- Why do you need a website relaunch checklist?<\/a><\/li>
- Preparing for the relaunch<\/a><\/li>
- Pre-Launch Preparation Checklist<\/a><\/li>
- Migration Checklist<\/a><\/li>
- Launch Checklist<\/a><\/li>
- Post-launch Checklist<\/a><\/li>
- Ready To Relaunch Your Site?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n
Why do you need a website relaunch checklist?<\/h2>\n
A website relaunch is a complex process.<\/p>\n
This means it\u2019s easy to miss something that might seem fairly small but could be a crucial component in maintaining your rankings.<\/p>\n
Not every step in the checklist will apply to your specific relaunch or migration. But we\u2019ve included steps that will apply to each of the following circumstances:<\/p>\n
1. Website redesign (change of theme)<\/h3>\n
A simple theme change is a fairly low-risk migration.<\/p>\n
The focus will be on keeping your internal link structure intact, with no drastic changes to navigation.<\/p>\n
2. Website migration due to a framework change (new CMS)<\/h3>\n
This is a high-risk migration.<\/p>\n
When moving from one CMS to another, it\u2019s going to be tough to replicate the structure of the old site exactly. But we\u2019ll show you how to keep changes to a minimum.<\/p>\n
3. Domain change or website relaunch<\/h3>\n
This is relatively low risk.<\/p>\n
Rebranding is a fairly routine procedure<\/a> and something that Google expects. Rankings may fluctuate for a period, but should quickly stabilize.<\/p>\n
4. Server migration (changing of hosting)<\/h3>\n
This type of migration generally involves minimal risk. However, keep in mind that you must create a complete and accurate copy of your existing site on the new server. For projects that are growing, expect traffic spikes, or need more control over performance, a move to a more scalable hosting solution such as a VPS from Hostinger<\/a> can be especially beneficial.<\/p>\n
5. SEO strategy relaunch (planning to jumpstart SEO efforts)<\/h3>\n
The fact that you will be performing a re-architecture of the information on the site would typically make this a high-risk move. But we\u2019re going to class this as an opportunity.<\/p>\n
After all, if you\u2019re relaunching a site for SEO, it probably means your current structure has problems that need to be fixed. And fixing those problems should boost your rankings!<\/p>\n
Preparing for the relaunch<\/h2>\n
Before we start on the checklist, there are a couple of steps we recommend you take.<\/p>\n
Firstly, conducting an audit of your existing site, and secondly creating a test (or staging) site to work on during the migration.<\/p>\n
1. Crawl and audit your existing site<\/h3>\n
One of the reasons for a relaunch is to fix old \u201cproblems\u201d.<\/p>\n
So before pressing on with your relaunch\/migration, you\u2019ll want to identify all the issues holding back your current site\u2019s SEO.<\/p>\n
You can use Seobility to perform a full on-page audit of your site, so sign up and create a project<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Note:<\/strong> while you\u2019ll be able to run an audit of your site in the free (Basic) version, you won\u2019t be able to export your backlinks. So to follow all the steps in this guide, we suggest signing up for a free 14-day Premium trial.<\/em><\/p>\n
![\"Seobility](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/seobility-add-new-project.png\")
<\/p>\nWe\u2019ll be using Seobility in several of the steps in the checklist. And while we may be biased, you\u2019ll soon see why we recommend signing up \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
Check out our detailed guide to auditing your website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
2. Set up a test\/staging site<\/h3>\n
We recommend setting up a test\/staging site to work on during the migration.<\/p>\n
That way you can tweak, test (and break things!) without affecting the live site.<\/p>\n
Test site ready? Let\u2019s jump into the migration checklist.<\/p>\n
Pre-Launch Preparation Checklist<\/h2>\n
Before you start moving content, there are a number of steps we recommend you take.<\/p>\n
1. Password-protect the staging site<\/h3>\n
For the time being, you\u2019ll need to keep crawlers away from your staging site. If not, those pesky search engine bots will end up indexing it….<\/p>\n
…which will do a world of damage to your rankings.<\/p>\n
Fortunately it\u2019s easy to block them by password-protecting your staging site.<\/p>\n
Although there are other ways of preventing crawlers from accessing the staging site – like disallowing bots in the robots.txt<\/a> file – it\u2019s far from ideal.<\/p>\n
Not only can Google still show the disallowed staging site URLS in the SERPs<\/a>, but there\u2019s no telling which person or bot might end up finding your staging site if it\u2019s not password protected. Therefore, password-protecting your domain is the way to go!<\/p>\n
And here\u2019s something cool:<\/p>\n
You can add the username and password in Seobility\u2019s crawler settings (Dashboard > Your Project > Crawler settings<\/em>). This will let our crawler through the gates, and allow you to perform audits on the staging site.<\/p>\n
![\"enter](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/password-data-seobility.png\")
<\/p>\nThe simplest way to password-protect your site is through .htaccess<\/a>. Add the following command to the file.<\/p>\n
#Protect Directory\r\nAuthName \"Dialog prompt\"\r\nAuthType Basic\r\nAuthUserFile \/home\/username\/website\/.htpasswd\r\nRequire valid-user<\/em>\r\n<\/pre>\n
Then create a .htpasswd file in the directory specified in the AuthUserFile location above with the username and password for accessing the site. Here\u2019s the format:<\/p>\n
user:password\r\nstagingsiteuser:stayawayG00gle!\r\n<\/em><\/pre>\n
2. Create a spreadsheet with a map of current content<\/h3>\n
Do you know exactly what content is on your site? Every single page? Me neither.<\/p>\n
But to nail your migration\u2026 you\u2019ll need to.<\/p>\n
Fortunately grabbing a full list of your site\u2019s content is easy with Seobility. Simply sign up for a free 14-day trial<\/a>, add your website as a project, and run a crawl.<\/p>\n
Once the crawl is complete, go to Dashboard > Website > Onpage > Tech and Meta<\/em> and you\u2019ll find a full listing of pages crawled under Crawling Statistics.<\/p>\n
![\"crawling](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/seoability-crawling-statistics.png\")
<\/p>\nClick on Pages Crawled and you\u2019ll be able to export all of the content URLs on your current site.<\/p>\n
![\"pages](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/pages-crawled-1.png\")
<\/p>\nTake these pages and put them in a Spreadsheet. We\u2019ll be using this as a base for making some decisions shortly.<\/p>\n
Note: we’ve created a spreadsheet template that you can use for data collection. Click here to import it into your Google account<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
3. Create a map of external backlinks<\/h3>\n
Once again we can use Seobility to get a list of all the backlinks<\/a> to our website.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve already created a project for our site. So all we need to do is export the list of backlinks discovered by the tool.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll be using this list to help us make decisions on content.<\/p>\n
