Site migration

Google's guide to a site move with URL changes sets out the steps: list every old URL, map each to its new address, add server-side permanent redirects, verify both old and new sites in Search Console, submit the new sitemap and keep the redirects for generally at least a year. It warns that rankings fluctuate during a move, and that on a small or medium site most pages can take a few weeks to move over.

Many owners do not think of a redesign as a migration, because the domain stays the same. But a new content system usually changes every page address, and that is a migration in Google's terms. The work that protects rankings, mainly 301 redirects, sits alongside checks Google does not cover: enquiry forms, analytics tags, Search Console verification and the structured data carried across from the old templates.