Crawl and save the old site before anything changes
Build a one-to-one redirect map for every URL with traffic or links
Keep URL structure the same where possible
Move content and metadata intact
Test redirects on staging
Update internal links to new URLs, not redirects
Update XML sitemaps and submit them
Use the Change of Address tool in Search Console only when moving to a new domain or subdomain, not for HTTPS or www changes
Keep redirects in place for at least 180 days, and keep the old domain registered
Monitor indexing, 404s and rankings daily for the first weeks
- [ ] Crawl and save the old site before anything changes
- [ ] Build a one-to-one redirect map for every URL with traffic or links
- [ ] Keep URL structure the same where possible
- [ ] Move content and metadata intact
- [ ] Test redirects on staging
- [ ] Update internal links to new URLs, not redirects
- [ ] Update XML sitemaps and submit them
- [ ] Use the Change of Address tool in Search Console only when moving to a new domain or subdomain, not for HTTPS or www changes
- [ ] Keep redirects in place for at least 180 days, and keep the old domain registered
- [ ] Monitor indexing, 404s and rankings daily for the first weeks