Website migration process: each phase and what you receive
What you sign, what we check and the file each phase leaves you, from the URL inventory to the day-30 crawl.
Phase timeline
| Phase | You receive |
|---|---|
| 1. URL inventory | Signed URL inventory |
| 2. Redirect map | Signed redirect map |
| 3. Build and staging QA | Parity sheet and staging crawl report |
| 4. Launch day | Launch QA results with the launch time |
| 5. Day-7 crawl | Fix list |
| 6. Day-30 crawl | Day-30 crawl report and its CSV |
| 7. Guard and handover | Handover Pack |
The website migration process in seven phases
The website migration process at SEO Migration Studio runs in seven phases, in the same order whether the platform, domain, design or URL structure changes. Before launch you sign two files, the URL inventory and the redirect map; crawls then check every URL on the inventory, on staging and on days 7 and 30 after launch. Each phase leaves you a file.
The phases hold whether we move the whole site, as in end-to-end platform migrations, or do the URL work while your developer or agency builds it, as in the SEO-only version of this process.
Each phase sits under one of the steps in the overview of Google Search Central’s site-move guide, from “Prepare the new site and test it thoroughly” to “Monitor the traffic on both the old and new URLs.”1
URL inventory
The URL inventory is the list every later check works from. We list each URL of the current site that had Search Console clicks or impressions in the last 16 months, has a backlink, is indexed or appears in a current sitemap. You sign the inventory before mapping starts.
→ produces: Signed URL inventory
Your part: Give access to Google Search Console and the current site; sign the inventory
Redirect map
Each URL on the signed inventory is mapped to one page of the new site. A URL that can keep its path keeps it, a URL that changes gets one 301 redirect to its mapped page, and a URL retired on purpose returns a 410 with no redirect. Where the old platform fixed part of every path, that pattern becomes one rule instead of a row per URL.
Each mapped page is the closest match for its old URL rather than a catch-all; Google Search Central’s site-move guide says: “Don’t redirect many old URLs to one irrelevant single URL destination, such as the home page of the new site.”1 You sign the redirect map before the build starts, and the redirects are built from it.
→ produces: Signed redirect map
Your part: Sign the map
Build and staging QA
We move or rebuild the site in WordPress on a staging site closed to search engines with a noindex rule. Google Search Central’s hosting guide gives the reason: “To prevent accidentally letting the test site get indexed, add the noindex robots rule to the HTML or the HTTP headers of your pages.”2
Two checks run on staging before you approve it. The parity check compares each old page’s title, H1, canonical tag, structured data and internal links with its new version, and the staging crawl checks every redirect against the map. Each gap goes on a fix list before launch. Staging sign-off: Second 30% due when you approve staging, or 5 business days after we send it unless you list in-scope fixes.
→ produces: Parity sheet and staging crawl report
Your part: Make the content decisions; approve staging
Launch day
Launch day falls inside a launch window we agree in advance, and Google Search Central’s advice is to “Time your move to coincide with lower traffic, if possible.”1 In that window the redirects are switched on and launch QA checks the live site: robots.txt, noindex rules, canonical tags, the new sitemap in Search Console, and analytics.
Google Search Central lists leftover crawl blocks among the common mistakes of a site move: “Don’t forget to remove any noindex or robots.txt blocks that were only needed for the migration.”1 The launch QA results record what was checked and the launch time, which starts the count to day 7 and day 30.
→ produces: Launch QA results with the launch time
Your part: Agree the launch window with us
Day-7 and day-30 crawls
The day-7 and day-30 crawls check every URL on the signed inventory against the redirect map: the response code, the number of redirect hops, whether the mapped page can be indexed and where its canonical tag points. Google Search Central advises “redirecting to the final destination directly”1, so a chain of hops counts as a failure even when the last page loads.
Each failure goes on a fix list, and we fix the redirects and settings in our scope. The day-30 crawl also sets the timing of the final invoice on an end-to-end project: Day-30 URL Check: Final 40% invoiced only after our day-30 crawl shows every signed-list URL reaching its mapped, indexable page. Outages and others’ changes excluded.
→ produces: Fix list; Day-30 crawl report and its CSV
Your part: Nothing, unless a fix needs your decision; keep our access in place until the crawl runs
Weekly Redirect Guard and handover
A redirect can stop working after launch without anyone editing the map: a mapped page gets a new permalink, a page the map points to is deleted, or the redirect plugin is switched off. Weekly Redirect Guard keeps checking the signed inventory, within its URL limit, for the months included in end-to-end packages and the SEO Migration Package, and it continues as an add-on at $149 / £119 a month.
Google’s site-move guide says how long redirects should stay: “Keep the redirects for as long as possible, generally at least 1 year.”1 When an end-to-end project closes, the Handover Pack gives you the redirect import file, the signed inventory and every login created for the project.
