Migrating a blog or website can be a smooth or problematic project. If you’re moving to a new content management system, consolidating domains, or overhauling your site architecture, it’s a project that requires careful planning. Done correctly, it can improve user experience, preserve rankings, and set the stage for future growth. Done poorly, it can result in lost traffic, broken links, and a drop in search visibility.
Table of Contents
This guide is designed for digital marketing managers, developers, and website owners. It outlines a clear, actionable SEO migration framework based on industry best practices. Every step follows Google’s official guidance to help ensure a smooth transition, with your search performance intact.
Revisit Your Keyword Research
Before making any changes, start with a review of your keyword strategy. A migration is the perfect opportunity to reassess whether your current keywords still align with your business goals.
Conduct an audit that includes:
- Top-performing pages and terms: What keywords are currently driving traffic?
- Keyword gaps: Are there topics your content is missing?
- Business alignment: Are you targeting the right intent for your audience?
Use tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, and SEMrush to gather data. Then map each keyword to a corresponding page on the new site to preserve your rankings.
Identify Long-Tail Opportunities
Long-tail keywords often come with less competition and higher intent. These can be quick wins that deliver traffic with minimal effort.
Look for:
- Under-optimised pages, or blog posts
- Pages lacking meta data or headers
- FAQ content that could be structured more clearly
Targeting these opportunities early helps build momentum after migration and supports your longer-term SEO strategy.
Migrate Blog Posts from HubSpot to WordPress
If you’re switching platforms, such as moving from HubSpot to WordPress, pay special attention to your blog. These pages often generate a large share of organic traffic.
Here’s how to handle the move:
- Export all content, including metadata, authorship, and publish dates.
- Rebuild formatting within your new theme to preserve readability.
- Update internal links to match the new permalink structure.
- Optimise meta titles and descriptions for each post.
- Set up 301 redirects from the old HubSpot URLs to their new WordPress equivalents.
Ensure internal linking remains intact and anchor text is still relevant. This maintains user journeys and supports discoverability.
Build a Full URL Mapping Strategy
Every page on your old site must redirect to a new URL. This process maintains your existing rankings and ensures users land on the right content.
Your redirect map should:
- Cover all existing URLs, not just top performers
- Use 301 or 308 redirects (permanent) for SEO value
- Reflect the new site’s structure and folder hierarchy
If your blog content is now under a new domain, make sure all redirects point directly to that location, not via intermediary pages.
Audit Existing Redirects
Many websites already have layers of redirects from older updates. Left unaddressed, these can slow down performance and dilute link equity.
Use a crawler such as Screaming Frog to:
- Identify existing redirects
- Update internal links to go directly to the final destination
- Remove redundant or outdated redirects where appropriate
This ensures your new site starts with a clean redirect structure and helps search engines crawl more efficiently.
Decide on Your AMP Strategy
If your current site includes Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), decide whether they will be retained on the new platform.
Options include:
- Migrating AMP content to WordPress (ensuring compliance with AMP HTML)
- Removing AMP and redirecting to the canonical desktop version
In both cases:
- Audit existing AMP URLs
- Implement correct 301 redirects
- Use the Google AMP validator to check for issues
Clear redirect paths and proper canonical tags will help preserve your mobile SEO performance.
Fix Redirect Chains Before Launch
During testing, check that every redirect goes straight to its final destination. Avoid chains where a page redirects through multiple steps.
Check for:
- Redirects that hop between several URLs
- Inconsistent use of redirect types (e.g. 302 followed by 301)
- Internal links still pointing to old URLs
Cleaning up chains improves crawlability, shortens response times, and delivers a better user experience.
Update Your XML Sitemap
After the site goes live, your sitemap should accurately reflect the new URL structure.
Steps to follow:
- Remove old, redirected, or 404 URLs
- Ensure all sitemap entries return a 200 status and are indexable
- Check canonical tags on all listed pages
- Submit the new sitemap via Google Search Console
Keep an eye on indexation trends in the weeks following the migration to spot any unexpected issues.
Migrate and Optimise Image URLs
Images contribute to search visibility, user engagement, and overall page quality. Make sure they migrate correctly.
Actions include:
- Mapping old image file paths to their new locations
- Updating HTML, CSS, and JavaScript references to new URLs
- Reapplying alt text and structured data (such as
ImageObjectmarkup) - Submitting an image sitemap if relevant
Google Image Search traffic is often overlooked, so don’t neglect this step.
Restructure URLs with SEO in Mind
If you’re planning to reformat your URLs, now is the time. Clean URLs are easier to read, easier to share, and more likely to rank.
Follow these principles:
- Use lowercase, hyphenated words
- Remove unnecessary numbers, parameters, or session IDs
- Reflect the page’s topic within the slug
Example:
- ❌
example.com/blog-post-38294-xyz/ - ✅
example.com/inspiration/bedroom-design-ideas/
Once finalised, ensure redirects, sitemaps, and internal links reflect the new structure.
Find and Fix 404 Errors
After launch, some pages may still trigger 404s. These errors should be prioritised immediately to preserve user experience and search visibility.
Use a crawler to:
- Identify 404 errors
- Create new redirects for any pages that were missed
- Update internal links pointing to deleted or missing pages
Also monitor Google Search Console’s Coverage report for new issues that might arise post-launch.
Update Your Most Valuable Backlinks
External links remain one of the strongest ranking signals. Migration offers a chance to clean them up.
Start by:
- Exporting backlink data from tools like Ahrefs or Google Search Console
- Identifying links pointing to old URLs
- Reaching out to high-authority referrers to update their links
Meanwhile, your 301 redirects should still catch all legacy traffic, but direct updates provide a stronger signal and help speed up reindexing.
Post Launch: Monitor and Optimise
A successful migration doesn’t end when the new site goes live. Over the following weeks, monitor key metrics to ensure everything is working as intended.
Track:
- Crawling and indexing behaviour via Google Search Console
- Organic traffic trends in GA4
- Keyword positions using Google Search Console
- Errors or warnings relating to response codes
Expect a few fluctuations in the first 2 to 4 weeks. That’s normal. What matters is resolving issues quickly and continuing to optimise the new setup.
Useful Google Resources
Final Checklist
✅ Keyword audit completed
✅ Long-tail opportunities identified
✅ Blog content migrated and optimised
✅ Redirects planned and implemented
✅ Legacy redirect chains removed
✅ AMP strategy finalised
✅ XML sitemap updated
✅ Image URLs mapped
✅ URLs restructured
✅ 404 errors resolved
✅ Key backlinks updated
✅ Post-launch metrics monitored
Website migrations are complex, but they’re also an opportunity to strengthen your SEO foundation. With the right preparation, a well-planned redirect strategy, and thorough post-launch monitoring, you can move to a better platform while preserving or even improving your organic performance
Need help implementing your SEO migration plan? Let’s talk.
