A website migration can feel like a high-stakes game of Jenga, if one critical piece is missing, everything could come crashing down. Whether it’s a domain change, a replatforming, or a complete site overhaul, the post-migration period is where you find out if all your planning has paid off, or if you need to roll up your sleeves and fix things fast.
To stay ahead of potential issues, here are the key metrics and insights you should be monitoring immediately after a migration.
Organic traffic and rankings
Let’s start with the obvious: did your traffic tank? Traffic fluctuations are common after a migration, but long-term declines in organic traffic or rankings can signal deeper problems that need immediate attention.
Keep a close eye on Google Search Console (GSC) and Google Analytics (GA4) to track organic sessions and keyword rankings. Some fluctuations are normal, but if you see a major drop, dig into:
- Landing pages: Are key pages still getting traffic, or have they vanished from search?
- Keyword rankings: Did you lose positions for critical terms?
- Clicks & impressions: Is Google still showing your site in search results, but users aren’t clicking?
If rankings plummet, it’s time to investigate issues like missing redirects, crawlability problems, or a robots.txt misconfiguration.
After one migration, I noticed a drop in organic traffic to category pages. A thorough investigation revealed that canonical tags had been misconfigured during the migration. These tags were pointing to the wrong URLs, confusing Google about which page to index. Fixing the canonical tags restored rankings and traffic within a few weeks.
Indexing and crawling
- You could have the best website in the world, but if Google can’t index it, you won’t rank. One of the first things to check post-migration is whether search engines are properly crawling and indexing your site. Any issues with indexing or crawling can result in lost organic traffic, especially if Google can’t find or properly interpret your site’s content.
- GSC coverage report – This tool is invaluable for identifying any sudden drops in indexed pages, spikes in excluded URLs, or crawl errors. It’s essential to review this report daily in the days following migration.
- Log file analysis – Review your server logs to ensure search engines are crawling your important pages at the expected rates. You should also verify that no important pages are getting overlooked or misinterpreted by crawlers.
- Crawl rate & budget – Google prioritises crawl budget, which refers to the number of pages it crawls on your site within a given timeframe. Make sure Google isn’t wasting crawl budget on non-essential pages while neglecting your most important content. Implementing an optimised robots.txt file and internal linking structure can help direct Googlebot’s focus.
For instance, in one migration I worked on, we noticed Google was indexing staging URLs instead of the live versions. This can often happen due to improperly configured redirects or issues with robots.txt. We resolved it by fixing the robots.txt rules, applying noindex to staging pages, and ensuring proper redirects to the live URLs. This prevented further damage and ensured only live URLs were crawled and indexed.
Redirects and URL changes
- Redirects play a crucial role in preserving link equity and ensuring a seamless user experience during a migration. If implemented incorrectly, redirects can lead to significant SEO losses, as Google may not be able to follow the correct URL paths or interpret your content properly.
- Crawl the site – Run regular crawls to check that old URLs are redirecting correctly to the new URLs. It’s important to ensure all old URLs are accounted for and redirected to their correct equivalents.
- Redirect chains & loops – Redirect chains occur when one URL redirects to another, which then redirects to a third. This can lead to slow load times, decreased link equity, and other SEO issues. Redirect loops can prevent users and search engines from reaching the final page.
During a large-scale e-commerce migration, I found thousands of redirected URLs pointing to outdated category pages instead of their new equivalents. After fixing these redirects, we prevented significant traffic and ranking losses.
Core web vitals and page performance
Page experience signals, such as Core Web Vitals, play a large role in how Google ranks websites. These metrics reflect how users experience your site’s performance in terms of speed, responsiveness, and visual stability. A drop in Core Web Vitals can negatively impact both user experience and SEO.
After one migration, a client’s site suffered from slow load times due to excessive JavaScript and unoptimised images. By minifying scripts and implementing image compression techniques, we were able to significantly improve page load speed and, in turn, restore rankings that had dropped after migration.
Internal linking and navigation
- When migrating a website, the internal linking structure often changes, which can affect crawling and the overall distribution of page authority. Ensuring that internal links are correctly set up is vital for keeping your site’s SEO health intact.
- Orphaned pages – Orphaned pages are those that aren’t linked from anywhere else on your site. These pages might not get crawled or indexed properly, so it’s crucial to ensure every important page is linked to internally.
- Click depth – The deeper a page is buried within your site, the harder it is for search engines to find and index it. Key pages should be accessible within a few clicks from the homepage or other highly linked pages.
- Anchor text optimisation – Ensuring that your internal links use descriptive, keyword-relevant anchor text helps both users and search engines understand the content of the linked pages.
Technical SEO checks
- During a migration, several technical SEO elements can get disrupted, leading to indexing issues or lost visibility.
- Canonical tags – Ensure canonical tags are implemented correctly and point to the right URLs. This prevents duplicate content issues and helps guide search engines to the most important pages.
- Hreflang implementation – If your site targets multiple countries or languages, make sure hreflang tags are properly set up. Incorrect or missing hreflang tags can confuse search engines about which content to serve to users in different regions.
- Schema markup – Check that all schema markup is intact, as this structured data is important for rich snippets and enhancing your visibility in search results.
Backlink profile monitoring
- Backlinks are crucial for maintaining SEO authority and rankings. During a migration, it’s important to ensure that backlinks are still pointing to the correct pages on your site.
- Lost backlinks – Track your backlinks and identify any that may have been lost or broken during migration.
- Redirected links – Ensure that any inbound links to old URLs are redirected to the correct new URLs. Failing to do this can result in lost link equity.
A brand change led to a domain migration for one client. While hundreds of high-quality backlinks still pointed to the old site, we were able to use outreach and 301 redirects to preserve link equity, avoiding the potential SEO losses that would have come from losing those links.
Conclusion
No migration is risk-free, but a structured post-migration monitoring strategy can mean the difference between a temporary dip and a long-term SEO setback. By keeping a close eye on indexing, redirects, performance, and backlinks, you can catch issues before they escalate.
Even the smoothest migrations bring surprises, so stay proactive – set up alerts, run audits, and adjust as needed. With the right data and quick action, your site won’t just recover, it’ll come back stronger.
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