Website migrations work by rebuilding or moving your site (design, platform, hosting, domain, URL structure, or HTTPS) while keeping visitors and Google able to find every page through clean redirects, updated tracking, and careful QA.
In practice, a migration is a controlled “swap” where the new site is prepared on a staging environment, checked end to end, then launched with a plan to preserve what already performs. Most problems happen when URLs change without a redirect map, when tracking gets lost, or when the new site blocks crawling or indexing by accident.
Here are the common migration types we see for Orlando businesses: hosting moves (same URLs, new server), redesigns (same URLs, new templates), CMS/platform changes (often WordPress, sometimes headless), domain changes (brand rename or merger), HTTP to HTTPS, and URL structure cleanups (like /services/service-name/ instead of random parameters). The more your URLs change, the more your SEO risk increases, which is why we treat redirects and page mapping as the backbone of the project. If you are planning a redesign or rebuild, our web design team usually starts by locking in the page list and URL plan before anyone touches visuals.
What a smooth migration looks like
| Phase | What happens | What you should have when it’s done | Typical timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1) Discovery and inventory | We crawl the current site, export every indexable URL, collect top pages, backlinks, forms, and tracking. | A complete “old site” URL list and a priority list of pages that must not break. | 1 to 3 days |
| 2) Build on staging | New site is built behind the scenes, with matching content, metadata, and conversion paths. | A staging site you can review without affecting the live site. | Several days to several weeks |
| 3) Redirect map and SEO details | Old URLs are mapped 1-to-1 to the best new URLs, then redirects are set up. | A redirect list with no “guesswork” redirects to the homepage. | 1 to 5 days |
| 4) Pre-launch QA | We test forms, calls, booking, mobile layouts, speed basics, and run a crawl for broken links. | No critical errors, no redirect loops, no missing pages. | 1 to 3 days |
| 5) Launch and DNS cutover | We move the site live, update DNS if needed, and recheck everything on production. | Live site working for real users, with redirects firing correctly. | Same day, DNS can vary |
| 6) Post-launch monitoring | We watch 404s, indexing, rankings, and conversion tracking, then patch issues fast. | Stable traffic and clean indexing trend over the next few weeks. | 2 to 6+ weeks |
On launch day, the technical “flip” is usually quick, but DNS caching can mean some people see the old site for a while, depending on the TTL settings and where they are browsing from. That’s normal. What matters is that the old URLs consistently point to the right new pages once the change reaches them.
The SEO-critical pieces are straightforward: keep as many URLs the same as you can, use permanent redirects (301) when URLs change, update internal links to point at the new URLs, keep canonical tags consistent, and publish an updated XML sitemap. If you want the plain-English version of redirect choices, our FAQ on 301 vs 302 redirects is the one we send clients before launch week.
We also protect measurement. That means confirming Google Analytics and conversion events still fire, call tracking still routes correctly if you use it, forms submit, and Google Search Console is set up for the correct domain version. If pages are not appearing in Google after a move, it’s usually a crawl or indexing blockage, which is why we keep this handy: what causes pages not to be indexed by Google.
If your migration includes WordPress hosting or a server move, picking a stable host and moving with backups and a rollback plan matters more than most owners expect. Our WordPress hosting work often includes a staging setup, automated backups, and a clean deployment flow so launches feel boring, in a good way.
If you tell us what you’re changing (domain, platform, URLs, or just hosting), we can tell you the risk level and the exact checklist that keeps calls and rankings from taking a hit.