Go to the Backlinks tab in the Dashboard and export the list.<\/p>\n
![\"seobility](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/seobility-backlinks.png\")
<\/p>\n4. Create a map of internal backlinks<\/h3>\n
Internal links<\/a> are super important for on-site optimization. A solid internal link structure helps the search engine bots:<\/p>\n
- \n
- crawl your site effectively<\/li>\n
- understand the relationship between pages<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
So we want to make sure we don\u2019t make any unwanted changes to our internal link structure during the migration.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not just links from within content that are important:<\/p>\n
Navigational links are critical too. They help Google understand the structure of your site, and power up your content hubs and categories.<\/p>\n
Try to maintain navigational links as much as possible during a migration. Big changes could result in important pages losing their strength, and a drop in traffic.<\/p>\n
5. Create a map of content with traffic<\/h3>\n
Steps 3 and 4 dealt with links. But we also need to know which pages on our site are currently receiving the most traffic.<\/p>\n
Why? Because we\u2019ll want to take extra care with those pages to ensure we don\u2019t change anything that could cause their rankings to dip.<\/p>\n
If it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it!<\/p>\n
We can use Google Analytics to export a traffic report for all pages on our site.<\/p>\n
For the purpose of the migration, we\u2019ll want to see traffic from all sources, not just search.<\/p>\n
Assuming you\u2019re using GA4, you can use the pages & screens report (Life cycle > Engagement > Pages & screens<\/em>) or the landing page report (Life cycle > Engagement > Landing page<\/em>). You can click on \u201cshare this report\u201d on the top left and click on \u201cDownload\u201d to export the data.<\/p>\n
![\"how](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/export-analytics.png\")
<\/p>\nIf you\u2019re still on the old version of Google Analytics, go to Google Analytics > Behaviour > Site Content > All Pages<\/em> and Export.<\/p>\n
6. Perform a content pruning exercise<\/h3>\n
We now have a full list of our site\u2019s content, including which pages have links, and which are getting traffic. It\u2019s time to make some decisions.<\/p>\n
This is your opportunity to \u201cclean house\u201d.<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s the plan?<\/p>\n
Well, over time websites can get a little bloated. And if your site has been around for a while, there\u2019s a good chance that you might have multiple pages targeting the same keywords (more on that in step 7), orphaned pages<\/a> or pages that are outdated.<\/p>\n
Here are the questions you should be asking first:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Does the page get traffic?<\/li>\n
- Does the page have any backlinks?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
If the answer to these questions is no then that page will be a candidate to either:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Delete<\/li>\n
- Merge with another page<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
However, even if the page has backlinks you still might want to consider merging (i.e. redirecting) the page.<\/p>\n
Why? Because if you have 4 pages covering the same topic \u2014 and each has backlinks \u2014 merging them into one page will consolidate the link equity<\/a> and result in a more powerful page.<\/p>\n
I should also point out that just because a page doesn\u2019t receive traffic doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not a \u201cgood\u201d page. Deletion isn\u2019t always the answer. Sometimes you might decide that you can improve\/update a page instead, or that it just needs more links (internal or external) to rank.<\/p>\n
So you\u2019ll want to review each page before making the decision.<\/p>\n
Bottom line: if a page is low-quality, doesn\u2019t rank, and has no links, it should probably go.<\/p>\n
7. Make sure you focus on one topic per page (keyword) to avoid keyword cannibalization<\/h3>\n
I mentioned above that your content audit may uncover multiple pages targeting the same keyword.<\/p>\n
When this happens, these pages can suffer from “keyword cannibalization<\/a>“.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re trying to rank for the same keyword on multiple pages. And Google ain\u2019t going to let that happen.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll have trouble deciding which page to rank. And in the worst case scenario, it may be the case that NONE of the pages rank.<\/p>\n
So how should you deal with keyword cannibalization?<\/p>\n
Our advice:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Decide which page is the best fit for the keyword (this becomes the primary page)<\/li>\n
- Merge any information that\u2019s in additional pages into the primary page<\/li>\n
- 301 redirect the additional pages to the primary page<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
![\"content](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/content-merge.png\")
<\/p>\n8. Perform a URL optimization exercise (no double keywords, no stop words, no full \u201ctitles\u201d in slug)<\/h3>\n
This is another step that should be handled with care.<\/p>\n
Changing the URL of a page has potential upsides, but there are risks too.<\/p>\n
URLs should ideally be short, keyword focused and skip words you’re not trying to rank for.<\/p>\n
\/keyword1-keyword2-keyword3<\/em><\/pre>\n
Something like the following is perfect:<\/p>\n
![\"url](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/URL-for-seo-with-keywords-only.png\")
<\/p>\nYet, this is something that most of us learn as we start investing more time and energy in SEO.<\/p>\n
So often we\u2019ll have legacy “messy” URLs because we might not have planned the structure correctly, or were unaware of the SEO implications.<\/p>\n
WordPress, for example, simply creates a slug<\/a> from all of the words in the title. This means that if we don’t manually change the slug, most of our URLs are going to look something like this…<\/p>\n
\/how-I-manage-to-rank-for-keyword1-keyword2-and-keyword3-without-even-trying<\/em><\/pre>\n
Yikes!<\/p>\n
The URL is an on-page ranking signal. Which means that optimizing it is a worthwhile exercise.<\/p>\n
But\u2026<\/p>\n
As with all major(ish) changes, Google can be a little temperamental. So it\u2019s not without risks.<\/p>\n
I’ve made plenty of URL changes over the years and in the vast majority of cases I’ve reaped the benefits. But you’ll find other SEOs who recommend leaving URLs alone unless they are the clear blocking factor.<\/p>\n
This means that if a page is already ranking well you should be extra careful. And that advice applies to all steps in this process.<\/p>\n
If you do decide to change the URL of a page, make sure to 301 redirect the old URL to the new URL. This will help search engines understand that it\u2019s the same page.
