How to Keep Your SEO Intact When Moving to a New Website

by Brian Lawrence

Moving to a new website is exciting, but let’s be honest—it can also be a bit nerve-wracking. If you’ve spent years building up your online presence, the last thing you want is to lose all that hard-earned SEO progress overnight.

The good news? You don’t have to lose the SEO you’ve worked so hard to build. With the right approach, you can make the transition smooth and keep your rankings intact.

Here’s how to do it.

Keep URLs the Same (Or Use 301 Redirects)

Search engines already know your current URLs. If those links suddenly break or disappear, your rankings can take a serious hit.

The best approach is to keep your URLs the same whenever possible. But if changes are unavoidable, setting up 301 redirects will ensure both users and search engines are sent to the right place.

Before launch, make sure to:

• Create a list of all your current URLs.
• Map old pages to their new counterparts.
• Set up and test 301 redirects to avoid broken links.

Think of it like forwarding your mail when you move—you don’t want visitors (or Google) to end up at a dead end.

301 Redirects Explained

When a webpage moves to a new URL, a 301 redirect automatically sends visitors (and search engines) to the new location. This helps keep website traffic flowing smoothly and ensures search engines transfer the old page’s ranking power to the new one. It’s a permanent redirect, meaning the change is meant to last.

With WordPress plugins like Yoast SEO, you can set up redirects without dealing with code.

Use a Website Migration Checklist

A website migration has a lot of moving parts, and it’s easy to overlook something that could hurt your rankings. A checklist will help you stay on track.

Before launching the new site, we recommend making sure that:

• All 301 redirects are working.
• Your site is mobile-friendly and loads quickly.
• Google Analytics and other tracking tools are set up.
• Internal links point to the correct pages.
• Your new XML sitemap is ready to be submitted to Google Search Console.

Going through this list now can save you from SEO headaches later.

Make Sure Your Tracking Data Carries Over

Imagine launching your new site only to realize you’ve lost access to all your website data. Without tracking, you won’t know what’s working or what’s broken.

To avoid this, double-check that:

• Google Analytics is tracking.
• Google Search Console is set up for the new site.
• Conversion tracking, goals, and events are working.
• Google Tag Manager is updated if needed.

This way, you can monitor traffic patterns and quickly catch any SEO issues.

Update Page Titles and Headings

Titles and headings are key for both user experience and search rankings. If you’re refreshing your website content, take the time to:

• Ensure every page has a unique, keyword-rich title.
• Use proper heading structures (H1, H2, H3) for readability.
• Write compelling meta descriptions to improve click-through rates.

These tweaks can make a big difference in how your pages rank.

Hide the New Website Until It’s Ready

Here’s a mistake that happens more often than you’d think—Google indexing an unfinished site. If search engines crawl incomplete pages, it can cause ranking issues down the road.

To prevent this:

• Add noindex, nofollow tags to the site before launch.
• Use Disallow: / in your robots.txt file.
• Remove these settings once the site is fully ready for search engines.

This keeps your old site ranking until your new one is good to go.

Indexing Explained

No-indexing means telling Google not to show a webpage in search results. If a page is “noindex,” it won’t appear on Google, even if someone searches for it.

No following tells Google not to follow links on a particular page.

The robots.txt file is like a “road sign” for search engines. It tells them which parts of a website they can or cannot visit.

Crawl the New Website to Catch Errors

Before making the switch, run a site crawl using a tool like Screaming Frog to check for:

• Broken links (404 errors).
• Duplicate content.
• Redirect issues.
• Missing images or alt text.

Catching these issues early prevents SEO problems before they impact rankings.

Site Crawling Explained

A website crawl is like a “scan” of your website to check for any problems that could affect your SEO or user experience. Imagine a librarian going through every book in a library to make sure they’re all in the right place, none are missing, and all the titles match what’s in the catalog.

When search engines like Google visit your website, they “crawl” it by following links and reading your pages to understand what your site is about. But you can also do your website crawl using special tools like Screaming Frog to catch issues before Google does.

Submit Your New Sitemap to Google

Once your new site is live, you want Google to index it as quickly as possible. The fastest way to do this is by submitting an updated XML sitemap in Google Search Console.

Steps to follow:

• Generate a new XML sitemap.
• Log into Google Search Console.
• Navigate to “Sitemaps” and submit the new URL.
• Monitor for any errors and fix them as needed.

This helps Google understand your new site structure faster.

XML Sitemaps Explained

An XML Sitemap is like a map for search engines (Google, Bing, etc.). It lists all the important pages on your website so they can find and index them faster.

Imagine your website is a big library—the sitemap is the catalog that helps Google find all the books (pages) inside.

WordPress plugins and free online tools are available to help generate XML. You can even write the code manually if you have experience.

Submitting your XML Sitemap to Google Search Console will help search engines index your site.

Review and Refresh Blog Content

A website migration is the perfect time to give old blog posts a refresh.

Before launching, review content to:

• Update outdated stats, links, and references.
• Optimize posts with new keywords.
• Merge or remove underperforming posts.
• Ensure images are formatted correctly.

This can help maintain—and even improve—your rankings post-migration.

Expect a Temporary Drop in Rankings (But Don’t Panic)

Even when everything is done right, you might notice a slight dip in rankings after the switch. Search engines need time to adjust to your new site, but the drop doesn’t have to be severe or long-lasting.

Here’s how to minimize the impact:

• Double-check that 301 redirects are working.
• Submit the new sitemap immediately.
• Monitor Google Analytics for any sudden drops.
• Maintain internal links to reinforce site structure.

The drop might last a few weeks, but by following these steps, you can minimize the impact and get your rankings back on track.

Moving to a new website is a big deal, and it’s normal to feel a little anxious about how it will affect your SEO. But with the right approach, you can make a smooth transition and keep your rankings intact. Also, if you launched a new website and did not incorporate these action steps, they can be done post-launch.

Have some questions or want some help? Set up a free 30-minute consultation here.