How to migrate your website without losing SEO or enquiries

1. Before you migrate, list every page, form and integration

You can't protect what you haven't written down. Before anything is built, make a full list of what the current site does. Google's own site move guide starts the same way: generate a list of old URLs, then map each one to its new home.

• Pages: every web address, including old landing pages, blog posts, PDFs and pages that aren't in the menu.
• Forms: contact, quote, booking and newsletter forms, and where each one sends its data.
• Integrations: booking tools, payments, chat, CRM, email marketing, Google Analytics and any ad tracking.
• Accounts: domain registrar, DNS, hosting, email, and who holds each login.

Pull addresses from more than one place. Your current sitemap, the Pages report in Google Search Console and your analytics will each show pages the others miss. Google suggests checking analytics or server logs for the pages that get the most traffic, so you know which ones matter most.

2. Build a 301 redirect map

Your new site will almost certainly use different web addresses. A redirect map tells the server where each old address now lives, so a customer clicking an old link or a Google result lands on the right page instead of an error.

• Use permanent redirects. Google recommends server-side permanent redirects (301 or 308). Google treats them as a signal that the new page should replace the old one in search.
• Match like with like. Send each old service page to the new page about the same service, not to the home page. Google warns that redirecting many old addresses to one unrelated page can confuse people and may be treated as a soft 404, which means Google sees it as a missing page.
• Map the content too. Decide which old pages merge, which get rewritten and which are dropped. A dropped page with visits or links should still redirect to its closest match.
• Avoid chains. Point each old address straight at its final page, not through a series of hops.

Moving from Wix needs extra care. Wix says its sites can't be exported to another host, so the pages are rebuilt on the new platform and the redirect map is what connects the old addresses to the new ones.

3. Keep forms and enquiry routing working

Rankings get most of the attention, but a broken contact form costs you enquiries from the first hour. The new site needs to send every enquiry to the same place the old one did, or somewhere better.

• Check where each form sends. The inbox, the CRM, the booking calendar, and any auto-reply the customer receives.
• Rebuild the connections. Booking widgets, payment links, chat and email signups often need new embed codes or new account settings.
• Move your tracking. Add your Google Analytics tag and any ad conversion tracking to the new site, or you'll lose sight of where enquiries come from.
• Keep phone numbers and email addresses identical unless you mean to change them.

4. Build and test the new site while the old one stays live

Never take the current site down to build the new one. Build on a private preview address, test it there, and only switch when it's ready. Customers and Google keep using the old site the whole time.

• Keep the preview out of Google. Block it from search while it's in progress. Google notes that if you block crawling during development, you should prepare what the live settings will look like for launch day.
• Test every redirect in your map on the preview, row by row.
• Send a test enquiry through every form and confirm it arrives where it should.
• Check it on a phone, including the menu, call buttons, maps and booking.
• Check page titles and descriptions carried over for your most visited pages.

5. Switch over with a DNS checklist

DNS is the setting at your domain provider that tells the internet where your website and email live. The switch-over is usually a small change to a few records, but a mistake here can take down your site or your email.

• Lower the TTL early. TTL controls how long other networks cache your DNS. Google recommends lowering it at least a week before the move, to something like a few hours, so the change spreads quickly.
• Record your current settings. Screenshot every DNS record before you change anything.
• Leave email records alone. Your MX records route email. Change only the records that point to the website, unless email is moving too.
• Pick a quiet time to switch, and have someone ready to test straight after.
• Keep the old hosting running until traffic to it stops. Google suggests watching the old server until visits reach zero.
• Remove any search block left over from the preview, so Google can crawl the live site.

6. Tell Google in Search Console

Google will find the new site on its own, but Search Console helps it happen faster and shows you if anything goes wrong. If you haven't set it up yet, our guide to why your website isn't showing up on Google explains how.

• Submit the new sitemap in Search Console once the new site is live, and remove the old sitemap when the new one is in place.
• Check the Pages report for errors and pages that dropped out of the index.
• Use the Change of Address tool only if your domain changes, for example moving from a .com to a .com.au. Google says it isn't needed for a move to HTTPS, a switch between www and non-www, or new page addresses on the same domain.
• If you do change domain, verify both the old and new domains in Search Console under the same Google account. The Change of Address signal lasts 180 days, so keep redirects in place at least that long.

7. Watch the first month after launch

Google says a small to medium site can take a few weeks for most pages to move across in search, and that rankings can fluctuate during that time. That's normal. What you're looking for is anything that doesn't recover.

• Enquiries: compare form submissions, calls and bookings with the same weeks before the move.
• 404 errors: check Search Console and your analytics for old addresses that land on missing pages, and add redirects for them.
• Search traffic: look at clicks and impressions in Search Console for your top pages. A short dip that recovers is fine. A page that keeps falling usually has a broken or wrong redirect.
• Redirects: keep them. Google recommends keeping redirects for as long as possible, generally at least one year.

If you're still choosing what to move to, our comparison of Squarespace, Webflow, WordPress and owning your site covers the trade-offs, and website redesign vs a new website helps you decide how much to change. Lumeen handles the move as part of every website we build: we move everything across and your current site stays live until launch.

Key takeaways

1. (01)

   List every page, form and integration before you build, and sort pages by visits.

2. (02)

   Redirect every old address to its closest new page with a permanent 301 redirect, not to the home page.

3. (03)

   Build and test on a preview while the old site stays live, then switch DNS without touching email records.

4. (04)

   Submit the new sitemap, use Change of Address only for a new domain, and keep redirects for at least a year.

Frequently asked questions

More answers on price, hosting and timing in our FAQ.