\nMore on this in a moment though\u2026<\/p>\nFurther reading<\/strong>: SEO Friendly URLs<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
9. Check whether some plugin pages have changed<\/h3>\n
As part of your redesign, you might have decided to change some plugins<\/a>.<\/p>\n
This is important to keep in mind, especially from a user experience point of view.<\/p>\n
You need to be very careful not only about your blog posts and pages but about ALL other pages that might have changed.<\/p>\n
For example, if you’ve changed your eCommerce plugin, you need to be sure that key URLs (such as \/shop, \/cart or \/checkout have not changed).<\/p>\n
If they did? You\u2019ll need to take note of each URL change so you can handle it accordingly.<\/p>\n
10. Create a map of current URLs to New URLs<\/h3>\n
Once we’ve worked out which URLs we\u2019re going to change, we need to create a list of 301 redirects.<\/p>\n
A 301 redirect<\/a> indicates to crawlers and browsers that a webpage has moved permanently to a new location.<\/p>\n
![\"redirects](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/redirects-map-spreadsheet.png\")
<\/p>\nOnce again there are implications with performing 301 redirects.<\/p>\n
It used to be the case that links passed through a redirect lost some power…<\/p>\n
…however Gary Ilyes from Google indicated way back in 2016 that redirects now pass full value.<\/p>\n
![\"301](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/301-redirects-pagerank-loss.png\")
<\/p>\nChained redirects, however, are still a problem.<\/p>\n
Chained redirects typically happen when you have a page URL that has been updated and redirected multiple times.<\/p>\n
Link \u2192 Old URL \u2192 New URL\u2192 Even Newer URL<\/em><\/pre>\n
In such cases you should try to point the old URLs to the new URLs without having an intermediate step, especially for internal URLs.<\/p>\n
Why? Because although the 301s pass on a page’s value, every redirect still costs time and resources. Which is bad for crawlers (like Googlebot) and sub-optimal for users.<\/p>\n
11. Take note of all SEO plugin settings<\/h3>\n
Your SEO plugin settings are critically important to the SEO health of your site. You should maintain them across the migration, or make the necessary changes if you are relaunching your website for SEO purposes.<\/p>\n
![\"seopress](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/seopress-plugin-settings.png\")
<\/p>\nTake screenshots of all current settings so you can replicate them to the letter on the new setup.<\/p>\n
12. Take note of all other plugins that might affect SEO or UX<\/h3>\n
While SEO plugins are extra important, there will be plenty of other plugins that can affect the overall structure of your site.<\/p>\n
The settings of all key plugins should be saved as screenshots so that you can compare and ensure that you have moved all settings correctly.<\/p>\n
13. Set benchmarks. Take note of key user metrics in Google Analytics (bounce rate, time on site, return rate, demographics, traffic, etc.)<\/h3>\n
Now that we have most of our content migration map in place, we’ll want to record some benchmark statistics for comparison.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what we recommend recording:<\/p>\n
Time on site<\/strong>: we would expect this to increase if we have improved the overall user experience of the site.<\/p>\n
Bounce rate<\/strong><\/a>: this is a tricky metric to understand, so I won\u2019t go into too much detail here. A low bounce rate is great, but a high bounce rate is not necessarily a bad thing. Either way, take note of it so that you can compare.<\/p>\n
Return rate<\/strong>: this is another good metric to monitor. If the user experience has improved, we would expect users to return more often.<\/p>\n
Goals<\/strong>: we want more of our goals to be hit with the new site.<\/p>\n
Conversions<\/strong>: not just a key metric, but THE metric that we definitely want to see improve.<\/p>\n
Note<\/strong>: these are my suggestions, but every business is unique. So you should decide which metrics are most important to your business and which you aim to improve.<\/p>\n
14. Verify the current domain with Google Search Console (GSC)<\/h3>\n
This is something you should have done already. But if you haven’t…. now is the time to do so<\/a>!<\/p>\n
If we change the actual address of the site (the domain), one of the actions we will perform is a Change of Address instruction in GSC.<\/p>\n
So you\u2019ll need to make sure that the existing domain is verified first.<\/p>\n
15. Verify the old domain with Bing Webmaster tools<\/h3>\n
Most of us focus on Google (quite correctly as it drives around 92% of search as of 2023<\/a>), but Bing can also send a steady stream of traffic with its market share of roughly 3%.<\/p>\n
With recent innovations, like an AI chat mode powered by ChatGPT<\/a>, Bing may even be able to continue capturing market share from Google.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019d recommend verifying your domain in Bing\u2019s Webmaster tools<\/a>.<\/p>\n
![\"bing](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/bing-webmaster-tools-setup.png\")
<\/p>\nYou have nothing to lose and traffic to gain!<\/p>\n
16. Download any Disavow file for the existing domain<\/h3>\n
If you’ve disavowed<\/a> any links in the past, you should download a copy of this file, especially if you’re migrating to a new address.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll perform a full 301 redirect of the old site to the new one. So any old toxic links that aren\u2019t disavowed will be inherited by the new domain. This means that any toxic link penalties will also be inherited!<\/p>\n
You can use the same disavow file for the new site to avoid any issues.<\/p>\n
17. Prepare new server infrastructure<\/h3>\n
If you are migrating your site to a new infrastructure (i.e. different hosting, or new cloud servers) now is the time to make sure everything is running smoothly.<\/p>\n
18. Prepare and install a new SSL certificate<\/h3>\n
As part of the set-up of the new infrastructure, we\u2019ll need to either:<\/p>\n
