SEO Migration Consultant

An SEO migration consultant protects the search visibility your website has already earned while its platform, design, domain, or URL structure changes. I work with business owners, marketing teams, and developers who need a controlled launch rather than months of avoidable ranking recovery.

The four common migration types are a CMS or platform change, a redesign, a domain move, and a URL restructure. Each can alter the signals Google uses to crawl, understand, and rank individual pages. I manage a 44-site portfolio and have handled migrations across WordPress, Shopify, and Astro or static sites running through Cloudflare. That practical experience shapes a process built around evidence, checks, and clear ownership.

Why Website Migrations Lose Rankings

Website migrations lose rankings when important search signals change without a complete transfer plan. The new site may look correct to visitors while Google encounters missing pages, weaker content, or conflicting instructions.

Broken redirect chains waste authority across several hops. Changed URL paths with no 301 redirects return errors instead of transferring signals. New templates often strip useful body content, headings, schema, or metadata. Internal links can keep pointing at old URLs and force every click through a redirect. Canonical and hreflang tags may still reference the old domain. A forgotten staging directive can also leave the test site indexed or the live site blocked. A technical SEO audit finds these risks before they become a post-launch recovery project.

What an SEO Migration Consultant Actually Does

An SEO migration consultant creates the control system around the move. The work starts before development is signed off and continues until search performance has stabilised.

Pre-migration benchmark. I record current clicks, impressions, rankings, conversions, indexed pages, and top landing pages using Google Search Console and GA4. A complete crawl export preserves the current URL set, status codes, metadata, canonicals, internal links, and structured data.

URL inventory and redirect map. Every useful old URL receives a defined destination. I flag redirect chains, duplicates, removed pages, and mappings that send distinct pages to a generic category or homepage.

Content parity check. Priority pages are compared across old and new versions. The review covers body copy, headings, title tags, descriptions, image alt text, schema, internal links, canonicals, and hreflang.

Staging crawl and sign-off. I crawl the staging site as a search engine would and test templates across representative page types. Issues are assigned to the right developer before approval.

Launch-day checks. Redirects, robots directives, canonicals, sitemaps, analytics, structured data, status codes, and priority pages are checked as soon as the new site is live.

30, 60, and 90-day monitoring. I compare the launch against the benchmark, investigate changes by URL and query, and separate normal recrawling from faults that need intervention. The website redesign SEO checklist explains the checks your wider project team should expect.

Migration Types I Handle

Each migration type carries a different primary risk. The plan changes according to what is moving and which search signals must remain stable.

Platform-to-platform migrations. A move from one CMS or commerce platform to another can change URL rules, rendering, schema, navigation, and template content at once. I coordinate the requirements for WordPress, Shopify, and Magento migrations so platform defaults do not overwrite the existing search structure.

Redesigns on the same CMS. The URL paths may stay unchanged while templates remove content, weaken headings, alter internal links, or slow down priority pages. Content parity and template testing matter more than a large redirect exercise.

Domain changes and rebrands. A new domain requires one-to-one redirects, updated canonicals and hreflang, clean sitemap changes, Search Console setup, and careful monitoring while Google transfers signals. The risk grows when ownership, branding, content, and hosting change together. My guide to SEO after an acquisition explains why these changes should be sequenced.

HTTP to HTTPS and URL restructures. Protocol changes can create redirect loops, mixed internal links, duplicate versions, or insecure assets. Wider URL restructures add mapping risk because every altered path needs an appropriate permanent destination.

How We Work

The migration programme has three phases: before, during, and after launch. Each phase has a defined evidence set and approval point.

Before launch, I benchmark performance, crawl the current site, build or review the URL inventory, validate the redirect map, and compare important content. I then crawl staging and give your development team a prioritised issue list with acceptance checks.

During launch, I coordinate with your existing developers rather than replacing them. They manage the platform and deployment. I verify the SEO requirements, test the live response, and identify issues by URL, template, and severity. Nothing goes live without sign-off on the redirect map.

After launch, I monitor Google Search Console, GA4, crawl data, indexation, and priority rankings. Your team receives concise actions tied to the evidence, so developers can fix technical faults quickly and marketing can avoid changing pages while signals are still settling.

Migration Questions

How long does a website migration affect SEO?

Managed migrations typically cause a 2-4 week dip while search engines recrawl and transfer signals. Unmanaged migrations can suppress rankings for 3-6 months, and removed pages may lose visibility permanently.

Do I need an SEO consultant if my developer is handling the migration?

Yes. Developers preserve function, but rankings depend on SEO-specific tasks such as the redirect map, content parity checks, and the Google Search Console handover. An SEO consultant owns those checks and works alongside the development team.

Should I change domain and redesign at the same time?

No. Sequence them so each change can be measured and any problem can be isolated. If both changes are unavoidable, complete the migration first and release the redesign after rankings and indexation have stabilised.

What does a migration SEO audit cost?

A migration SEO audit costs £495 at a fixed fee. It covers the URL inventory, redirect map, and staging crawl before launch.

Pricing

A fixed-fee pre-migration audit starts from £495 and covers the URL inventory, redirect map, and staging crawl for a standard migration. A full migration programme is scoped per project because platform complexity, site size, international variants, and development timelines change the work involved. Post-launch recovery monitoring is available through an ongoing retainer from £1,500 per month if wanted.

Every engagement begins with a free 20-minute SEO diagnosis focused on your site's biggest search problem and the most useful next step. No obligation and no sales pitch.

Related Guides

• Website Redesign SEO Checklist: the checks to run before, during, and after a redesign
• SEO After an Acquisition: protecting organic visibility through ownership and domain changes
• Technical SEO Audit: a complete review of crawlability, indexation, and site infrastructure
• Technical SEO Consultant: specialist support for complex technical issues
• Google Algorithm Update Recovery: diagnosis and recovery when organic visibility falls