→ produces: Handover Pack
Your part: Decide whether Guard continues after the included months
Timeline: from signing to the day-30 crawl
A project’s length depends on the package and the size of the site, and the clock starts on the start date agreed when you sign:
- URL-Verified Migration: 3 weeks (S) / 5 weeks (M) from the start date confirmed at signing; the clock pauses while waiting on the client for more than 2 business days.
- URL-Verified Redesign: 6 weeks (S) / 9 weeks (M) from the confirmed start date; the clock pauses while waiting on the client for more than 2 business days.
- Migration Map: 7 / 10 / 15 business days by size.
- Migration Intensive: 12 weeks from the confirmed start date.
Three dates follow from the launch time itself: launch day, day 7 and day 30. A phase that waits on logins, content decisions or a signature before launch can move every later date with it.
Search results run on a separate clock. Google Search Central’s site-move guide says: “As a general rule, a small to medium-sized website can take a few weeks for most pages to move, and larger sites take longer.”1 Nobody can promise where a page will rank on a given date, which is why each phase ends in a file you can check rather than a ranking report.
Files you receive, and a sample of the format
Every phase hands you a file, so anyone you choose can check the work:
- Signed URL inventory (phase 1).
- Signed redirect map (phase 2), plus the redirect import file in your server’s or plugin’s format on SEO-only projects.
- Parity sheet and staging crawl report (phase 3).
- Launch QA results with the launch time (phase 4).
- Day-7 fix list, and the day-30 crawl report with its CSV (phases 5 and 6).
- Handover Pack on end-to-end projects: the redirect import file, the signed inventory and the project logins (phase 7).
SAMPLE, with fictional example.com URLs: three rows in the format of a day-30 crawl report.
| Old URL | What the crawl found | Mapped page | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| example.com/services/web-design.html | One 301 redirect, then 200 | example.com/services/web-design/ | Reaches its mapped page |
| example.com/?p=123 | 404 | example.com/blog/example-post/ | Fails; goes on the fix list |
| example.com/old-offer/ | 410 | None: retired in the signed map | Retired on purpose |
The SAMPLE redirect map offered as a download uses the columns of the redirect map template, with three fictional example.com rows. Agencies can have the same files issued without SEO Migration Studio’s name on them: unbranded deliverables for agency clients.
How the process changes for SEO-only, redesign and WordPress moves
The seven phases keep their order in every project that changes URLs or templates. What changes is who builds the site and what phases 2 and 3 add.
When your developer or agency builds the site
We build the URL inventory and the redirect map, hand over the redirect import file with a staging checklist and a launch-day runbook, and walk your developer through them. Your developer or agency builds the site and switches the redirects on; with the Launch Check, we run the staging crawl, launch QA and the day-7 and day-30 crawls.
The Migration Map costs from $1,390 / £1,090 and the Launch Check from $590 / £470, with these billing lines: SEO-only billing: 50% to book; 50% invoiced when the map covers every signed-list URL. Launch Check billing: 50% to book, 50% when the day-30 report is delivered.
When the project is a redesign
A redesign adds a design approval to phase 3, before the build starts, and gives the parity check more to catch: new templates can change titles, headings and internal links even when every URL keeps its path. The design, build and parity work are scoped by size under how a redesign project runs.
When the site switches platform
A platform switch into WordPress adds a platform pattern map to phase 2: where the old platform forced a fixed segment into its URLs, such as a prefix before every blog post, each pattern becomes a redirect rule. In phase 3, your pages, posts and images move into WordPress with their titles and meta descriptions.
When only the host, domain or URLs change
A host move that keeps every URL needs no redirect map; Google Search Central keeps a separate hosting guide for “migrations that don’t affect the user-visible URL”2. Launch QA and the crawls after it carry the work of that kind of move.
A URL structure change or a domain change runs all seven phases. A domain change also adds a launch-day step from the site-move guide: “If you’re changing domain names or subdomains, submit a Change of Address in Search Console for the old site.”1 Each kind of move on WordPress, with its price, is set out under WordPress host and domain moves.
If the new site has already launched
If the relaunch is done and clicks fell, the process starts from the other end: the cause is named before anything is fixed. A diagnosis after a relaunch, from $490 / £390, compares Search Console data URL by URL around the launch date, runs a crawl of the old URLs, checks Google update dates and tracking changes, and quotes a fixed-price fix.
When to bring us in
If organic search brings your business inquiries or sales, bring us in before the new templates are built. The URL inventory is built from the old site as it stands, and a redirect map signed before the build lets the new site keep each old path wherever it can.
Send the site URL, what is changing and the launch date with your quote request. Fixed quotes come back within 1 business day. Two capacity rules set the earliest start date: We take on at most 1 new relaunch project a month. We take on at most 1 new SEO-only launch a month.
Frequently asked questions
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