- \n
- migrate our existing SSL certificate, or<\/li>\n
- create a new one if the domain has changed<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
This can be a somewhat lengthy process, particularly if you are using an Organization Validated certificate or Extended Validation certificate. So you should make sure you have prepared all of this beforehand.<\/p>\n
Have the certificate ready and installed before you launch.<\/p>\n
19. Create a copy of the current sitemap<\/h3>\n
Once we perform our migration, we\u2019ll need to double-check we have all of the content that existed in the sitemap.xml file<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Even if we\u2019re making changes to the content, we will still want to have a copy of the sitemap.xml.<\/p>\n
Why? Because we\u2019ll want to make sure that the new sitemap.xml doesn\u2019t have:<\/p>\n
- \n
- any extra pages that we don\u2019t need\/don’t exist anymore, or<\/li>\n
- is missing any pages that should have been included<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
20. Make a copy of the robots.txt file<\/h3>\n
As with the sitemap.xml file, the robots.txt file<\/a> contains important directives which influence how Google and other bots crawl your site.<\/p>\n
A misstep in the new robots.txt file could create all sorts of ranking chaos. Even though small errors aren\u2019t always an issue, accidentally blocking pages that shouldn\u2019t be blocked is. Here\u2019s what Google says about robots.txt mistakes on their Search Central blog:
![\"what](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/search-central-robots-txt.png\")
<\/p>\nSo make sure you keep a copy of the old file for comparison.<\/p>\n
Migration Checklist<\/h2>\n
Preparation done? It\u2019s time to migrate your site!<\/p>\n
1. Migrate all important content<\/h3>\n
Our first step will be to move all the important content from the old site to the new site.<\/p>\n
Why do I say \u201cimportant\u201d content?<\/p>\n
Because we should only be migrating the content that we decided to keep during our preparation.<\/p>\n
If a page is going to be deleted (or merged) there\u2019s no point importing it to the new site. We\u2019ll just be giving ourselves an extra step.<\/p>\n
The content migration process will differ across frameworks. But most CMSs will have plugins or extensions to help you with migration.<\/p>\n
Note<\/strong>: particular care needs to be taken with images during migration. If your domain or folder structure has changed, you\u2019ll need to make sure that embedded images are pointing to the correct URL\/path.<\/p>\n
2. Create an appropriate response for the pages that are going to be removed or merged<\/h3>\n
Any content that is going to be merged or deleted needs to be handled appropriately.<\/p>\n
If a visitor (or search engine) tries to access an old URL, they should be served an appropriate response.<\/p>\n
So what is the appropriate response?<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what we recommend:<\/p>\n
- \n
- For pages that have merged with other pages, you should 301 redirect the old URLs to the primary page.<\/li>\n
- Pages that are no longer relevant, but where a page with a very similar topic exists on the site should be 301 redirected to the relevant topic\/page.<\/li>\n
- If you have a category related to the topic, 301 redirecting the old URL to the parent category is recommended.<\/li>\n
- Pages that are no longer valid and where no other similar topic exists should serve a 410 (gone) response. This is better than a 404<\/a> as it informs Google that the page won\u2019t be coming back and should be removed from their index.<\/li>\n
- Do not redirect broken pages to the homepage – this is a user experience problem and any internal links that are redirected to the homepage will be treated as (soft) 404 errors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
3. Create a custom 404 page<\/h3>\n
Hitting a 404 page is a frustrating experience for users.<\/p>\n
A custom 404 page can soften the blow.<\/p>\n
Our advice? Explain that the site has been redesigned and some of the content is no longer available. You can also suggest alternative courses of action such as:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Searching for the specific keywords they hit<\/li>\n
- Getting in touch with you<\/li>\n
- Visiting relevant sections of the site they might be looking for<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
A fun 404 visual or message<\/a> also helps to break the frustration.<\/p>\n
4. Be wary of soft 404s<\/h3>\n
We mentioned above that you should avoid redirecting deleted pages to the homepage.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because Google may choose to treat such redirects as soft 404s<\/a>. They are expecting a specific piece of content, but instead, they get redirected to a non-relevant page (in this case the home page). And when that happens, instead of link equity being passed over, the link value is lost.<\/p>\n
Additionally, redirecting internal links to the homepage is a known spammy tactic. If you do it, your website could be sending negative SEO signals.<\/p>\n
5. Optimize your META descriptions<\/h3>\n
A migration is a great opportunity to fix niggling SEO issues.<\/p>\n
So we\u2019d recommend cleaning up (and improving) your meta descriptions as part of your migration process. It\u2019s a worthwhile exercise that can increase your click-through rate from Google.<\/p>\n
Head over to our meta description guide<\/a> to find out how to craft the perfect SEO meta description.<\/p>\n
6. Prepare redirects from the old URLs to the new URLs (Redirection plugin or .htaccess)<\/h3>\n
Did any URLs change in the migration? You\u2019ll need to prepare redirects to maintain your rankings.<\/p>\n
You can manage redirects with:<\/p>\n
- \n
- plugins<\/li>\n
- cPanel\/your hosting provider<\/li>\n
- directly through the .htaccess file of the website.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
