Most website migrations go wrong not because of bad timing but because someone skipped a step that seemed minor. A missing redirect sends a busy page to a dead link. A backup taken too early means you restore an outdated database. A test site that was never properly checked goes live with broken payment forms.
This checklist walks you through every step in order so none of that happens.
Understanding Website Migration and Its Importance
Website migration is any change that moves or restructures your website. That includes switching hosting companies, moving from HTTP to HTTPS, changing your page addresses, rebuilding on a new platform, or redesigning your web design while keeping the same web address.
The biggest risk is to your Google rankings. When Google comes back to check your site after a migration, it looks for the same pages it knew before. If those pages are gone without a redirect pointing to their new address, Google treats them as deleted. The rankings those pages took months to earn go with them. This is why your web designer and SEO team need to work from the same checklist before launch, not sort things out after something breaks.
Planning for a Successful Migration
Three decisions need to be in place before any work starts: the go-live date, who is responsible for each step, and the rollback plan if something goes wrong and you need to undo the launch.
Schedule go-live during your lowest-traffic period. For most Singapore businesses, that means a weekday night between 11 pm and 2 am. Build in four hours of testing time after the switch. If something breaks, that buffer gives you time to fix or roll back before the next working day.
Set up a staging environment before migration work begins. This is a private copy of your site running on the new platform or design that only your team can see. Every test you run on staging tells you what will happen on launch day. Anything skipped there becomes a surprise afterwards.
Common Challenges During Migration
Broken links
When you change your URL structure, every old page address that disappears without a redirect becomes a dead end. Google records it as an error, backlinks stop working, and any internal link to that page goes nowhere. The fix is to export your full list of page addresses before migration using a tool like Screaming Frog, then map each old address to its new location before launch day.
Here is what that mapping looks like in practice:
| Old Page Address | New Page Address | Redirect Type |
|---|---|---|
| /services/web-design.html | /services/web-design/ | 301 (Permanent) |
| /about-us.html | /about/ | 301 (Permanent) |
| /blog/post-1.php | /blog/post-1/ | 301 (Permanent) |
Every row in that table is a redirect you set up before the DNS switch. None gets set up after.
Data loss
A backup taken 48 hours before launch captures an old version of your database. If something goes wrong on launch day and you restore that backup, you lose two days of orders, form submissions, and content changes. Back up the database and all files at the start of the migration window, not before it. For WordPress sites, back up both the database and the /wp-content/ folder. That folder holds your uploaded images, plugins, and theme files. Losing it means rebuilding from scratch.
Speed problems
A site that ran fast on your old server can slow down on the new one, not because anything changed in the site, but because the new server is not configured correctly. Run a speed test using GTmetrix or Google PageSpeed Insights before migration and again after. If the numbers are worse on the same content, the issue is server-side caching. Your hosting company fixes this, not your web designer.
Key Steps for a Smooth Website Migration
- Export your full list of page addresses using Screaming Frog or an equivalent crawl tool.
- Back up the database and all files at the start of the migration window.
- Freeze the live site. No content updates, no plugin changes until the launch is confirmed stable.
- Test every form, payment page, and third-party tool on the staging site.
- Set your DNS TTL to 300 seconds, 24 to 48 hours before go-live. TTL stands for time-to-live: it tells the internet how often to check for updates to your site’s address. Lowering it to 300 seconds means the change spreads faster when you flip the switch. Google’s own documentation notes that DNS propagation normally takes between a few minutes and 48 hours, depending on your domain registrar and your current TTL setting.
- Set up and verify all 301 redirects before touching DNS.
- Switch DNS.
- Once propagation is complete, crawl the live site and compare the output against your pre-migration export.
Quick Reference: What to Do Before and After Migration
- Export the full URL list before migration begins.
- Back up the database and all files at the start of the migration window.
- Test all forms and payment gateways on the staging site.
- Verify all 301 redirects before switching DNS.
- Crawl the live site post-launch and compare against the pre-migration export.
Website Migration Checklist Overview
| Step | Description | Responsible | Pre-Launch | Post-Launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Backup | Save all files and databases | IT / Developer | Yes | No |
| URL Export | Export the full list of page addresses | SEO Team | Yes | No |
| Link Check | Test internal and external links | Web Designer | Yes | Yes |
| Redirect Setup | Set up and verify 301 redirects | SEO Team | Yes | Yes |
| Form Testing | Check contact and payment forms | QA / Web Designer | Yes | Yes |
| Speed Review | Compare site speed before and after | Administrator | Yes | Yes |
Tell Your Team Before You Launch
Send a migration notice to your internal team at least five days before go-live. Include the exact migration window, what will be unavailable during the switch, who to contact if something looks wrong after launch, and what the rollback plan is.
For site visitors, put up a brief maintenance message during the migration window. “We’re updating the site and will be back shortly” is enough. An unexplained outage leaves people more confused than a two-sentence message.
After launch, send a confirmation covering what changed and let everyone who manages content verify their access before the next working day.
Testing After Launch
Submit your updated sitemap to Google Search Console immediately after go-live. This tells Google to start crawling the new version of your site now rather than waiting for its regular schedule.
In the first 24 hours, check for broken links, missing images, and loading errors. Have your web designer test across Chrome, Safari, and Firefox, and on both desktop and mobile. Issues that look fine in Chrome sometimes appear on Safari or older Android devices.
Monitor Google Search Console for at least four weeks. Watch for pages flagged as Not Found, crawl errors, and changes in your keyword rankings. Some traffic drop in the first two weeks is normal as Google reprocesses the new site. If rankings have not recovered by week four, that points to a technical problem, not normal reprocessing. Google’s migration documentation notes that for large sites with thousands of indexed pages, full stabilization can take considerably longer than four weeks.
What to Look for in a Web Designer During Migration
Ask for a checklist specific to your site before work begins, not a template reused across every client. Your URLs, integrations, and platform dependencies differ from everyone else’s, and a generic list misses the risks specific to you.
Ask how they handle DNS timing. If your web designer cannot explain what TTL is or how long propagation takes, you have found a gap at exactly the right moment: before launch, not during it.
Make sure whoever manages the migration is still checking rankings and crawl health for at least four weeks after launch. Problems that show up in week three are common and fixable, but only if someone is still watching.
Ready to Move Your Website Without Losing Your Rankings?
A migration done wrong can take months to recover from. A migration done right takes the same amount of time but leaves your site faster, cleaner, and better positioned than before.
At iClick Media, we build a project-specific checklist for every migration we handle. If you are planning a website redesign or platform switch, talk to us before anyone touches the live site.
Contact us today, and we will walk you through what your migration actually involves before you commit to anything.