A website migration moves a site from one platform, host, or domain to another without losing search rankings, traffic, or conversions. The work splits into four phases: a pre-migration audit that captures the current site, a build phase on the new platform, a launch phase with redirects and DNS changes, and a post-launch monitoring phase. A migration done well takes 4 to 12 weeks. A migration done badly costs 30 to 70 percent of organic traffic and takes 6 to 18 months to recover.
What Counts as a Migration
The word migration covers four different events. Each has different risks.
- Platform migration: moving from WordPress to Framer, Webflow to WordPress, Squarespace to Webflow, etc. The URL structure may change. Templates change. Risk: high.
- Host migration: staying on the same platform but moving hosts (one WordPress host to another). Risk: low.
- Domain migration: moving from old-domain.com to new-domain.com or going from non-www to www. Risk: high.
- Site redesign with URL changes: staying on the same platform and domain but restructuring URLs. Risk: medium to high.
Most real migrations combine two or three of these. Moving from WordPress to Framer and changing the URL structure at the same time is two migrations stacked, not one.
Pre-Migration Audit: Capture What You Have
The audit is the most-skipped phase and the most-important one. Before touching anything, document the current state.
Capture the following:
- Full URL inventory: every published page, every redirect, every parameter
- Top 100 organic-traffic URLs from Google Search Console (last 12 months)
- Top 100 backlinked URLs from Ahrefs, Semrush, or DataForSEO
- All meta titles, meta descriptions, and H1 tags
- All structured data (schema markup)
- Internal link structure
- Image inventory with alt text
- Forms and their destinations (CRM, email)
- Tracking tags and analytics events
- Custom code, scripts, and integrations
Tools to use: Screaming Frog SEO Spider for the URL inventory and meta data ($259 per year, free for under 500 URLs), Google Search Console export for traffic and queries, Ahrefs or Semrush for backlinks ($99 to $999 per month).
Mapping URLs: The Single Most Important Step
Search rankings flow through URLs. If a URL changes, the rankings need a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new URL. A 301 passes 99-plus percent of link equity. A 302, a 404, or a missing redirect breaks the flow.
Build a URL map in a spreadsheet with these columns:
Old URL | New URL | Type | Status Code | Redirect Tested
/services/seo | /what-we-do/seo | 301 | OK
/blog/2023-saas-trends | /insights/saas-trends | 301 | OK
/case-studies/acme-corp | /clients/acme | 301 | OK
/old-pricing | /pricing | 301 | OK
/category/seo | /insights/?category=seo | 301 | OKEvery URL on the old site needs a destination. Pages that no longer exist on the new site need to redirect to the most relevant new URL, not to the homepage. A blanket redirect to the homepage destroys search rankings within 30 to 90 days.
For sites with thousands of URLs, automate the mapping: pattern-match category structures, use slug similarity, and manually review the top-traffic pages. Manual mapping for the top 200 to 500 URLs catches the bulk of search traffic. The long tail can use pattern-based redirects.
Building on the New Platform
The build phase varies by platform. Two principles apply universally.
First, replicate or improve every SEO element. Meta titles, meta descriptions, H1s, schema markup, internal links, image alt text. The goal is to ship the new site with at least the same SEO surface area as the old site.
Second, build a staging environment that mirrors production. Test the new site on a staging URL with noindex tags before launch. Run Screaming Frog against staging to catch broken links, missing meta data, and structural problems. The website redesign checklist covers the full pre-launch QA list.
Implementing Redirects
Redirects must be live before the new site is. The order matters.
For platform-specific redirects:
- WordPress: Use a redirect plugin (Redirection by John Godley, Rank Math redirects). Bulk-import the URL map as CSV.
- Framer: Set redirects in Site Settings → Redirects. Bulk paste from CSV is supported.
- Webflow: Project Settings → Publishing → 301 redirects. Bulk import via CSV.
- Cloudflare: Page Rules or Bulk Redirects. Useful for cross-platform redirects when the destination platform does not support bulk imports.
- Apache or Nginx: Edit .htaccess or nginx.conf with rewrite rules. Required for self-hosted sites.
Test 50 to 100 random redirects manually after launch. A redirect that returns 404 or 302 instead of 301 silently destroys link equity.
Launch Day Checklist
Launch day has a specific sequence. Run it in this order to minimize downtime.