We prefer to use plugins where possible as they make things easier to implement and track. And easier is always better!<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re running WordPress, Redirection<\/a> is a super simple plugin that helps you manage your 301s.<\/p>\n
![\"redirection](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/redirection-plugin-screenshot.png\")
<\/p>\nHowever, if you want to manually edit your .htaccess file here\u2019s how to do it<\/a>.<\/p>\n
7. Audit the (new) test site<\/h3>\n
With your content and redirects in place, it\u2019s a good time to run an audit of the (new) test site.<\/p>\n
Because even when you\u2019re following a checklist like this one, a large migration is likely to throw up a few errors\/issues.<\/p>\n
You can use Seobility to perform the site audit<\/a>. And you can override any password protection or crawler blocking with a few clicks…<\/p>\n
![\"overview\"](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/overview.png\")
<\/p>\nYou\u2019ll find these settings in \u201cCrawler Settings\u201d in the dashboard.<\/p>\n
![\"http](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/http-authentication-settings.png\")
<\/p>\n8. Fix the issues discovered by the site audit<\/h3>\n
We\u2019re sure it goes without saying that you\u2019ll want to fix as many technical SEO issues as you can before going live.<\/p>\n
Read our SEO audit guide<\/a> for details on how to find and fix some of the most common SEO errors. This could be a lengthy step, but it\u2019s one that\u2019s super worthwhile.<\/p>\n
9. Update any internal content redirects with updated URLs<\/h3>\n
Redirects are going to play a major role in our migration. But any time there\u2019s an opportunity to avoid them\u2026 we should take that opportunity!<\/p>\n
After all, a redirect is an extra \u201chop\u201d that both crawlers and users need to perform. So it\u2019s better to update links to point directly to the correct page whenever possible.<\/p>\n
And we can do just that with internal links.<\/p>\n
In Seobility, you can find Redirects to fix under OnPage > Structure > Redirects<\/em> in the Links section.<\/p>\n
![\"redirects\"](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/redirects.png\")
<\/p>\n10. Resolve any broken link migration issues (broken links, broken images)<\/h3>\n
If you deleted content and forgot to remove (or redirect) any internal links, you\u2019ll create an internal broken link<\/a>.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s not good.<\/p>\n
Check the HTTP-Status Overview panel on your Seobility \u201cTech. & Meta\u201d page for 404 errors.<\/p>\n
![\"http](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/http-status.png\")
<\/p>\nIn the example above we can see there are 19 pages currently returning a 404. So any internal links to those pages will need to be updated.<\/p>\n
Click on the number next to \u201c404\u201d to view all the pages returning 404s (on the left), and the pages that link to them (on the right).<\/p>\n
![\"list](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/404-pages.png\")
<\/p>\nBroken images and scripts will show up on the File Sources panel (\u201cNon-retrievable file sources\u201d).<\/p>\n
![\"issues](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/file-sources.png\")
<\/p>\n11. Remove any \u201cextra\u201d pages from the new template<\/h3>\n
It\u2019s worth double-checking that the migration didn\u2019t create any \u201cextra\u201d pages.<\/p>\n
For example, you might have forgotten to delete demo content after setting up a new theme. It happens…<\/p>\n
You can browse a full list of pages discovered during Seobility\u2019s crawl by clicking on \u201cPages Crawled\u201d under \u201cCrawling Statistics\u201d (Tech. & Meta).<\/p>\n
![\"crawling](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/seoability-crawling-statistics-1.png\")
<\/p>\nLook out for any pages you weren\u2019t expecting.<\/p>\n
As an additional check, the \u201cText Quality\u201d panel of Seobility\u2019s content audit will highlight pages that include filler text…<\/p>\n
![\"filler](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/filler-text.png\")
<\/p>\n…there’s a good chance that some of these pages are junk.<\/p>\n
12. Create a new robots.txt file<\/h3>\n
Content wise, we should be pretty much set now. But there are still a number of steps we need to run through before we\u2019re ready to go live.<\/p>\n
First up, we\u2019ll want to set up our robots.txt file.<\/p>\n
If you haven\u2019t changed platforms, that\u2019s probably just going to be a case of copying your existing file to the new site. But it\u2019s still worth double-checking the file to make sure everything looks correct.<\/p>\n
13. Create a new sitemap<\/h3>\n
It\u2019s time to create a new sitemap.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll be comparing this against the old one to look out for any obvious errors. And we\u2019ll also want to make sure that any content we chose not to migrate (whether redirected or deleted) is not included on the sitemap.<\/p>\n
Watch out for additional taxonomies that were not present in the old version. And if you spot any, then make sure you\u2019ve set up your SEO plugin correctly.<\/p>\n
For example, WooCommerce tends to create a large number of entries in the sitemap (colors, sizes, brands, and other product attributes).<\/p>\n
These are all thin pages<\/a> that add no value to the end user. And too many of these pages could result in your site being downgraded by Google.<\/p>\n
In YOAST\u2019s SEO plugin, you\u2019ll want to set the value to \u201cNo\u201d for any taxonomies you want to exclude from search.<\/p>\n
![\"product](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/product-tag-woocommerce-not-appear-search-pages.png\")
<\/p>\n14. Ensure images are not creating their own URL<\/h3>\n
One particularly annoying SEO gotcha in WordPress is that (if not configured correctly) image URLs can be accessible on their own page.<\/p>\n
This can result in hundreds (or even thousands) of thin pages that contain only an image.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a ton of thin content and a major SEO issue.<\/p>\n
