# 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.

- Source canonique : [https://allaux.fr/en/guides/migrer-sans-perdre-referencement](https://allaux.fr/en/guides/migrer-sans-perdre-referencement)
- Langue : EN
- Dernière mise à jour : 2026-09-30

## Direct answer

> Keep the same URLs if at all possible. If they change, set up an individual 301 redirect from each old URL to its exact equivalent, test them before going live, then submit the new sitemap in Search Console.

## The method, step by step

1. **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.
2. **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.
3. **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.
4. **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.
5. **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.
6. **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.

## FAQ

### How long does traffic take to stabilise after a migration?

It varies with the size of the site and the quality of the migration, but stabilising within a few weeks is common when the redirects are properly in place. A large site can take several months for full reindexing.

### Should redirects be kept indefinitely?

It's recommended to keep them for several months, or even more than a year for pages with strong historical traffic, until external links and visitor bookmarks pointing to the old addresses become rare.

### Does a hosting migration without a platform change carry the same risks?

The risk is lower if the URLs stay identical, but you still need to monitor downtime during the DNS switch and check that the SSL certificate and configuration stay consistent on the new server.

### Do I need to notify Google before a migration?

There's no mandatory formal process, but Search Console offers a change-of-address tool for migrations involving a domain change, which helps speed up recognition of the change.