How to move to a new website without losing your Google rankings

A new website should bring in more customers, not fewer. But a rebuild done carelessly can wipe out years of search rankings overnight. Pages disappear, links break, and Google has to work out your site from scratch.

The good news is that this is avoidable. Here’s the checklist we follow when we move a business onto a new site.

Before you build

1. Make a list of every page

Start with a full inventory of your current site. Your sitemap (often at /sitemap.xml) is a good starting point, but also check:

• Google Search Console, under Pages and Performance, for the pages Google knows about and the ones that get clicks.
• Any pages linked from ads, emails, printed material or social profiles.
• Old blog posts, which often bring in more traffic than people expect.

2. Find your most valuable pages

In Search Console’s Performance report, sort pages by clicks. These are the pages you most need to protect. Note the search terms that bring people to each one.

3. Record your current titles and descriptions

Copy each important page’s title and meta description. If a page ranks well, keep its title close to the original unless you have a good reason to change it.

4. Take a baseline

Note your current traffic, rankings for key terms and Core Web Vitals. You’ll want to compare after launch.

While you build

5. Keep URLs the same where you can

The simplest migration is one where the addresses don’t change. If your new structure is genuinely better, that’s fine, but every changed URL needs a redirect.

6. Map every old URL to a new one

Build a redirect map: a simple two-column list of each old address and where it should go on the new site. Point each old page to the closest matching new page, not just the home page. Redirecting everything to the home page is treated much like a broken link.

7. Carry the content across

Pages rank because of their content. If you cut a page’s text down to a few lines, it may lose its rankings even with a perfect redirect. Keep the substance, even if you rewrite and redesign it.

8. Keep the new site out of Google until launch

Your staging or preview site should be blocked from search engines so Google doesn’t index a duplicate. Just make sure that block is removed at launch. Forgetting this is one of the most common, and most painful, migration mistakes.

On launch day

9. Add 301 redirects

Put the redirect map live at the same time as the new site. Use permanent (301) redirects, which tell Google the page has moved for good.

10. Test the redirects

Check a sample of old URLs, and all of your most valuable pages, to make sure each one lands on the right new page in a single hop.

11. Check the basics

• Every page has a unique title and description.
• Canonical tags point to the right addresses.
• Your robots.txt isn’t blocking anything important.
• There’s a new sitemap, and it lists your new URLs.
• Pages that no longer exist return a proper 404, not your home page.

12. Tell Google

In Search Console, submit the new sitemap and use URL Inspection to request indexing of your key pages. If you’ve changed domain, use the Change of address tool too.

After launch

13. Watch Search Console

For the next few weeks, check the Pages report for new errors and the Performance report for drops in clicks. A small dip while Google recrawls is normal. A big drop on a particular page usually points to a missing or wrong redirect.

14. Keep the redirects

Leave your redirects in place for at least a year, and ideally for good. Old links from other websites will keep sending people, and ranking signals, to those addresses.

Want a hand?

Every rebuild we do includes a full redirect map and a post-launch check, so your rankings carry over to the new site. If you’re planning a move, run a free speed check on your current site or tell us about your project.