Crawl the current site completely — capture every URL, status code, title, H1, and canonical tag

Export all indexed URLs from Google Search Console — this is your ranking asset inventory

Identify top-performing pages by organic traffic and keyword rankings — these are your non-negotiables

Audit all inbound backlinks to high-value pages — these URLs must redirect correctly or link equity is lost

Document current domain authority, page authority, and top 50 ranking keywords as a baseline

Confirm the new URL structure with developers before any migration work begins

Build the complete URL mapping document — every old URL mapped to its exact new destination

Flag any pages being removed and confirm whether they should redirect or return a 410 Gone

Test every redirect in the URL mapping document — confirm 301 not 302, confirm no chains longer than two hops

Verify robots.txt on the new site allows crawling of all content pages

Confirm XML sitemap is generated, up to date, and referenced in robots.txt

Check canonical tags on all key pages point to the correct new URLs

Review all internal links — ensure they point to new URLs not old ones

Validate structured data (Schema markup) on key page types using Google Rich Results Test

Confirm HTTPS is active across the entire new site — no mixed content warnings

Test site speed on the new platform — Core Web Vitals should match or improve on the baseline

Verify the staging environment is blocked from indexing (noindex on staging, not on production)

Confirm GA4 tracking code and GTM container are correctly installed on the new site

Set up Google Search Console property for the new domain if it has changed

Review hreflang tags if the site serves multiple languages or regions

Deploy the migration during a low-traffic window — avoid Monday mornings, Friday afternoons, and peak trading periods

Verify the live redirects immediately after deployment using a browser and a crawl tool

Submit the new sitemap to Google Search Console immediately after go-live

Request indexing of the homepage and top 10 pages via Google Search Console URL Inspection

Monitor Google Search Console for crawl errors in real time for the first 4 hours post-launch

Verify GA4 is recording sessions on the live site — check Real Time report immediately

Confirm the old domain or URL structure is no longer serving content without redirects

Day 1-3: Monitor crawl errors in Search Console daily — address any 404s immediately

Day 7: Pull ranking report for top 50 keywords — compare against pre-migration baseline

Day 7: Check indexed page count in Search Console — should be approaching pre-migration levels

Day 14: Review organic traffic in GA4 — identify any pages that have dropped significantly

Day 14: Check backlink profile — confirm external links to old URLs are resolving correctly via redirects

Day 21: Review Core Web Vitals report in Search Console for the new site

Day 30: Full ranking comparison against pre-migration baseline — document gains and losses

Day 30: If significant ranking losses persist, escalate to technical investigation immediately

Ongoing: Keep 301 redirects live for a minimum of 12 months — removing them early forfeits residual link equity

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