How do I keep my SEO when changing website platforms?

Inventory what you have before you move

Platforms structure URLs differently. Wix often adds folders like /post/, Squarespace uses its own collection paths, and WordPress depends on its permalink setting. Before anything changes, export a full list of current URLs.

For each one, note the title tag, meta description, H1, and whether it gets clicks in Search Console. Also save any images with useful alt text and any structured data the old platform generated. Builders often add some automatically, so it’s easy to lose without noticing.

Match or redirect every URL

The cleanest move keeps the same URLs on the new site, so nothing needs redirecting. When that isn’t possible, or the old URLs were messy, map each old address to its new equivalent and set a 301 redirect.

Where those redirects live depends on the new setup. Static hosts and most modern platforms let you define them in a config file or dashboard. Test them by visiting the old URLs, not just by reading the list. One typo can quietly drop a ranking page.

Handle the domain and DNS carefully

If your domain is registered through the old platform, transfer it or point its DNS to the new host. Do this in a planned window, with the new site ready, so there’s no gap where the domain shows an error page.

Keep the same version of the domain too. If Google knew you as www.yourfirm.ca, either keep that or redirect it cleanly to the new preferred version. Also check that email records are carried across, since a DNS change can break email if MX records get lost.

Check everything after launch

Submit the new XML sitemap in Search Console on launch day and request indexing for your key pages. Crawl the old URL list and confirm every one returns a redirect or a live page.

Watch the Pages report and performance graph for the next four to six weeks. Some movement is normal while Google recrawls. If a specific page drops and stays down, compare its old and new versions. Missing content or a broken redirect is usually the answer.

When I move a client off a builder, I crawl their old site first and keep the spreadsheet as the source of truth for the whole project. Every row gets a destination and a status.

I usually keep the URLs that earn traffic exactly as they were, even if the new structure is cleaner, and redirect the rest. On launch day I switch DNS, submit the sitemap, then run the old URL list through a checker to confirm every redirect. Clients own the code and domain afterwards, so the next move is never as painful.