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Keeping your SEO during a PrestaShop migration

A PrestaShop version migration doesn’t automatically wipe out your existing SEO, but it can damage it if the URL structure shifts without redirects, or if the sitemap and Search Console aren’t updated after going live.

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What puts SEO at risk during a migration

The main risk isn’t the migration itself, it’s a URL change without a redirect. A search engine has indexed your pages at a specific address; if that address changes and nothing points the old one to the new one, the link loses its value and the page can drop out of results until it’s re-crawled.

The second risk comes from the theme. A theme change can alter the structure of some category or product pages, and sometimes triggers URL changes that weren’t planned at the outset. This is something I check systematically after going live, not just at the general site configuration level.

What I check before and after going live

  1. URL rewriting settings

    I check the settings tied to the shop’s URL structure, found in the back office’s SEO preferences, to make sure they stay consistent between the old and new version.

  2. Comparing URL format between versions

    I check whether the format of category, product and CMS page addresses stays the same from one version to the other. If it doesn’t, I set up 301 redirects before going live, not after.

  3. Regenerating the XML sitemap

    Once the migration is complete, I regenerate the XML sitemap so it reflects the actual structure of the migrated shop, with the correct URLs.

  4. Resubmitting to Search Console

    I resubmit the updated sitemap in Google Search Console to speed up how quickly the search engine picks up the changes.

  5. Checking canonical and meta tags

    I check that canonical tags and meta tags (title, description) are still filled in correctly after going live, especially if the theme has changed.

  6. Checking redirects tied to the theme

    If the version change comes with a theme change, I check that no category or product URL is left orphaned by a modified page structure.

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A few targeted questions so I can reply with an estimate rather than another questionnaire.

version-depart
version-arrivee
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modules-tiers (facultatif)
conserver (facultatif)
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Frequently asked questions

Will I lose my Google rankings during the migration?
Not if URLs are kept or properly redirected with a 301. The risk mainly comes from an unplanned address change, not from the technical migration itself.
Does the sitemap need redoing after every migration?
Yes, I regenerate it systematically once the migration is complete, so it matches the shop’s actual structure and I can resubmit it to Search Console.
Can a theme change really break product URLs?
It depends on the configuration chosen for the new theme and its associated URL structure settings. This is something I check after going live, comparing addresses before and after.
How long does it take Google to pick up the changes?
It varies with the site’s crawl frequency, but resubmitting the sitemap in Search Console helps speed up discovery of new URLs and index updates.
Do I need to monitor anything after the migration, or is it done once the switch happens?
I recommend watching the coverage reports in Search Console for the following weeks, to quickly spot any indexing error or missed redirect.

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