Switching website platforms without losing your Google rankings

Why redesigns can sink your traffic

A new website is exciting. But plenty of businesses launch a beautiful new site and watch their Google traffic drop the following month. Usually it isn't the design. It's that the old site's pages, links and signals weren't carried across.

Whether you're moving from Squarespace to Framer, WordPress to custom code, Wix to Shopify or anything in between, here's the checklist we follow. It's the same one we used when we moved our own website off Squarespace.

Signs it's time to switch

Moving platforms is a real project, so it's worth being sure. Common reasons we see:

• The site is slow and the platform is the cause, not just the images
• Simple changes need a developer, or can't be done at all
• You're paying for a pile of plugins or apps to make up for missing features
• The design can't grow with the brand or the business
• You need functionality, like bookings, ecommerce or integrations, that the platform handles poorly

If it's just the look that's tired, a redesign on the same platform may be cheaper and lower risk. Our guide to optimising your existing website helps you tell the difference, and our platform comparison helps you choose where to go.

Before you build: take stock

• Crawl your current site and export every URL. Tools like Screaming Frog make this easy.
• Export your top pages from Google Search Console and Google Analytics, so you know which pages actually bring in traffic and enquiries.
• Note which pages have links from other websites.
• Save your current page titles and meta descriptions.
• Record your rankings for your most important searches so you can compare after launch.

Don't forget the less obvious URLs: blog posts, image and file links, old landing pages from ad campaigns, and pages that only exist because of the platform, like tag or category pages. Search Console's list of indexed pages is a good way to catch these.

Plan your new URLs

Keep URLs the same wherever you can. Where they have to change, map every old URL to its closest new equivalent in a spreadsheet. Don't send everything to the homepage. Google treats mass homepage redirects much like missing pages.

What a redirect map looks like

A simple spreadsheet with two columns is enough: the old address and the new one. For example, an old "/blog/2019/our-services" might become "/services", and "/case-study" might become "/work/client-name". Every row should be checked by a person, because automated matching gets the tricky ones wrong.

Pages you're genuinely retiring with no equivalent can be left to return a proper "not found" page, but make sure that page is helpful, with links to your main sections.

Platform-specific gotchas

• Squarespace: many businesses register their domain through Squarespace, and it often controls email records too. Squarespace also adds its own URL patterns for blogs and collections, which need mapping.
• WordPress: watch for old attachment pages, category and tag archives, and plugin-generated pages that quietly attract traffic.
• Wix: URLs often include extra folders or long auto-generated slugs. Map them carefully.
• Shopify: product and collection URLs follow a fixed structure, so moving to or from Shopify always involves redirects.

Carry the content across

If a page ranks well, be careful about rewriting it heavily or cutting it. You can improve the design, structure and readability, but keep the substance that earned the rankings. Merge thin pages thoughtfully rather than deleting them.

This is also a good moment to make every page clearer and more useful. Pages that answer real questions well tend to hold their rankings and get picked up by AI search tools, as we explain in how to get featured in AI search.

Get the technical details right at launch

• Set up 301 redirects for every changed URL, and test them
• Keep or improve your page titles, meta descriptions and headings
• Generate a new XML sitemap and submit it in Google Search Console
• Check your new site isn't blocking search engines. Staging sites are often set to noindex, and that setting sometimes goes live by mistake
• Add analytics and conversion tracking before launch, not after
• Re-add structured data, such as your local business details, if your old site had it
• Check speed and Core Web Vitals on the new site. See our plain-English guide

Don't forget the domain and email

If your domain is registered with your old platform, as many Squarespace domains are, plan the move carefully. Your domain also controls your email. Before changing nameservers or transferring the domain, copy every DNS record, especially MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC, so email keeps working the moment you switch.

Also check anything else that relies on your domain: email signatures with hosted images, booking tools, verification records for Google or Meta, and subdomains. It's much easier to list them before the move than to discover them when something breaks.

Launch day checklist

• Redirects live and spot-checked for your top 20 pages
• New sitemap submitted in Search Console
• Search engines allowed to index the site
• Analytics and conversion tracking firing
• Contact forms tested end to end, including where submissions land
• Email sending and receiving tested
• Google Business Profile website link checked

After launch: watch closely

• Check Search Console every few days for crawl errors and 404s
• Fix any broken redirects straight away
• Update your Google Business Profile and key directory listings if URLs changed
• Compare rankings and traffic against your baseline for the next two to three months

Some short-term movement is normal while Google recrawls the site. A steady decline is a sign something was missed.

What a migration costs

A careful migration adds time to a website project: auditing the old site, building the redirect map, testing and monitoring after launch. For a small site that can be a modest addition. For a large site with hundreds of pages, it's a significant part of the work. Any quote to replace an existing site should include it. Our website cost guide covers what else to look for.

The payoff

Done properly, a migration is a chance to improve rankings, not just protect them. A faster site, better structure and stronger content usually give you a lift once Google settles. If you'd like us to handle it, every rebuild includes the migration plan and redirects. See our web design service and SEO service.