Website Migration SEO: Move a Site Without Losing Traffic

Why website migration is a risk for SEO

A migration is any change that touches page addresses: a new domain, a different CMS, a rebuilt URL structure, a move from http to https, or a new hosting setup. Search engines index specific URLs and the trust attached to them, including backlinks, history and user behaviour. A new URL is a new page until you show it replaces an old one.

Picture a Tashkent furniture store that relaunches on a new platform and renames its category pages on the way. Links from blogs, directories and old Telegram posts now lead to 404 errors, and the search results still list pages that no longer exist. The customer closes the tab and calls a competitor.

Before the move: record what you have

Take a snapshot of the current state before changing anything. Without it you cannot tell whether a traffic drop came from the migration or from seasonality. Collect:

Then mark the pages you cannot afford to lose: the ones that bring phone calls, orders paid through Click or Payme, and Telegram enquiries.

• a full URL list from a crawler, the sitemap, Search Console and analytics;
• traffic and rankings for your main queries;
• pages that receive external links;
• titles, descriptions, headings and copy that already perform;
• structured data, canonical tags and the setup of your Russian and Uzbek versions;
• the number of pages currently indexed.

The redirect map is your key document

It is a table that pairs every old URL with a new one. Each redirect should be permanent (301) and point to the closest equivalent page. If a product has been discontinued, send visitors to its category rather than the homepage.

Sending everything to the homepage is the most common mistake. Search engines treat it as deleted content and do not pass on the accumulated value. Watch for redirect chains too, where A goes to B and B goes to C. Each extra hop slows loading and weakens the signal.

Staging tests and launch day

Check the new site first on a private staging address that is blocked from indexing. Review copy, meta tags, speed, the mobile version, lead forms, payment and broken or internal links. Start with mobile, because many customers open your site from Instagram on a phone.

On launch day, switch on the redirects, remove the indexing block from robots.txt and meta tags, submit the new sitemap and confirm that analytics and the Meta pixel record events. The indexing block is the thing people forget most often, and the new site then stays invisible in search for weeks. Avoid launching in the middle of a big sale, since any fix will have to be made under load.

Search Console and Yandex Webmaster

If the domain changes, Search Console offers a change of address tool and Yandex Webmaster has a site move setting. Both sites must be verified in your account first. When only the platform changes and the domain stays the same, you do not need the tool, but you should still submit the new sitemap and watch the indexing report.

After the move: monitoring and external links

Check everything daily for the first weeks: indexing, crawl errors, the 404 list, traffic and the rankings of key pages. Temporary fluctuations are normal. What matters is finding missed redirects fast and fixing them.

Update links wherever you control them: map listings, Instagram, Telegram channels, Meta Ads and Google Ads, OLX and Uzum listings, and partner sites. The redirect works without this, but a direct link is more reliable.

One last rule: do not change the domain, the design and the copy at the same time. If traffic drops, you will not know which change caused it.

Where to start

A migration is easier to plan than to repair. markdev provides SEO optimisation in Uzbekistan, including preparing and supervising site moves. Tell us what you are changing and which pages bring in enquiries, and we will go through the risks and build the redirect map with you.