The fix? Ensure that all image pages are not indexable and redirect to the actual image. It\u2019s easy to do in YOAST.<\/p>\n
![\"media](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Media-urls.png\")
<\/p>\nClick the switch to \u2018Yes\u2019 to automatically redirect the attachment URLs to the image itself.<\/p>\n
![\"yoast](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/yoast-correct-images-setting.jpg\")
<\/p>\n15. Check that canonical tags are correct<\/h3>\n
Many CMSs create different ways to access the same content. Tags, categories, pagination, filters, and other parameters can be particularly troublesome.<\/p>\n
These days Google will do a decent job of guessing the correct URL. But we don\u2019t want to leave anything to chance\u2026<\/p>\n
…so you should make sure each page has a canonical tag pointing to the definitive version.<\/p>\n
Seobility checks for canonical link<\/a> problems in the OnPage > Structure<\/em> report under Canonical link errors.<\/p>\n
![\"canonical](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/canonical-link-errors.png\")
<\/p>\n16. Compare internal linking<\/h3>\n
This is SUPER important<\/p>\n
As we previously mentioned, internal links are how Google crawls your site and perceives its structure.<\/p>\n
So we don\u2019t want any drastic changes to the following:<\/p>\n
Navigation<\/strong> – pages that we want to rank such as product and service pages that have direct links, or links from 1st level pages should keep them.<\/p>\n
Category pages<\/strong> – some themes create automatic internal links to category pages through breadcrumbs<\/a> or other methods. Make sure the new theme is maintaining these links, otherwise, you\u2019ll lose a significant amount of power going to posts\/pages. On the flip side, if your new theme creates these links and they weren\u2019t in place before, you might want to adjust your settings to remove them.<\/p>\n
Content links<\/strong> – we should maintain as many of these as we can. A migration is not the ideal time to change links within posts.<\/p>\n
17. Add Schema Data to NAP, Content, and anything else that is relevant<\/h3>\n
Schema<\/a> helps machines (in our case search engines) understand content by presenting information in a structured format.<\/p>\n
And Google also uses schema to display rich snippets in the search results. Which helps us grab more clicks!<\/p>\n
So whenever possible, we want to include it.<\/p>\n
As a minimum, you should include Organization structured data with your NAP (Name, Address, Phone numbers).<\/p>\n
But products, reviews, recipes, events, articles, authors, and more all have their own schema markup you can include on a page.<\/p>\n
SEOPress is a cool plugin that helps you manage your site\u2019s schema (check out my review here<\/a>).<\/p>\n
![\"local](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/local-business-schema.png\")
<\/p>\nFor more on schema and rich snippets check out our detailed rich snippets guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n
18. Make sure you have all important legal pages in place<\/h3>\n
Legal pages give legitimacy to your site and help with trust. So make sure you have all of the necessary pages in place.<\/p>\n
These include…<\/p>\n
- \n
- Privacy Policy<\/li>\n
- Terms and Conditions<\/li>\n
- Cookie Policy<\/li>\n
- GDPR compliance information<\/li>\n
- FTC Affiliate Disclosure<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
…and any other pages required within your niche.<\/p>\n
19. Verify Contact forms and other forms work correctly<\/h3>\n
Verify that contact forms and other user inputs work correctly. A shiny new website isn\u2019t much use if you\u2019re not receiving enquiries or sign-ups!<\/p>\n
20. Check your About Us page and make sure it is as comprehensive or better than the old version<\/h3>\n
Your site\u2019s \u201cAbout Us\u201d page is important for building trust with search engines and users.<\/p>\n
Our advice? Make your about page as detailed as possible and include physical locations and photos of people working in the business whenever possible.<\/p>\n
And we also recommend including social media links for both the site and its authors\/team.<\/p>\n
All these convey a sense of trust, both to users and to search engines. For more information on why this is so important, check out our post on E-E-A-T<\/a>.<\/p>\n
21. Add Google Analytics, AdWords, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel and any other 3rd party scripts<\/h3>\n
Our migration is almost complete. But the last thing we\u2019ll want to do is add any required third-party scripts, such as Google Analytics.<\/p>\n
Just be aware that each script will have an impact on load time. So add only the absolute necessary scripts required for running your site and collecting the data you need.<\/p>\n
Launch Checklist<\/h2>\n
With our migration complete, it\u2019s time to launch!<\/p>\n
We recommend scheduling your launch for off-peak periods. This will give you time to iron out any issues before peak load hits.<\/p>\n
Here are the steps\u2026<\/p>\n
1. Remove password protection, or noindex\/disallow directives<\/h3>\n
Now that you\u2019re ready to launch, you can disable any methods in place to discourage or stop search engines from visiting your site.<\/p>\n
Make sure to double-check this. You definitely don\u2019t want to launch with crawlers unable to visit!<\/p>\n
As a starting point, make sure the \u201cDiscourage search engines\u201d checkbox is unticked if you\u2019re using WordPress.<\/p>\n
You can find it under Settings > Reading<\/em><\/p>\n
![\"discourage](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/discourage-search-engines-checkbox.png\")
<\/p>\n2. Update nameservers if you are moving server hosting<\/h3>\n
If you\u2019re moving to a new domain or changing hosting, it\u2019s time to hit the \u201cswitch\u201d and launch to the world.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll need to update the DNS settings or nameservers of the domain to point to the new server<\/p>\n
