Free working checklist

SEO Migration Checklist

Tick off 24 practical checks for your site migration: URL inventory, redirect mapping, staging, launch and post-launch monitoring.

4 phases24 practical checksNo account needed

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Work through the migration phase by phase

Tick a task only after you have checked the result.

Record which URLs will change and how you will measure the move after launch.

0/6 completed

Set the scope, launch date and ownersDone when: There is a launch date, an owner for redirects and indexation, and a rollback plan for critical errors.
Export the baselineDone when: Search Console clicks and impressions, organic landing pages and conversions are saved with their date ranges.
Build one list of old URLsDone when: The old crawl, sitemap and Search Console URLs are merged and deduplicated. Add relevant backlink and log URLs if available.
List the new URLs and templatesDone when: The new sitemap or staging crawl includes every important page type and the URLs expected to go live.
Decide what happens to every old URLDone when: Each old URL stays, has a relevant new destination, or is deliberately retired with 404/410. Important and uncertain matches are reviewed by a person.
Test the redirect format with developmentDone when: A small set of rules has been imported; source, destination, status code and exceptions work on the chosen platform.

Test the new site and redirect rules before switching visitors over.

0/6 completed

Crawl every important template on stagingDone when: Categories, products, articles and other priority pages are present; unexpected 4xx and 5xx errors have an owner.
Compare content by page typeDone when: Important titles, H1s, main content, breadcrumbs and structured data are present and correct on the new templates.
Check canonicals and internal linksDone when: Canonicals and navigation point to the intended new URLs. On multilingual sites, hreflang links point to the correct variants.
Check staging protection and production settingsDone when: Staging is protected from indexing and the team knows which robots or noindex settings must be removed at launch.
Test redirects across URL typesDone when: Top URLs, categories, articles, parameters and slash variants reach a relevant final page directly, without loops or unexpected chains.
Walk through the launch plan with the teamDone when: It is clear who enables redirects, checks robots, submits the sitemap, tests tracking and handles issues after launch.

Confirm the critical settings on the real production site.

0/6 completed

Enable permanent redirectsDone when: Moved old URLs return a 301 or 308 to the intended live page; retired pages follow the recorded decision.
Check robots, noindex and canonicals in productionDone when: Intended pages are crawlable and indexable, return 200 and have no canonical pointing to staging or the old domain.
Publish the new sitemapDone when: The sitemap contains the preferred canonical live URLs and has been submitted in Search Console.
Check Search Console for the old and new sitesDone when: Ownership of both sites is verified. For a domain move, Change of Address is submitted when applicable.
Test the most important old and new URLs liveDone when: Status code, final destination, indexability, canonical and visible content have been checked for priority pages.
Check analytics and conversionsDone when: A test visit and test conversion appear in the right property, without duplicate measurements.

Find and fix issues while search engines process the new site.

0/6 completed

Recrawl the old and new sitesDone when: Old priority URLs have been checked for 404s, wrong targets, loops and chains; new priority pages return 200 and are indexable.
Check 404s and server errorsDone when: Unexpected errors from crawls, logs or Search Console have been collected, prioritised and assigned to an owner.
Monitor indexation of new URLsDone when: Important new pages have been checked in Search Console for indexation, canonical choice and possible blocks.
Compare important pages with the baselineDone when: Clicks, impressions and organic traffic are compared by priority page or page type, using comparable periods where possible.
Fix issues and test againDone when: Wrong redirects, canonicals, internal links and indexation problems have been fixed and checked again on the live site.
Keep redirects and monitoring activeDone when: An owner and cadence are set for follow-up checks; redirects stay active while old URLs still receive traffic and crawls.

Use these documents to check the rules behind a task.

Updated October 19, 2026Lees in het Nederlands