SEO site migration is a must on a new website design
Posted onΒ
- 7 November 2025
The importance of a proper SEO site migration when changing your web design
Video transcript below
Okay, let’s get into updating your website. As a digital marketing company, this is something we’re passionate about as we love making new websites that are able to do all the selling for our clients, such as implementing great call-to-actions, modern, crisp, and fast-loading clean designs, but I’m not here to brag about some of the websites we’ve created. I want to talk about websites created by other companies that end up losing business for their customer. This is due to poor SEO site migration.
When you create a new website, a lot of the time, meta data changes, URL structures change, especially when moving across different platforms or if the web design company is too lazy to implement the same URLs. When you change your website, it is vital that you maintain all metadata, try to keep as much content as possible or improve on it. If you’re reducing content, make sure you’re still addressing the search terms you are targeting based on user intent and following all the heading rules.
Most important of all is 301 redirects
When URLs are changed, you must redirect all the old page URLs to the new URLs or the closest matching page. This is a must. If not, all the trust and value from the original page will be lost, and you’ll be starting from scratch. We have seen many e-commerce brands go from hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue a month to a few thousand a month after they launch their new website as their web developers are not familiar with the SEO site migrations, which is fair enough, or their SEO company are too lazy and end up redirecting all the original product URLs to the home page or to another category of pages.
Download the product CSV file and organise them one by one. We have done countless migrations like this, and every single time, we were not only able to redirect all the value from the original site to the new site but also boost ranking positions and revenue.
Google loves websites that are updated to create a better user experience. So, if your site migration is on point, you’ll get extra kudos points from Let us know if you’re looking to build a new website and want to boost your current website trust. Speak to you soon
FAQ β SEO Site Migration & Website Redesign
Why do businesses lose rankings and revenue after launching a new website?
Most ranking loss happens because the web developer or agency doesnβt understand SEO migration rules. When URLs change, metadata changes, content changes, platform changes or internal linking changes and nothing is properly mapped. Google treats the βnewβ website almost like a brand new domain with no trust apart from the homepage.
What is the most important part of SEO site migration?
301 redirects. If your old URLs do not redirect correctly to the new corresponding URLs, you lose all ranking equity from the original pages. Redirects MUST be done page-by-page, not bulked to the homepage or a random category page.
Why are 301 redirects so critical?
Google attaches authority to URLs individually. If those URLs disappear without redirecting to the correct location, all the value, authority and link equity is lost. This is a major reason sites drop from hundreds of thousands in revenue monthly to barely anything after a redesign.
Do I need to keep my old content when I redesign my website?
Ideally yes, or improve it. If you reduce content, you must still maintain user intent, targeted keywords, and proper heading hierarchy. Cutting content without a strategy destroys topical depth and search visibility.
What should I do before migrating an e-commerce store?
Download the product CSV and properly map every single product URL to its correct new URL, one by one. This prevents mass redirecting and ensures all product value flows correctly.
Does Google reward websites that improve user experience after migration?
Yes. Google loves when websites are modernised, faster, cleaner and improve user experience β as long as SEO migration is done properly.
Should my digital marketing or SEO agency handle the migration rather than my web designer?
Yes. Most developers donβt specialise in SEO, which is why so many migrations fail. SEO must lead URL mapping, metadata preservation, content transfer strategy and redirect planning, not design.
Can my rankings actually improve after migration?
Absolutely. Weβve handled many migrations where not only was ranking preserved 100%, but ranking and revenue increased after launch due to proper planning, redirects, content optimisation and performance improvements which all create a positive user experience which is most important.
