How to Migrate a Website in 2026 Without Losing Search Traffic
Website migrations — including rebuilds, domain changes, and URL restructuring — can silently erase years of search visibility, with traffic drops often appearing weeks after launch. Experts identify an incomplete redirect map as the leading cause of post-migration traffic loss, stressing that every valuable URL must resolve via a single permanent redirect to its closest equivalent on the new site. Building a full URL inventory requires merging data from site crawls, Google Search Console, server access logs, and backlink reports, as no single source captures the complete picture. Redirect chains, homepage catch-alls, and unresolved HTTP or subdomain variants are flagged as common technical pitfalls that dilute link equity and confuse search engines. Additional elements requiring attention after migration include canonical tags, hreflang attributes, and any stale internal references still pointing to old URLs.
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