How to migrate a store without losing your SEO
Even a technically successful migration can still tank your traffic if URLs change without a redirect, or if Google takes time to rediscover the new site. Losing rankings isn't an inevitable part of migrating: it almost always comes from a skipped step.
The method, step by step
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Map the existing URLs
Before any migration, pulling the full list of indexed URLs (from the current sitemap, Search Console, or a crawling tool) gives you the working base for building the redirects.
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Build a mapping table
Every old URL needs to be matched to its exact new address, one by one for high-traffic or high-sales-potential pages, and via generic rules for repetitive patterns like product pages.
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Set up 301 redirects, never 302
A 301 redirect signals a permanent change and passes on most of the accumulated SEO value. A 302, being temporary, doesn't pass on that value the same way and can leave both URLs competing in the index.
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Test the redirects before the final switch
Check a representative sample of URLs, including deep pages, before the old site is taken down for good.
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Update the sitemap and submit it
The new XML sitemap must reflect the new URLs and be submitted in Google Search Console to speed up discovery of the change.
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Monitor indexing and traffic after the switch
Regularly checking Search Console in the weeks following the migration makes it possible to quickly spot a missing redirect or an abnormal drop on a specific page.
What actually causes traffic to drop
The most common cause of lost rankings after a migration isn't a complex technical issue but a simple oversight: pages that existed before the migration and return a 404 error afterwards, with no redirect at all. Google then treats those pages as removed and gradually strips their rankings.
The second common cause concerns the content itself: a migration is sometimes used as an opportunity to rewrite titles, descriptions or product page copy. Content that's too different from the original can lose the ranking earned on specific keywords, even when the URL is correctly redirected.
Finally, a platform change often comes with a change in URL structure (with or without a file extension, with or without a category in the path). Keeping the same structure where possible avoids multiplying the number of redirects needed and the risk of missing one.
Common mistakes
- Switching the site live without having tested the redirects beforehand, planning to fix them afterwards.
- Redirecting every old URL to the homepage instead of its exact equivalent: Google treats this as lost content, not a meaningful redirect.
- Blocking the new site in robots.txt during the testing phase, then forgetting to remove that block when actually going live.
- Waiting several weeks before submitting the new sitemap, which delays rediscovery of the site by crawlers.
Frequently asked questions
How long does traffic take to stabilise after a migration?
Should redirects be kept indefinitely?
Does a hosting migration without a platform change carry the same risks?
Do I need to notify Google before a migration?
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