Working tool · published

Redesign migration checklist

A prelaunch and postlaunch checklist for preserving important URLs, content, internal links, metadata, analytics, and crawl signals during a redesign.

Reviewed 2026-07-20 · National guidance, Austin proof
Browser checklist

Work through the release gate.

0%

Progress stays in this browser tab and is not submitted to VOID.

01

The task and the failure mode

Built for: Teams replacing a live website, CMS, information architecture, domain, or frontend rendering system.

A visually successful launch can lose search demand when high-value URLs disappear, redirects are guessed, content is cut, or analytics changes without a baseline.

02

Workflow

  1. 01Export the live route and performance inventory.
  2. 02Map keep, consolidate, redirect, and retire decisions.
  3. 03Validate staging without exposing it to indexing.
  4. 04Run launch-day crawl and measurement checks.
  5. 05Monitor canonical URLs, errors, traffic, and leads after release.
03

Evidence to retain

  • Prelaunch URL map with owners and decisions.
  • Baseline by page, query, route group, and conversion.
  • Tested redirects and rendered metadata.
04

Release checklist

  • Route inventory
  • Performance and lead baseline
  • One-to-one redirect map
  • Canonical and robots plan
  • Content and structured-data parity
  • Internal-link update
  • Analytics event parity
  • Postlaunch crawl and GSC monitoring
05

Boundaries and caveats

Redesigns can change demand and conversion even when technical migration is correct.

Do not redirect unrelated retired URLs to the homepage.

06

Primary sources

  1. Google Search Essentials and SEO Starter Guidedevelopers.google.com
  2. Google Search Central: Build and submit a sitemapdevelopers.google.com
  3. Google Search Console performance reportingsupport.google.com
Continue the task

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