How to migrate a website without losing your search rankings

Before the move: record what you have

1. List every address of the old site

   Take the sitemap, the pages report in Google Search Console and the top pages in your analytics. Save the list in a spreadsheet: this is the most important file of the whole move.

2. Mark the pages that bring visitors

   In Search Console, export pages and queries for the last few months. The pages with impressions and clicks are the ones you must not lose.

3. Save their titles, descriptions and headings

   For the pages that rank, copy the title, meta description, main heading and text. You can improve them later, one at a time, but do not drop them in the move.

4. Note the pages other sites link to

   Search Console's links report shows which of your pages other sites point to. Those links carry weight; their pages need a home on the new site.

Build the redirect map

For every old address, write the new one next to it. Keep addresses unchanged wherever you can: no redirect is better than a good redirect. Where an address must change, the old one gets a permanent (301) redirect to the page that replaces it.

• Sending every old address to the home page. Google treats that much like a missing page.
• Temporary (302) redirects where the move is permanent.
• Chains: old address to a second address to a third. Point each one straight at its final page.
• Forgetting variants: with and without www, http and https, a trailing slash, old language folders.

Keep what Google already likes

• The text of ranking pages. A shorter, prettier page can lose the words it ranked for.
• Titles and main headings, at least at first.
• Internal links between your pages, so nothing important ends up orphaned.
• Image descriptions (alt text), structured data and language tags if the old site had them.
• Pages that render their content without JavaScript. Sites made with some AI app builders show crawlers an almost empty page; check what Google sees with Search Console's URL inspection.

Launch day

1. Remove any "noindex" left from testing

   The most common and most damaging mistake: a new site that still tells search engines to stay away. Check robots.txt and the page headers.

2. Switch the domain and test the redirects

   Open a sample of old addresses from your spreadsheet, including the top pages, and check that each lands on the right new page.

3. Check canonical tags

   Each page should name itself on the live domain, not a test address or the old platform.

4. Submit the new sitemap

   Add it in Search Console and request indexing for the most important pages.

5. Check analytics and forms

   Visits are counted, and enquiries arrive where they should.

The weeks after

• Watch the pages report in Search Console for "not found" errors, and redirect any old address you missed.
• Compare impressions and clicks with the weeks before. A small dip for a few weeks is normal while Google re-reads the site; a steady fall is a sign something is wrong.
• Keep the redirects for good. Old links on other sites and in people's bookmarks will keep arriving for years.
• If you also changed the domain, use the change of address tool in Search Console.

When it is worth getting help

If the old site brings a steady flow of customers from search, the move is worth doing carefully, and a second pair of hands helps. Our migrations keep your domain, move the content and set up the redirects, and you then change the site yourself with AI.

• Migrating from Tilda
• Migrating from Wix
• Migrating from WordPress
• Moving an app off Lovable
• Rebuilding a site on any platform