Note<\/strong>: you might need to wait a few hours for the DNS change to fully propagate before you start seeing the new version of the site.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re keeping the same hosting (but in a different directory), you\u2019ll just need to change the directory attached to the domain.<\/p>\n
Or if you\u2019ve been working on a staging site, your hosting might have an option to push it live. If in doubt, ask your host for support!<\/p>\n
3. Set up full redirect in .htaccess or as necessary<\/h3>\n
Switched to a new domain? You\u2019ll need to set up redirects to point visitors (and crawlers) to the new address.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how to do that at the domain level using .htaccess.<\/p>\n
RewriteEngine on<\/em>\r\nRewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.oldsite.com$<\/em>\r\nRewriteRule (.*)$ https:\/\/www.newsite.com\/$1 [R=301,L]<\/em>\r\n\r\nRewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^oldsite.com [NC]<\/em>\r\nRewriteRule (.*)$ https:\/\/www.newsite.com\/$1 [R=301,L]<\/em>\r\n<\/pre>\nThe above redirects https:\/\/, https:\/\/, https:\/\/www and https:\/\/www.oldsite.com to https:\/\/www.newsite.com<\/p>\n
Individual URLs will also be correctly redirected.<\/p>\n
4. Make sure the old site is no longer accessible to search engines<\/h3>\n
At this point, we need to make sure that the old site is no longer accessible to search engines.<\/p>\n
Any requests to the old domain should 301 redirect as explained above, otherwise we\u2019ll end up with duplicate content<\/a> issues. Which we definitely don\u2019t want.<\/p>\n
Look out for rogue subdomains (oldsite.domain.com) and subdirectories (domain.com\/oldsite). These should also redirect.<\/p>\n
5. Perform a thorough visual inspection<\/h3>\n
Now that the new site is live, run through it with a fine tooth comb, page-by-page, and make sure everything looks correct.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll also want to double-check URLs are being displayed as expected.<\/p>\n
6. Test Redirects<\/h3>\n
As we\u2019ve highlighted, redirects are a critical part of the migration. So you\u2019ll want to triple-check that everything is working as it should be.<\/p>\n
We recommend testing the following:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Check whether internal redirects are working correctly (i.e. if you moved \/contact-us.html to \/contact-us make sure that the redirect is sending the user to the final desired URL)<\/li>\n
- Check whether redirects from the old domain to the new domain are working correctly. www.oldsite.com\/page-1 should now be sending you to www.newsite.com\/page-1<\/li>\n
- Check redirected internal links from the old site. For pages that have changed their address, confirm that the old URL on the old site takes you to the new URL on the new site. For example, www.oldsite.com\/contact-us.html should send you to www.newsite.com\/contact-us<\/li>\n
- Check http to https redirects are working correctly. https:\/\/www.oldsite.com\/contact-us.html should send you to https:\/\/www.newsite.com\/contact-us<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
7. Check several backlinks and verify that they are redirecting to new content as per your map<\/h3>\n
Another key reason for making sure all our 301 redirects are in place? Backlinks.<\/p>\n
To preserve link equity and link traffic, we need to make sure that all links pointing to our old site are redirecting to the new URLs.<\/p>\n
Run through the backlinks report for your site in Seobility, and check several links to make sure they are redirecting to the correct page.<\/p>\n
If you find a link that doesn\u2019t redirect (or you get a 404 error) you\u2019ll need to retrace your steps to figure out what went wrong.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s critical that we don\u2019t lose any links!<\/p>\n
Tip: You can use the \u201cBroken links\u201d tab in the backlinks list in Seobility to check if the new site has any broken backlinks. This will help you discover any broken links you might have missed.<\/p>\n
![\"find](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/broken-links.png\")
<\/p>\n8. Run a site:olddomain.com query, click on a few URLs, and verify that you are being redirected to the new page<\/h3>\n
Perform a site:www.olddomain.com query on Google. While not exhaustive, this will list a good chunk of the URLs Google has indexed for your old site.<\/p>\n
Click a few of these results to confirm that you are fully redirected to the appropriate page.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re not getting redirected, you\u2019ll need to fix this asap. Otherwise you\u2019ll lose rankings and traffic.<\/p>\n
9. Add your new site to Google Search Console<\/h3>\n
Once you\u2019re happy with your redirects, it\u2019s time to submit the new site to Google Search Console.<\/p>\n
Verify the new domain on Google Search console by completing one of the verification methods detailed here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
10. Add your new site to Bing Webmaster tools<\/h3>\n
Verify the new site on Bing Webmaster tools. We know, we know\u2026 but again it does drive some traffic!<\/p>\n
11. Test your Robots.txt file with the Google Robots Testing tool<\/h3>\n
Make sure that your content can be accessed by verifying the site using Google\u2019s Robots Testing tool<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Try to access some important URLs and URL patterns to make sure that Google is allowed to crawl them.<\/p>\n
![\"robots](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/robots-txt-testing-tool.png\")
<\/p>\nNote:<\/strong> The robots.txt testing tool only works with URL-prefix properties, but not with Domain properties. If the link doesn\u2019t work for you, you can use this free tool<\/a> as an alternative.<\/p>\n
12. Test Your Site for Correct Structured Data and Fix Errors<\/h3>\n
As part of our migration checklist we worked on structured data (schema)<\/a>.<\/p>\n
So now we\u2019re live, we\u2019ll want to test to make sure there are no errors in our schema code.<\/p>\n
