Ecommerce site migration SEO checklist
Most of the SEO damage from replatforming a store is done before launch, in decisions nobody realised were SEO decisions. This is the order to do it in.
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Quick answer
To migrate an online store without losing rankings, record every URL and its traffic before you start, map each old URL to its closest new equivalent with a single permanent (301) redirect, check the staging site for leftover noindex tags and broken canonicals, then watch Search Console closely for the first weeks. Google says to expect temporary fluctuation, and to keep redirects in place for at least a year.
Key takeaways
- Every old URL gets one permanent redirect to its closest new equivalent, in a single hop.
- Don't send old URLs to the homepage; Google warns against it.
- Most launch-day damage comes from staging settings left on: noindex, blocked robots.txt, wrong canonicals.
- Keep redirects for at least a year.
Which kind of migration is this?
| Migration | What changes | SEO risk |
|---|---|---|
| Replatform with new URLs | Platform and URL structure | High: every URL needs a redirect |
| Replatform keeping URLs | Platform only | Lower: Google treats it like a hosting change |
| Domain change | The domain, often URLs too | High: also needs Google's Change of Address tool |
| Redesign on the same platform | Templates, sometimes URLs | Varies: depends on what the templates drop |
Where URLs stay exactly the same, Google's site move without URL changes guidance applies, and a temporary drop in crawl rate after launch is normal. Everything below assumes URLs are changing.
Record the baseline
- A full crawl of the current store: every URL, status code, title, canonical and internal link.
- Search Console exports: clicks and impressions per URL for the last 12 months.
- Analytics: organic revenue by landing page, so you know which URLs pay.
- Backlinks: which URLs other sites link to.
- Structured data and reviews: what each template outputs today.
Without this, you can't tell afterwards what was lost, and you can't prioritise the redirect map.
Prioritise the URLs you can't afford to lose
Sort the baseline by revenue, clicks and links. The top few hundred URLs usually carry most of the value. They get mapped and checked by hand; the long tail can be mapped by rule.
Build the redirect map
Google's site move guidance is to map the old site's URLs to the new ones and use server-side permanent redirects. It advises redirecting to the final destination directly rather than through chains, and warns against redirecting many old URLs to one irrelevant destination such as the home page.
| Old URL type | Redirect to |
|---|---|
| Product that still exists | The same product's new URL |
| Discontinued product | Its replacement, or the closest category |
| Category | The matching new category |
| Merged categories | The new category that contains both |
| Filter and sort URLs | Usually the parent category, or nothing if they were never indexed |
| Blog posts and guides | The same post's new URL |
Keep the map in a spreadsheet with five columns: old URL, page type, new URL, status after launch, and who owns the fix.
Platform URL patterns
Platforms impose their own URL shapes, so most replatforms change URLs whether you want them to or not. These are the defaults; check your own store's settings.
| Platform | Product URL | Category URL |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify | /products/product-name | /collections/collection-name |
| WooCommerce | /product/product-name/ | /product-category/category-name/ |
| Magento | Often /product-name.html | Often /category/subcategory.html |
Moving to Shopify means accepting its fixed /products/ and /collections/ prefixes, so every product and category URL changes. Moving away from Shopify is the chance to choose a structure, which is worth doing once rather than twice.
What else breaks in a replatform
- Variant URLs and parameters change format.
- Filter and pagination URLs behave differently on the new platform.
- Product reviews and structured data disappear if they came from an app or plugin that isn't moved.
- Image URLs and alt text are lost in the import.
- Internal links hard-coded in descriptions and blog posts still point to old paths.
- Analytics and Search Console tracking isn't installed on the new templates.
Check staging before launch
- No leftover noindex tags, and robots.txt isn't blocking the new site.
- Canonical tags point to the new live URLs, not staging addresses.
- Titles, meta descriptions and headings carried over on the top URLs.
- Structured data validates on product and category templates.
- Redirects tested from the map, especially the priority URLs.
- Analytics and conversion tracking fire on the new templates.
Launch day
- Switch on redirectsTest the priority URLs immediately, one hop each, ending in a 200.
- Submit the new sitemapIn Search Console, as Google's site move guidance recommends.
- Check robots.txtMake sure it blocks only what you intend.
- Inspect key URLsURL Inspection on the homepage, top categories and top products.
The first 90 days
Google says to expect temporary fluctuation in rankings during a move, and that it can take a few weeks or more for the new URLs to replace the old ones in results. Watch these, weekly at first:
- Page indexing report: new URLs being indexed, old ones dropping out.
- 404s and redirect errors in Search Console and server logs.
- Clicks and revenue for the priority URLs against the baseline.
- Structured data reports for products.
Google advises keeping redirects for as long as possible, generally at least one year.
If traffic drops, check in this order
- IndexingIs the new site blocked by noindex or robots.txt?
- RedirectsDo the priority URLs redirect in one hop to the right page?
- CanonicalsDo new pages point their canonical to themselves?
- ContentDid the new templates drop copy, headings or structured data?
- Internal linksDo menus and links reach the same pages as before?
Agree rollback triggers before launch, such as revenue from organic search down sharply for two weeks with no fix in sight, so nobody has to decide under pressure.
Common questions
How long does SEO take to recover after an ecommerce migration?
Google says it can take a few weeks or more for new URLs to replace the old ones, and to expect temporary ranking fluctuation. Larger catalogues take longer, because Google has more URLs to recrawl.
How long should 301 redirects stay in place?
Google advises as long as possible, generally at least a year. Many stores keep them permanently, because old URLs keep receiving links.
Do I need Google's Change of Address tool?
Only when moving from one domain or subdomain to another. A replatform that keeps the same domain doesn't need it.
Will moving to Shopify change my URLs?
Almost certainly. Shopify uses fixed /products/ and /collections/ paths, so product and category URLs change and each needs a redirect.
Can we change URL structure during a replatform?
You can, and if the current structure is poor this is the right moment, because you are paying the recrawl cost once regardless. Do not change it twice.
Should discontinued products be redirected during a migration?
Redirect them to a replacement or the closest category if one exists. Don't send them all to the homepage.
Where to next
If you would rather have someone do this than read about it, the commercial page for this work is SEO migration services.
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