SEO-friendly content migration
An SEO-friendly content migration protects rankings and search traffic during a redesign or CMS change, through URL mapping, redirects and post-launch checks.
Before the move
Complete crawl of the old website
Analysis of traffic, rankings and backlinks per page
A decision per page: migrate, merge or remove
URL mapping: every old URL with its target, in a shared spreadsheet
During the move
Every old URL receives a 301 redirect to the new page with matching content, not a blanket redirect to the home page. Internal links point straight to the new addresses, avoiding redirect chains. Titles, descriptions, headings and structured data are carried over deliberately or improved. Testing happens beforehand in an environment closed to search engines.
After launch
The new sitemap goes to Search Console, where we monitor crawl errors, indexing and rankings. Missing redirects show up within days. On launch day, we first check that the test environment's block has not reached the live site.
Approach
SEO planning begins when the project is scoped, not shortly before launch. Redirects live in the CMS, in Statamic via a redirect add-on, so your team can manage them. In the first weeks after launch, we report regularly on visibility and open issues.