Migrate a website without losing useful content

Inventory before removing anything

Combine the sitemap, live pages, CMS exports and, where available, visited pages and inbound links. Include documents, images, translations, forms and result pages. For each URL, record its purpose, content owner and decision: keep, improve, combine with a related page or retire.

Do not remove a page solely because it has little traffic. It may serve a rare need, provide a customer reference or contain contractual information. Check facts and usage rights before moving copy and media.

• Old URL and current status.
• New URL or reason for retirement.
• Content, language and media to retain.

Map old addresses to relevant destinations

Build an old URL → destination table. A retained page can often keep its address; if it moves, redirect permanently to its equivalent. When pages are combined, confirm that the destination answers their main questions. A genuinely retired page with no replacement should return an appropriate status.

Avoid redirect chains and sending many unrelated pages to the home page. Google’s migration guide recommends matching destinations and checking both old and new URLs.

Prepare the new site with real content

Retain titles, descriptions, images, alternatives, internal links and structured data where they still describe the page accurately. Update facts that changed. Each language needs its own canonical URL and hreflang links only to versions that are actually available.

Test forms, filters, errors, mobile layouts and loading with real content. Keep the staging site out of the index, then remove accidental crawl blocks when the public site opens.

Check launch and the following days

After launch, sample every page family and test all important redirects. Check HTTP status, final destination, canonical, images, links, sitemap and form delivery. Review 404 errors through logs and monitoring tools without exposing personal data in reports.

Keep redirects while old addresses may still be used. Track problems and correct wrong mappings. Search visibility may fluctuate during a migration; examine content changes and technical errors rather than drawing a conclusion from a single day. The website brief helps assign responsibilities before the move.

• Priority old URLs tested.
• Sitemap limited to new canonical URLs.
• Owner for post-launch monitoring.