# SEO-Safe Website Migrations and Redesigns > Protect your search visibility through a redesign, platform move, or domain change with a page list, redirect map, testing, and monitoring. Canonical: https://vassalmarketing.com/information/seo-migrations/ **Maintained by Vassal Marketing** · Last updated on September 26, 2026 Reviewed at least quarterly and whenever a platform or rule it cites changes. General information, not legal or professional advice. Check rules that affect your business with a qualified professional. A careful migration keeps valuable pages findable and gives search engines a clear instruction for every URL that changes. ## Why this matters A redesign can change URLs, navigation, content, and tracking all at once. Even a site that looks great at launch can lose search traffic if important pages disappear, redirect to the wrong place, or get blocked. Some fluctuation after launch is normal while Google recrawls. The goal is to avoid preventable losses: list the old pages, keep what still helps customers, redirect each changed URL to its closest match, and test before and after launch. ## Recommended practices ### Record where you started Before changes begin, save a list of every URL, your top landing pages, leads by page, and a site crawl. You'll need these to spot problems after launch. ### Redirect each page to its closest match Hypothetical redirect map row: /services/water-heaters.html → /water-heater-repair/. Keep URLs unchanged where possible. When nothing relevant replaces a page, let it return a 404 instead of redirecting to the homepage. ### Change one big thing at a time Avoid changing domain, platform, URLs, copy, and design all at once unless necessary. Smaller steps make problems easier to trace. ### Test before and after launch Crawl the test site, then the live site, for errors, noindex tags, canonical tags, broken links, missing content, sitemaps, and tracking. Make sure the test site's search block isn't copied to the live site. ### Watch groups of pages after launch Track indexing, impressions, clicks, and leads for service pages, location pages, and blog posts separately. Keep redirects and the old domain for at least a year. ## What to do next 1. Save a list of current URLs, top pages, backlinks, and lead sources before work starts. 2. Approve a redirect map with one row for every changed page that matters. 3. Crawl and click through the test site before launch. 4. On launch day, check redirects, robots rules, sitemaps, forms, tracking, and key pages. 5. Check Search Console and leads daily for two weeks, then weekly until things settle. ## Avoid these shortcuts - Redirecting every retired URL to the homepage - Changing URLs, domain, platform, and content with no starting record - Leaving the test site's noindex rules on the live site - Letting the old domain or redirects lapse soon after launch ## Questions business owners ask ### Will a migration always reduce organic traffic? Not necessarily. Some short-term movement is common while Google processes the changes. Careful redirects, testing, and monitoring prevent most avoidable losses. ### How long should redirects remain? Google recommends keeping redirects for at least a year. Longer is often better for old links and bookmarks. Keep renewing the old domain as well. ### Should all old pages be recreated? Keep pages that are still accurate and useful. Merge true duplicates carefully, redirect to a close match when one exists, and let pages with no replacement return a 404. ## Primary guidance - [Google: Site moves with URL changes](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move-with-url-changes) - [Google: Redirects and Search](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/301-redirects) - [Google: Change of Address tool](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9370220) Search visibility, rankings, calls, leads, and revenue are not guaranteed. ## Related SEO guides - [Technical SEO and Website Health](https://vassalmarketing.com/information/technical-seo.md): Make sure search engines can crawl and index your important pages, and that those pages load quickly and work well on phones. - [SEO Audits That Produce Prioritized Work](https://vassalmarketing.com/information/seo-audits.md): Check technical health, content, search visibility, local listings, and tracking, then turn the findings into a short, ordered fix list. - [Organic Traffic Drop Diagnosis and Recovery](https://vassalmarketing.com/information/traffic-drop-recovery.md): Work out what actually fell and why—tracking, AI Overviews, demand, indexing, site changes, or a Google update—before changing anything. [Explore all SEO guides](https://vassalmarketing.com/information/seo.md).