Moving domains: a practical SEO migration checklist

A new domain should take customers to the business they already know. Before changing it, agree who owns the URL list, who tests enquiries and who watches search performance after launch. A migration can cause temporary ranking changes; no checklist can promise that every position will stay the same.

1. Decide what needs to move

Google’s site-move guidance recommends mapping old URLs to their new equivalents, updating internal links and canonical URLs, and monitoring both sites. Keep the old domain under your control so its redirects can continue working.

• Create a shared worksheet with the old address, new destination, page owner and test result.
• Give enquiry pages, useful articles and links used in emails or social posts an explicit place in the worksheet.
• For each important page, record its current enquiries and search clicks before launch. Keep the reporting dates alongside the numbers.

2. Send each old link to a useful destination

Use a permanent server-side redirect when an address moves permanently. Google treats 301 and 308 redirects as strong signals that the destination should be canonical. Redirect directly to the matching page, rather than sending readers through several old addresses.

For example, an old link to a website-migration guide should reach that guide or a genuinely equivalent replacement. Sending every missing article to the homepage leaves readers without the answer they came for. If content was intentionally removed and has no replacement, a proper 404 or 410 response is appropriate.

3. Rehearse the customer journey

• Open important old links as a visitor. Confirm the final page answers the same question and that its title and contact details are correct.
• Test the enquiry form and booking journey with clearly labelled test details. Confirm the intended recipient receives the test enquiry.
• Check the mobile menu, service links and downloadable resources. Assign each failed check to a person before signing off the release.
• Confirm the public site has no accidental noindex instruction or crawl block, and that the sitemap contains the intended final URLs.

4. Keep a launch record

Write down the launch time, what changed and the person responsible for recovery. Review technical errors first, then compare equivalent reporting periods for clicks and enquiries. Separate branded searches from service searches so a change in one does not hide the other. Avoid judging the move from one quiet day.

If enquiries drop, check that forms and contact links still work before attributing the change to rankings. If a particular landing page loses visibility, trace its old address, redirect and final content. This makes the investigation specific enough to act on.

Planning a website move?

NextAura Solutions can scope the website work and search checks together. Explore our websites and apps service and SEO and AI SEO engagement, or tell us about your planned migration. For ongoing reporting, see our guide to social-post performance in Search Console.