{"id":3129,"date":"2025-03-05T11:02:59","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T10:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.islanetworks.com\/sin-categorizar\/seo-migration-complete-guide-to-make-the-change-without-losing-positions-and-boost-your-traffic"},"modified":"2026-05-23T15:39:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T13:39:27","slug":"seo-migration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.islanetworks.com\/en\/blog\/seo-migration\/","title":{"rendered":"SEO Migration: Complete Guide to Making the Change Without Losing Rankings and Growing Your Traffic"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Changing domain. Migrating to HTTPS. Moving from WordPress to Shopify. Restructuring the sitemap. Any project we call an \u201cSEO migration\u201d is open-heart surgery on your organic visibility<\/strong>. Done well, nothing dramatic happens. Done badly, it can destroy months or years of rankings.<\/p>\n

We see it every month: companies rebuild their website, hire their favourite designer, launch on a Friday and by Monday organic traffic has dropped by 60%<\/strong>. No bad intentions. Just a lack of understanding of what changes for Google when you change your website.<\/p>\n\n

What is an SEO migration \u2014 and what is it not<\/span>?<\/h2>\n

An SEO migration is any structural change to your website that affects how Google sees and crawls it<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\n
01<\/div>
Domain change<\/div>

From mycompany.com to mycompany.es, or a full rebrand. The highest possible SEO risk<\/strong>.<\/p><\/div>\n

02<\/div>
CMS change<\/div>

WordPress \u2192 Shopify, custom \u2192 Webflow. URLs, schema and structure can all change.<\/p><\/div>\n

03<\/div>
URL structure change<\/div>

From \/category\/post to \/post, or from subdomain to subfolder.<\/p><\/div>\n

04<\/div>
HTTP to HTTPS<\/div>

Moving to HTTPS is mandatory, but not trivial: redirects, internal links and mixed content must be handled.<\/p><\/div>\n

05<\/div>
Redesign with a new sitemap<\/div>

If you restructure sections, URLs and hierarchy, it is an SEO migration<\/strong>.<\/p><\/div>\n

06<\/div>
Internationalisation<\/div>

Adding \/en\/, hreflang, gTLDs or ccTLDs.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

The SEO migration process in 10 steps<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Full crawl of the current site.<\/strong> Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, JetOctopus.<\/li>\n
  2. Ranking snapshot.<\/strong> Ahrefs, Semrush: export your top 500-2,000 keywords.<\/li>\n
  3. Old URL \u2192 new URL map (redirect map).<\/strong> The most important document.<\/li>\n
  4. Internal validation of the map.<\/strong> Marketing + dev + content review it together.<\/li>\n
  5. Full staging environment \u2014 not production.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  6. Exhaustive testing in staging.<\/strong> Zero 404 errors, redirects working correctly.<\/li>\n
  7. Launch day: controlled deployment window.<\/strong> Tuesday-Wednesday; avoid Monday\/Friday.<\/li>\n
  8. Deployment and immediate verification.<\/strong> Crawl, submit new sitemap in GSC.<\/li>\n
  9. Request recrawling from Google.<\/strong> Search Console > URL inspection.<\/li>\n
  10. 30\/60\/90-day monitoring.<\/strong> Traffic, rankings and errors.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n

    Typical mistakes that kill your traffic<\/span><\/h2>\n
    \n
    01<\/div>
    Migrating without a redirect map<\/div>

    Old URLs die without a 301 redirect. The most expensive mistake<\/strong>.<\/p><\/div>\n

    02<\/div>
    302 redirects instead of 301<\/div>

    302 = temporary. 301 = permanent. The difference is preserving or wasting your link equity.<\/p><\/div>\n

    03<\/div>
    Redirect chains<\/div>

    Every hop loses equity and slows crawling. Always map A \u2192 D directly<\/strong>.<\/p><\/div>\n

    04<\/div>
    Forgetting the new sitemap.xml<\/div>

    Without an updated sitemap, Google can take weeks to discover URLs.<\/p><\/div>\n

    05<\/div>
    Not migrating schema<\/div>

    Losing Article, Product or other schema means losing rich snippets and AI citations.<\/p><\/div>\n

    06<\/div>
    Broken internal linking<\/div>

    Posts linking to old URLs that no longer exist create compounded damage.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

    What to expect after the migration \u2014 the critical 90 days<\/h2>\n
    \n
    Week<\/th>What happens<\/th>Action<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
    1-2<\/td>Temporary 10-30% drop<\/strong><\/td>Do not panic. Monitor redirects and GSC errors.<\/td><\/tr>\n
    3-4<\/td>Partial recovery<\/td>GSC: check that everything is being crawled<\/td><\/tr>\n
    5-8<\/td>Stabilisation<\/td>Fix detected 404s and improve speed<\/td><\/tr>\n
    9-12<\/td>Full recovery<\/td>Compare against the pre-migration baseline<\/td><\/tr>\n<\/tbody><\/table><\/div>\n

    If by week 8 you are still down by 30% or more, something is wrong<\/strong>: broken redirects, blocked indexation, misconfigured schema or a missing technical step.<\/p>\n\n

    Who should be involved in an SEO migration?<\/h2>\n

    A poorly coordinated SEO migration ends with marketing blaming development and development blaming marketing. The reality: a proper migration requires three profiles working in parallel<\/strong>: technical SEO, developer and content\/marketing.<\/p>\n

    If one person is covering all three roles \u2014 common in SMEs \u2014 external support is essential<\/strong>. The cost of doing it badly is always much higher.<\/p>\n\n

    FAQs about SEO migration<\/span><\/h2><\/div>
    \n
    <\/span>How long does a properly planned SEO migration take?<\/summary>

    Average SME website (500-2,000 URLs): 4-8 weeks of planning plus 8-12 weeks of post-migration monitoring.<\/p><\/div><\/details>\n

    <\/span>How much does a professional SEO migration cost?<\/summary>

    SME website (500-2,000 URLs): \u20ac1,500-4,000 in consultancy. Ecommerce or international sites: \u20ac5,000-15,000.<\/p><\/div><\/details>\n

    <\/span>Do I need to notify Google about the migration?<\/summary>

    For a domain change: yes, using the \u201cChange of Address\u201d tool in Search Console.<\/p><\/div><\/details>\n

    <\/span>Do I lose the ranking value of my backlinks?<\/summary>

    With properly implemented 301 redirects, you can preserve 90-99% of link equity.<\/p><\/div><\/details>\n

    <\/span>Can I migrate gradually or does it have to be all at once?<\/summary>

    Domain change: all at once. Redesign or structure change: it can be done by sections if planned properly.<\/p><\/div><\/details>\n

    <\/span>How do I test whether the migration is going well?<\/summary>

    Four KPIs in GSC: impressions, top 50 positions, 404 errors and indexation.<\/p><\/div><\/details>\n

    <\/span>Can I run a migration without a specialist consultant?<\/summary>

    Small websites under 100 URLs: yes. Medium or large websites: not recommended.<\/p><\/div><\/details>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

    \n

    ARE YOU MIGRATING YOUR WEBSITE AND WANT TO PROTECT YOUR TRAFFIC?<\/span><\/h2>\n

    We provide end-to-end SEO migration consultancy: crawl, redirect map, validation, supervision and 90-day monitoring.<\/p>\n

    SEO team in Palma de Mallorca.<\/p>\n

    TALK TO ISLANET MARKETING<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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