Everything about SEO migration

A website migration takes place when something changes on your website, for example during a rebranding—as we did when we switched from Burocontent to Reward—or when the entire website is replaced.

You can think of changes such as the design, content, structure of the website, or user experience (UX). If you don't apply SEO migration to these changes, you could lose a large part of your positions and therefore visitors for a long time. This could be due to changes in the URL structure or the location of your website, for example.

In addition, a website migration is a good time to thoroughly review all important SEO pillars. Is your website still technically sound? Are all URLs correct and is the user experience still optimal?

You have worked for years to achieve that coveted No. 1 position on a keyword that is important to your organization. Now you want a new website, or to improve your current website or give it a new look. Of course, your positions should not suffer as a result.

An SEO migration is important during a website migration because it ensures that the search engine optimization (SEO) of the old website is maintained or even improved. During a website migration, there may be technical changes that affect the visibility of the website in search engines, such as changes in the URL structure, redirects, or loading speed. This can also affect your ads (Google ADS) if they still contain old URLs. Without a well-organized SEO migration, search engines may not be able to index the new site properly, which can lead to a loss of organic traffic and lower rankings in search results. It is therefore crucial to properly manage SEO aspects such as redirects, metadata, internal links, and sitemap updates in order to maintain search engine rankings.

To briefly summarize the types of SEO migrations, the risk factors, and the most important things to consider.

Domain migration

During a domain migration, the entire website is moved to a new domain, for example from example.com to newexample.com.

• SEO risk: High
• Important: Set up 301 redirects from old to new domain, adjust Search Console and analytics, check backlinks.

Structure migration (URL structure or site structure)

The internal structure of the site is changing, such as the reclassification of categories or the modification of URLs.

• Example: from example.com/blog/article1 to example.com/articles/article1
• Important: Careful mapping of old to new URLs, 301 redirects, and updating internal links and sitemaps.

Design or CMS migration

The site will be redesigned, given a new front end, or transferred to a different CMS (e.g., from WordPress to Shopify).

• SEO risk: Moderate to high
• Important: Ensure that on-page SEO elements (titles, headings, content, alt texts) are retained. Pay attention to crawlability and loading speed.

Protocol migration (HTTP to HTTPS)

Your website will be made more secure by switching to HTTPS.

• SEO risk: Low, but still important
• Important: 301 redirects from HTTP to HTTPS, update internal links, and check for mixed content (non-secure images/scripts).

International or multilingual migration

The site will have multilingual versions or will be adapted for international SEO (e.g., with hreflang tags).

• Important: Correct use of hreflang, local domains or subfolders, local keywords, and content.

Technical migration

The site will be completely rebuilt (e.g., with a different framework or headless CMS).

• SEO risk: High

Important: Recheck all SEO basics: canonical tags, indexation, structured data, speed, mobile-friendliness.

1. Audit of the current website

We start with a comprehensive audit of the current website.

• Current search engine rankings: We examine which pages perform well in search engines.
• Traffic analysis: Use tools such as Google Analytics to see which pages generate the most traffic.
• Backlinks: Identifying important external links that refer to your website. We use tools such as SemRush and Ahrefs for this purpose.
• Technical SEO: Checking the technical condition of the website (e.g., speed, mobile-friendliness, crawlability).

2. A plan for the new structure

A logical structure for the new website. This entails the following:

• URL structure: Retain as many existing URLs as possible, or develop a plan with a new structure that is SEO-friendly.
• Redirects: A detailed list of old and new URLs.
• Page content: We ensure that all old (important) content is transferred to the new website.

3. Create a detailed plan for 301 redirects

One of the most important steps in SEO migration is correctly setting up 301 redirects from the old pages to the new pages. This ensures that:

• The SEO value of the old pages is retained.
• Users and search engines are automatically directed to the correct pages.

It is important to create a redirect map in which you specify exactly which old URL should refer to which new URL. Always make sure that no incorrect or duplicate redirects end up in this map.

4. Implementation of the new website

Now that the preparations are complete, the new website can be implemented. Important points to note are:

• All technical aspects, such as sitemaps and robots.txt files, are set up correctly.
• The new website is mobile-friendly and loads quickly, which is important for SEO.
• The website can be indexed well by search engines.

5. Testing the redirects and verification

After the new website goes live, we test whether all redirects are working properly. We use several tools for this.

6. Monitoring

After the migration, it is important to monitor the entire migration closely during the initial period. We use tools such as Google Search Console to:

• Check whether traffic remains the same or increases.
• To see if there are any crawl issues or indexing errors.
• Monitor whether search engine rankings fluctuate.

7. Troubleshooting and optimization

During the first weeks and months after migration, problems may arise such as:

• Loss of rankings for certain keywords.
• Technical errors (e.g., slow loading times, incorrect redirects).
• Inconsistencies in the search results.

In this situation, it is important to take swift action to resolve these issues so that SEO performance can get back on track.

8. Keep improving SEO

Once the website has been fully migrated and is performing well, it is important to look further into the possibilities of SEO.

• Optimizing existing content.
• Adding new content.
• Improving internal linking and link building.
• Analyzing user behavior to improve the user experience (CRO).

An SEO migration can have a major impact on your online visibility—positive if done correctly, but disastrous if mistakes are made. One of the biggest pitfalls is not setting up 301 redirects (correctly), which causes search engines and visitors to end up on a 404 page. Forgetting important on-page SEO elements such as titles, headings, and alt texts can also cause accumulated value to be lost. In addition, too little attention is often paid to updating the sitemap and robots.txt, which hinders the indexing of the new site. Another common mistake is the lack of a proper testing phase: putting a migration live without testing it in a staging environment increases the chance of errors that you will only notice when it is too late. After going live, it is essential to monitor closely using tools such as Google Search Console and Analytics — think of indexing problems, crawl errors, or sudden drops in traffic. Finally, backlinks are often overlooked: if strong external links are not properly redirected, you lose valuable authority.

In short: without a solid plan and guidance from an SEO specialist, you run the risk of losing positions you have built up over many years in a short period of time.

Is your website undergoing renovation, are you working on a new design or rebranding? We are here to assist you and ensure a seamless SEO migration process. Contact us directly.