A professional end-to-end framework for domain, platform, or structural migrations.

1. Pre-Migration Discovery & Benchmarking

1.1 Baseline Performance

• Export all current rankings (top 100 keywords).

• Export organic landing pages and traffic (GA4 → Reports → Traffic acquisition).

• Benchmark conversion metrics, leads, revenue, and engagement.

• Capture Search Console performance for the past 12 months.

1.2 Crawl & Index Audit

• Full site crawl (Screaming Frog / Sitebulb).

• Identify all current URLs, status codes, canonicals, robots rules, hreflang, schema, pagination.

• Flag thin content, duplicated content, orphan pages, parameter URLs, near-duplicates.

1.3 Technical Inventory

• CMS versioning, plugins, templates, modules, custom scripts.

• Structured data inventory (FAQ, Article, Product, Organisation, LocalBusiness).

• Internal linking and navigation hierarchy mapping.

• Sitemaps and feeds.

1.4 Content Mapping

• Catalogue all URLs with metadata (title, description, H1).

• Identify pages to keep, merge, rewrite, or retire.

• Determine which 404s will be reinstated or redirected.

2. Strategic Planning

2.1 URL Mapping

• Create a document with:

  • Current URL → New URL

  • Redirect type (301)

  • Notes (merge, remove, canonicalisation adjustments).

2.2 Site Architecture

• Validate proposed menu structure.

• Ensure category hierarchy is logical and keyword-aligned.

• Plan archive pages, tag pages, or elimination of thin taxonomy.

2.3 Canonical Strategy

• Define canonicals for:

  • Filters

  • Pagination

  • Duplicate variants

  • Alternative versions

  • Syndicated content

2.4 International & Multi-Location Considerations

• Prepare hreflang mapping if applicable.

• Plan location-based landing pages.

• Validate NAP and local schema.

3. Development Phase

3.1 Staging Environment

• Block indexation using noindex or password protection.

• Ensure staging is separate from production.

3.2 Technical SEO Implementation

• Ensure:

  • Redirects are configured.

  • Canonicals function correctly.

  • Robots.txt does not block required assets.

  • XML sitemaps reflect the new structure.

  • Schema is valid (use Rich Results Test).

  • Remove outdated schema types.

  • Internal links updated to point to final URLs (no 302 or 307 internally).

3.3 UX & Navigation

• Validate breadcrumbs.

• Ensure category → product and product → category linking is consistent.

• Confirm header, footer, and sidebar internal links are updated.

3.4 Metadata

• Rewrite titles and descriptions aligned with keyword targeting.

• Remove duplicated metadata from inherited templates.

• Include OpenGraph and Twitter Cards.

4. Content Migration

4.1 Content Quality Checks

• Ensure all text, media, PDFs, videos transfer correctly.

• Validate image filenames, alt tags, and compression.

• Retain or improve E-E-A-T content signals.

4.2 Content Enhancements

• Add missing FAQs.

• Add local-intent or transactional-intent text.

• Expand thin pages or merge overlapping content.

5. Redirect Launch Plan

5.1 Bulk Redirect Deployment

• Implement 301 redirects for every mapped URL.

• Test through:

  • Screaming Frog Redirect Chains Report

  • HTTP status checker

• Remove redirect chains and loops.

• Ensure 404s are only for pages intentionally removed.

5.2 Update External Integrations

• Change URLs in:

  • Google Business Profile

  • Social media bios

  • Email footers

  • CRM automations

  • Paid ads

  • Affiliate links

  • Partner sites where possible

6. Launch Day Checklist

6.1 Technical Verification

• Remove noindex and staging blocks.

• Validate robots.txt is production-ready.

• Validate XML sitemaps and submit in Search Console.

• Ensure canonical tags match the new domain and architecture.

• Validate structured data in production.

6.2 Live Crawl

• Full Screaming Frog crawl of the live site.

• Validate all internal links resolve correctly.

• Test all redirects.

• Ensure no soft 404s.

• Confirm all hreflang tags resolve.

6.3 Analytics

• Validate GA4 tracking.

• Validate all conversions, events, and GTM triggers.

• Ensure cross-domain tracking where applicable.

7. Post-Launch Monitoring (0–30 Days)

7.1 Daily Checks (First 7 Days)

• Monitor Search Console coverage.

• Check server logs for crawl errors.

• Validate page indexing.

• Monitor 404 spikes.

• Review ranking fluctuations.

7.2 Weekly Checks

• Compare traffic and keyword trends.

• Monitor conversion performance.

• Address crawl anomalies.

• Review Core Web Vitals.

7.3 Internal Link Re-Optimisation

• Boost priority pages by improving internal linking.

• Add contextual links from blogs, FAQs, guides.

• Fix orphan pages.

8. Post-Migration Enhancements

8.1 Content Expansion

• Publish new supporting clusters around priority keywords.

• Update guides, FAQs, and evergreen cornerstone content.

• Rebuild new category landing pages if needed.

8.2 Digital PR & Link Reclamation

• Request link updates for high-value backlinks.

• Build new authority links to the primary domain.

• Reclaim unlinked brand mentions.

8.3 Technical Performance Optimisation

• Minify CSS/JS.

• Improve Time to Interactive.

• Optimise image delivery (AVIF/WEBP).

• Remove unused scripts.

9. 90-Day Review

9.1 Full Migration Audit

• Compare pre- and post-migration KPIs.

• Look at indexing, rankings, traffic, revenue.

• Review site architecture success.

• Plan next phase content and link acquisition.