Domain Migration SEO Checklist: Before, During, and After

A domain migration without a complete redirect plan typically causes a 20-40% drop in organic traffic that can take months to recover. Google has to re-crawl and re-evaluate every URL, and if your old URLs return 404 errors instead of redirecting, the ranking signals built up on those pages are lost. This checklist walks through every step.

Before you migrate

Audit your current URLs. Export every indexed URL from Google Search Console (Coverage report > Valid pages). These are the URLs with existing ranking signals — every one needs a redirect.

Map old URLs to new URLs. Build a spreadsheet: old URL in column A, new URL in column B. For a simple domain swap (olddomain.com → newdomain.com) where paths stay the same, you may only need one wildcard rule. For a restructure where paths change, you need a row per URL.

Check your inbound links. Use GSC's Links report to find which old URLs have the most external links pointing at them. These are your highest-priority redirects — broken inbound links cost the most ranking value.

Set up the new site first. The new domain should be fully built, indexed, and functioning before you cut over. Don't redirect to a site under construction.

Verify the new domain in GSC. Add the new domain property to Google Search Console before migration so you can submit a sitemap and monitor crawling immediately after launch.

During migration

Implement 301 redirects for every URL. Every old URL that had GSC impressions needs a 301 pointing to its equivalent on the new domain. Missing redirects mean 404 errors, which means lost link equity and rankings. See our complete guide to 301 redirects for how link equity transfer works and common mistakes to avoid.

Handle the apex and www. Make sure both olddomain.com and www.olddomain.com redirect to the new domain. Registrar-level redirects often miss one variant.

Preserve the full URL path. olddomain.com/products/widget should redirect to newdomain.com/products/widget, not just newdomain.com. Path passthrough is critical — every non-redirected path is a lost ranking signal.

Update your sitemap. Submit a new XML sitemap for the new domain in GSC immediately after launch. This tells Google where to find your new URLs.

Update canonical tags. If you have <link rel="canonical"> tags anywhere, update them to point to the new domain. Stale canonicals pointing at the old domain confuse crawlers.

Update internal links. Update links within your site's content to point directly to new URLs rather than going through redirects. Redirect chains slow crawling and dilute link equity.

After migration

Validate every redirect. Run your full URL list through a redirect checker (or use your redirect tool's analytics) to confirm each old URL returns a 301 to the correct destination — not a 302, not a 404, not a chain of multiple hops.

Watch GSC for crawl errors. In the days after migration, check GSC's Coverage report for new 404s or other crawl errors. Any that appear are redirects you missed.

Monitor rankings for 4-6 weeks. Expect fluctuation in the first 2-4 weeks — this is normal as Google re-processes your content under the new domain. If rankings haven't recovered by week 6, investigate which pages are still returning errors.

Keep old domain redirects alive for at least 12 months. Don't let the old domain expire or stop redirecting after a few months. Inbound links take time to get crawled and recrawled. Dropping redirects early abandons link equity still in transit.

Monitor redirect analytics. Track how many hits each redirect rule gets over time. Volume dropping to zero on a rule means that URL has been re-crawled and updated — a healthy sign. Rules still getting heavy traffic months later may indicate the old URL is still being shared or linked to actively.

Manage migration redirects at scale

RedirectIQ's bulk CSV import lets you create all your migration redirects in one step from your mapping spreadsheet. The analytics show you exactly which redirects are being hit and how often — so you know what Google is still processing and where to focus cleanup. Start your migration →