You can use Google\u2019s Schema Markup Validator<\/a> and their Rich Results Test<\/a> to check your schema.<\/p>\n
![\"schema](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/schema-markup-validator.png\")
<\/p>\n13. Check that the new site is mobile friendly<\/h3>\n
A mobile-friendly website is a must.<\/p>\n
While your new site will hopefully have a responsive design<\/a>, it\u2019s worth running it through Google\u2019s Mobile-Friendly Test<\/a> in case any individual elements on the page are causing issues on mobile.<\/p>\n
![\"mobile](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/google-mobile-friendly-test.png\")
<\/p>\n14. Submit new Sitemap<\/h3>\n
If everything\u2019s looking good, we\u2019re ready to tell Google to start crawling our new site.<\/p>\n
Submit the new sitemap.xml URL on the new domain in Search Console, and make sure there are no errors after submission.<\/p>\n
Do the same for Bing Webmaster tools.<\/p>\n
15. Add Disavow file to the new property<\/h3>\n
If you had a disavow file for your old site, now is the time to upload it into the new property on Search Console.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, you\u2019ll no longer be disavowing those toxic links\u2026 and they could have a negative impact on your rankings!<\/p>\n
16. Perform a Request Index<\/h3>\n
Google should find your new site pretty quickly, as when it recrawls the old one it will pick up on the redirects.<\/p>\n
But you can speed up the process by asking Google to recrawl<\/a> the old domain (so they see the 301) and then asking it to crawl the new domain.<\/p>\n
This can be done using the URL inspection tool in Search Console (for a small number of URLs) or by submitting the new sitemap.<\/p>\n
17. Perform a change of address exercise<\/h3>\n
Another way to speed up the process of Google switching domains is to use the Change of Address tool in Search Console.<\/p>\n
![\"change](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/change-of-address-tool.png\")
<\/p>\nNote<\/strong>: you\u2019ll need to have your redirects in place first for this to work.<\/p>\n
18. Add a warning\/info message that your site has moved and may contain glitches<\/h3>\n
As a courtesy to your users, you might want to put up a short message letting them know that your site has recently migrated.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n
- \n
- If the redesign is drastic, users might get confused and need a bit of guidance<\/li>\n
- With a large site, there\u2019s a chance you may have missed something (you\u2019re only human). You can crowd-source help by asking users to report any problems they encounter<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
19. Update social media URLs<\/h3>\n
Now that your new site is live, you\u2019ll want to update any links that you have access to.<\/p>\n
Social Media would be the first port of call.<\/p>\n
But if you have access to other links (for example forum profiles) you\u2019ll want to change them too.<\/p>\n
The more external signals Google encounters that the new domain is replacing the old one, the stronger the sign that this site has moved to a new location.<\/p>\n
20. Launch any rebranded social media visuals<\/h3>\n
If the migration was part of a rebrand, you should also update any social media or external visuals to reflect the new branding.<\/p>\n
This will keep messaging consistent across all channels.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t forget to update your emails\/newsletters, etc.<\/p>\n
If you have drip marketing campaigns that are not typically seen by internal users, these might be forgotten. So ensure you go through all your marketing platforms and update accordingly!<\/p>\n
21. Check Pagespeed Insights or Lighthouse Audit<\/h3>\n
It is a good idea to check that your PageSpeed Insights<\/a> metrics or Lighthouse Audit<\/a> in the Chrome Dev Tools look healthy.<\/p>\n
![\"pagespeed](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/pagespeed2.png\")
<\/p>\nIf there are any issues, you can find 39 tips to improve your page speed here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Post-launch Checklist<\/h2>\n
Now that your new site is live, it\u2019s time for some additional checks and housekeeping.<\/p>\n
This phase starts from the day of launch and runs until a few weeks after.<\/p>\n
1. Update Google Analytics goals\/conversions as necessary<\/h3>\n
Some URLs might have changed during the migration process. If so, you may need to update the way that certain Google Analytics goals are evaluated or the pages where conversions happen.<\/p>\n
We put this step first as it\u2019s important to track the (hopefully positive!) results of your migration.<\/p>\n
2. Update Facebook Pixel, Google Ads, or other marketing software as necessary<\/h3>\n
As with Google Analytics Goals, you may have other 3rd party software that needs updating to reflect the new website infrastructure.<\/p>\n
For example, if you run Facebook campaigns, or Google Ads campaigns, you may need to update any events that are triggered on a page level, and then confirm they are still working as expected.<\/p>\n
3. Add Heat Map software to see how the user experience has improved<\/h3>\n
Improving user experience should be a primary goal of a website migration. So we\u2019ll want to measure how users are interacting with the new site.<\/p>\n
We recommend using Heat Map<\/a> software or user session recordings to see how users browse your new site.<\/p>\n
- Do not redirect broken pages to the homepage – this is a user experience problem and any internal links that are redirected to the homepage will be treated as (soft) 404 errors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Preparing for the relaunch<\/a><\/li>
![\"Hotjar](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/hotjar.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Pages](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/gsc-pages-report.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"why](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/why-pages-arent-indexed.png\")
<\/p>\n