content, and site crawl data tracked in Google Analytics.
Migration is a complicated process. Unfortunately, regardless of accuracy, you can leave out something essential and become with an internet site that is damaged or inaccessible.
Post Website Migration Checklist
Once your site migration is complete, it’s important not to overlook critical post-launch tasks. One of the most valuable steps after launching your staging site is to carefully test its performance and functionality before fully replacing your live domain. Your staging site allows you to catch last-minute issues that could impact user experience, SEO, or accessibility.
Additionally, submit your updated sitemap and re-index your site migration changes using Google Search Console. This helps ensure search engines recognize your newly structured content. Monitoring crawl errors and indexing reports via Google Search Console will alert you to any misconfigurations or pages that weren’t properly transferred.
Keep your staging site live temporarily to troubleshoot any issues that may arise during the transition. This controlled environment serves as a backup while your new site stabilizes. By following these best practices, your website migration becomes smoother and sets the stage for long-term success in search rankings and performance.
Update DNS access
Later departing the site during your seo migration, you may replace the DNS entry, ceasing to function, which your clients will be directed to in your old site. DNS entry may be updated from your internet site host admin panel, and the procedure is typically one-of-a-kind for every site host. Once updated, the improvements take 48 hours to evaluate. This is an important part of your post migration checklist, ensuring a smooth transition in your website migration journey.
Examine the brand new internet site.
Later migrate and remodel your DNS entry. As part of the seo site migration, this check helps ensure your current site operates as expected and is indexed properly by search engine crawlers.
Look at it in case your staging site or new site is working correctly. If you’ve got a massive place, it’s not always reasonable to check it thoroughly. However, do take a look at all crucial pages and posts for any troubles that might affect your seo migration goals.
Plan your website online’s URL architecture
Similarly, make specific to carry the URL configuration equal to the antique one from the old site. Keeping consistent site migration structures helps maintain your rankings during a seo website migration.
Modifying too many URLs or losing posts or pages from the old site during the website migration process can also cause search engine crawlers to determine it’s a very new site. This could lead to penalties and a drop in seo migration performance. Keeping your url architecture consistent is vital for a successful site migration.
Inspect inner hyperlinks for a replace
Once you factor your antique URLs into brand-new ones, your internal links will redirect to the brand new URLs. Though this develops a server load that holds back your current site and affects seo migration metrics. To keep away from this, replace all the internal links for your database with the usage of the search and update system — a critical task in your post migration checklist and site migration project.
Set up a brand new webpage for SEO
Set up brand-new belongings on your new webpage within the Google Search Console. Registering your staging site here will allow search engine crawlers to begin indexing and improving your seo website migration efficiency. Don’t forget to put up the brand-new sitemap from your staging site — a step crucial for site migration visibility and organic reach.
Also, connect the new property to Google Search Console to monitor performance and errors. This allows your seo migration process to be refined further based on real-time data.
Are you looking for developer for migration to WordPress? Check our services!
WordPress Migration ServicesSome services by WordPress for website migration you need to know:
Custom WordPress Development
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WP Security
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See also: WordPress security checklist
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FAQ
A website migration SEO checklist ensures all crucial SEO elements—such as redirects, URL structure, meta tags, internal links, and sitemaps—are properly handled during the migration process. Without it, pages may become inaccessible, resulting in crawl errors or loss of indexed content, which directly affects rankings. The checklist minimizes these risks by offering a structured plan for maintaining search engine visibility.
Some of the most frequent mistakes include failing to set up 301 redirects, forgetting to update internal links, overlooking the submission of a new sitemap, and not configuring the robots.txt file correctly. These errors can lead to broken links, reduced crawlability, and lost organic traffic. Following a thorough website migration SEO checklist helps avoid these costly oversights and ensures a smoother transition.
Yes, integrating Google Search Console into your website migration SEO checklist is essential. It helps monitor crawl errors, indexing issues, and performance drops in real-time. By submitting new sitemaps and checking coverage reports post-migration, you can swiftly identify problems and preserve your site’s SEO value. This proactive approach enhances transparency and search engine trust during the transition.
Conclusion
To ensure that the site migration procedure doesn’t cross awry, comply with the complete WordPress website migration checklist we’ve created with the whole lot you want to recognize and emigrate your internet site successfully. Use plugin available for all on WordPress for your backup and migration needs. In this manner, your internet site is continually secure with an offsite backup, and also, you get 0 downtimes throughout the migration.
