What should a website migration checklist include?

A full crawl of the old site, Search Console and backlink exports, a URL map with keep/merge/retire decisions, carried-over titles, meta and structured data, re-hosted assets, rebuilt forms and tracking, a 301 redirect for every changed URL, launch-day redirect testing, sitemap submission, and 30 days of monitoring.

Will I lose SEO rankings when I migrate my website?

Some fluctuation in the first few weeks is normal. Lasting losses almost always come from missing redirects, dropped content, or changed titles and internal links. Following a redirect map and keeping content intact usually brings traffic back to baseline within a month or two.

How long does a website platform migration take?

For a typical SaaS marketing site, three to eight weeks depending on the source platform, page count, blog size and how much the design changes. Content clean-up and redirect mapping take longer than most teams expect.

Should I redesign and migrate at the same time?

Usually yes for SaaS sites, since a rebuild on a new platform is the cheapest moment to fix design and information architecture. The trade-off is more variables at launch, so be disciplined about keeping URLs and on-page content for your top-traffic pages.

Migration guides · Updated October 15, 2026

Website migration checklist for platform moves

The short version

A safe website migration comes down to one document: a URL map that lists every old URL, what happens to it, and where it redirects. Build it before you design anything, carry over titles and content for pages that earn traffic, 301 everything that changes, and monitor Search Console daily for two weeks after launch.

The checklist

Four phases, no lost rankings

The same checklist we run on every Website Rebuild, whichever platform you're moving from.

Phase 1

Before you build

Crawl the live site (Screaming Frog, Sitebulb or Ahrefs) and save the full URL list with status codes, titles, meta descriptions, H1s and canonicals
Export the last 12 months of Google Search Console pages and queries so you know which URLs earn traffic
Export backlinks per URL from Ahrefs or Semrush and flag every page with external links
Benchmark Core Web Vitals, organic sessions and conversions for the top 50 pages
Decide which pages to keep, merge or retire, and write it down in a URL map

Phase 2

During the build

Keep URLs identical wherever the new platform allows it
Carry over title tags, meta descriptions, H1s, alt text and structured data, then improve them deliberately (not by accident)
Re-host every image and file; never hot-link to the old platform's CDN
Rebuild forms and confirm every submission lands in your CRM with the right source fields
Re-install analytics, tag manager, pixels and consent banner on staging
Block staging from indexing with a noindex or password

Phase 3

Launch day

Import every 301 redirect from the URL map before DNS cutover
Remove the staging noindex and confirm robots.txt allows crawling
Point DNS, verify SSL, and test www/apex and http/https redirects resolve in one hop
Test the top 100 old URLs and every backlinked URL for a single 301 to the right page
Submit the new XML sitemap in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools

Phase 4

First 30 days

Watch Search Console coverage and 404 reports daily for the first two weeks
Fix redirect chains and any 404s with traffic or links
Compare rankings, organic sessions and conversions against the benchmark weekly
Keep the old platform's export (and account, if cheap) until traffic has stabilized

Platform guides

Step-by-step migration guides

Each guide covers what exports and what doesn't, the URL patterns that need redirects, a timeline and the risks specific to that move.

WordPress to WebflowHow to migrate WordPress to Webflow without losing SEO: content export, CMS mapping, URL redirects, a launch checklist, typical timeline and risks.Wix to WebflowMigrate from Wix to Webflow step by step: what you can export, rebuilding pages, moving blog posts, Wix URL redirects, a timeline and the risks to avoid.Squarespace to WebflowMove from Squarespace to Webflow: export the blog, rebuild pages, re-host images, map redirects and launch without losing traffic. Steps, timeline, risks.Webflow to FramerMigrating from Webflow to Framer: CMS CSV export, Framer plan limits, rebuilding interactions, redirects, timeline and when not to make the move.WordPress to FramerMigrate a WordPress site to Framer: what transfers, CSV imports for posts, Framer CMS limits, redirects for WordPress permalinks, timeline and risks.

Website Rebuild

Rather not run the migration yourself? We'll handle it.

Our fixed-price Website Rebuild includes the full migration: URL audit, content move, redirect map and post-launch monitoring, on Webflow, Framer or Next.js.

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