SEO Migration QA Guide
This document provides a comprehensive list of SEO-related tasks performed during the migration of a website. SEO checks span several phases of a site migration, each with specific tasks aimed at ensuring a smooth transition and maintaining SEO integrity. From the initial data migration to post-migration monitoring and audits, this guide outlines the essential steps for SEO teams to follow.
By adhering to this checklist, organizations can minimize disruptions to SEO performance and ensure the successful migration of their website while preserving its search engine rankings and visibility.
Phase 1: Initial Data Migration
Organic or Site Migration Partner
In this phase, the migration team QAs the migration of all content, image assets, metadata, etc. by testing a sample of all URLs.
Includes:
- URLs
- Canonicals
- Image URLs
- Robots.txt
- Sitemap(s)
- Content
- Metadata
Phase 2: Staging Site
Customer or Customer's SEO Partner
Following the initial data migration, the site owner's SEO team performs QA on the staging site by conducting a site crawl and analysis. The goal is to confirm consistency between the staging site and the legacy site. Any inconsistencies identified should be reported to Organic or your Site Migration Partner so they can be addressed before migration.
Recommended:
- A full site crawl of the staging site; compared to a production site crawl for consistency.
- URLs
- Titles
- Title Length
- Canonicals
- Status Code
- Content Type
- Indexability
- Meta Descriptions
- Meta Description Lengths
- Word Count
- Check redirects, ensuring consistency with the legacy site.
- Confirm that the top 200 URLs in terms of traffic resolve with a 200 status code and have no issues.
- Check the robots.txt file for rule verification.
- Confirm no new URLs were added or removed.
- Pull an Ahrefs/Semrush report from the legacy site audit reports for baseline establishment.
- Report any inconsistencies to Organic or your Site Migration Partner for resolution.
Contact Organic Support if you would like Organic's SEO Comparison Sheet to use as a template for your crawl analysis.
Phase 3: Migration Day!
Customer or Customer's SEO Partner
On migration day, the migration site goes live, and the SEO team conducts an initial post-migration review.
Recommended:
- Ensure the robots.txt file did not change.
- Confirm sitemaps are valid through spot checks.
- Crawl the top 200 URLs in terms of traffic to ensure no 5xx, 4xx, or 3xx errors or other obvious issues.
- Start a full crawl in the evening after the high traffic period for Day 1 analysis.
Phase 4: Post-Migration Monitoring (Day 1-4)
Customer or Customer's SEO Partner
During the first four days post-migration, the SEO team verifies that essential SEO items remain correct. This is accomplished with the assistance of a site crawl to ensure that immediate post-migration developments (fast follows) do not impact critical SEO elements.
Recommended:
- Analyze a full site crawl and review key SEO items for consistency.
- Check Google Search Console for performance, coverage, and crawl stats.
- Pull Ahrefs/SEMrush audit reports and compare to pre-migration baseline.
- Confirm no staging or development sites are being indexed (e.g., stg.example.com).
- Report any concerns to Organic or your Site Migration Partner for investigation and resolution.
Phase 5: Post-Migration Audit (Week 2)
Customer or Customer's SEO Partner
One week after migration, the SEO team should perform a comprehensive audit of the site, which can include a full site crawl.
Recommended:
- Perform a full site crawl and review key SEO items for consistency.
- Check Google Search Console reports for performance, coverage, and crawl stats.
- Pull Ahrefs/SEMrush audit reports and compare to pre-migration baseline.
- Report any issues to Organic or your Site Migration Partner and annotate in Google Analytics if needed.