- Final staging QA: Screaming Frog clean crawl, all forms submit, all tracking fires
- Lower TTL on DNS records to 300 seconds (24 hours before launch)
- Take a full backup of the old site
- Push the new site to production
- Update DNS to point to new host
- Verify SSL certificate provisions on new host
- Submit new sitemap to Google Search Console
- Submit new sitemap to Bing Webmaster Tools
- Test the top 50 URLs manually
- Run Screaming Frog against production
- Verify analytics tracking on production
- Verify form submissions in production
- Restore TTL on DNS records to 3600 seconds
Launch on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning, never Friday afternoon. If something breaks, you want a full team available to fix it.
The First 30 Days After Launch
Search engines need time to recrawl, reindex, and reassign rankings to new URLs. The first 30 days are when problems surface and traffic dips temporarily. This is normal. The dip should recover within 30 to 90 days.
Monitor weekly:
- Google Search Console: indexed pages, coverage errors, crawl errors
- Google Analytics 4: organic traffic by landing page (compare week-over-week)
- Top-traffic URLs: are they indexed under their new URL
- Top-ranking keywords: have positions changed significantly
- 404 reports in Search Console: any unmapped URLs returning 404
If indexed pages drop more than 30 percent in week one, something is wrong. Check robots.txt for accidental disallow rules. Check for missing or broken redirects. Check that the new sitemap is correctly listed in Search Console. Run the URL Inspection tool on top-traffic URLs to see how Google is processing them.
The Most Common Mistakes
Six mistakes cause most migration disasters. Skipping the pre-migration audit and discovering after launch that 200 URLs were not mapped. Using 302 redirects instead of 301. Redirecting all old URLs to the new homepage. Forgetting to remove noindex tags from staging when pushing to production. Not submitting the new sitemap to Search Console. Launching on Friday and not noticing problems until Monday morning.
The fix for all of these is process discipline and a launch-day runbook that the whole team works from.
SEO Preservation: The Long Game
Even a well-executed migration sees a 5 to 15 percent dip in organic traffic in the first 30 to 60 days. This is search engines reprocessing the URL changes. Within 90 days, traffic should be at parity. Within 180 days, traffic should exceed pre-migration levels if the new site is faster, better-structured, and has more content.
Migration is also an opportunity to fix structural SEO problems. Consolidate duplicate content. Improve internal linking. Tighten meta titles and descriptions. Upgrade schema markup. Add hreflang tags if multilingual. Improve Core Web Vitals. The Core Web Vitals guide covers the performance metrics that affect rankings.
Migration Cost
A typical mid-market migration (50-500 URLs, single platform change) runs $8,000 to $35,000 from a vendor. The breakdown:
- Pre-migration audit and URL mapping: $2,000 to $8,000
- Build on new platform: $5,000 to $20,000
- Redirect implementation: $500 to $2,500
- Launch QA and monitoring: $500 to $4,500
Enterprise migrations (1,000+ URLs, multiple integrations) run $40,000 to $200,000. The premium goes to integration testing and SEO preservation work.
For a fixed-price platform migration to Framer, see our pricing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a website migration take?
Four to twelve weeks for most mid-market sites. Two to four weeks for simple platform moves with under 50 URLs. Three to six months for enterprise sites with thousands of URLs and multiple integrations. The audit and URL mapping phase often takes longer than the build phase.
Will I lose search traffic during a migration?
A 5 to 15 percent dip in the first 30 to 60 days is normal even on well-executed migrations. Recovery happens within 90 days. Larger dips usually indicate missing redirects, indexing problems, or robots.txt issues. Significant traffic loss past 90 days requires diagnostic work.
What is the difference between a 301 and a 302 redirect?
A 301 is permanent and passes nearly all link equity to the new URL. A 302 is temporary and does not pass full equity. For migrations, always use 301. A 302 is only correct when the original URL will return.
Do I need to keep the old site running during migration?
Yes, until the new site is live and DNS has propagated. The old site stays as the public site until launch day. Switching DNS to the new site is the moment of cutover. The old site can be archived or decommissioned a week or two after launch once redirects are confirmed working.
How do I migrate without losing rankings?
Three rules. Map every URL with a 301 to a relevant destination. Preserve meta titles, descriptions, H1s, and schema. Submit the new sitemap to Search Console immediately at launch. Sites that follow these three rules typically recover full rankings within 60 to 90 days.
If you are planning a platform migration to Framer and want to preserve search rankings during the move, talk to our team about a migration plan tailored to your URL structure and traffic profile.