Why SEO Should Be Involved From Day 1 in Website Migrations

This article by Kelly-Anne Crean covers a topic close to our hearts at Sitebulb and likely all you technical SEOs out there: Why SEO needs to have a seat at the table as soon as anyone even *thinks* about a website migration.

In this blog, I’ll discuss why SEO should never be an afterthought in website migrations, plus the benefits of early collaboration, and practical ways SEOs and web teams can work together to ensure a smooth transition. Whether you’re managing a migration now or planning one in the future, this blog will help you set your site up for long-term success.

Contents:

• Why SEO isn’t just a “post-launch fix”
• Why SEO can’t be an afterthought in migrations
• 3 benefits of involving SEO from the start
• 5 problems caused by involving SEO too late
• Practical steps for SEOs and web teams to collaborate
• Tips for shifting stakeholder perception

Repeat after me: SEO isn’t just a “post-launch fix”

I’ve said this numerous times (maybe I should get it tattooed on my forehead!): If you’re planning a website migration, SEO isn’t optional or something to address once the dust settles. It’s an essential element that needs to be included in the process from day one.

In my 16 years in marketing, I’ve seen firsthand how treating SEO as an afterthought creates costly repercussions. After launching their revamped website without any SEO support, one client came to us for help after the site had gone live. Upon reviewing the new setup, I found hundreds of broken internal links, missing redirects for high-traffic pages, and a poorly structured URL hierarchy. And organic traffic had dropped by 40% within the first two weeks.

Although I managed to recover rankings over the next few months, the business suffered a significant loss in both visibility and revenue during that time—all of which could have been prevented if SEO had been involved from the start. That experience reinforced what I already knew: involving SEO early doesn’t just smooth the process, it saves businesses from unnecessary costs and loss in revenue and rankings.

Gary Illyes, an Analyst on the Google Search team, echoes this sentiment. He recently posted on LinkedIn: "When you redesign a site, its rankings in search engines may go nuts."

It gives an important reminder that while migrations might cause instability, SEO can help to minimise it and steer the process in the direction of recovery and growth. If you put off SEO for too long, you run the risk of your rankings plummeting.

Why SEO can’t be an afterthought in migrations

Every website will have to undergo a migration at some point, and how it’s managed can make or break its success. While plenty of SEO tips are available, many of the lesser-known or more complex issues can significantly impact the results of a migration.

Involve SEO from day 1 to plan the structure and site setup

SEO should be integrated into the migration process from the very beginning. Too often, SEO is brought in too late, which leads to missed opportunities and preventable mistakes. From site structure and domain names to redirects and content, SEO teams provide valuable insights that can prevent many common migration problems. Early involvement helps uncover opportunities and risks, adding an extra layer of expertise to the migration process.

Planning the site’s structure is often overlooked, but it’s one of the most important aspects to look at early. By using data from tools like GA and GSC you can avoid issues like content duplication and cannibalisation, which often happen when SEO is left out of early planning.

Aleyda Solis emphasises the importance of detailed planning during migrations to avoid losing rankings and traffic. Her migration checklist highlights critical tasks like validating redirects and using tools to monitor site performance post-migration. Early SEO involvement ensures that the site structure not only meets user needs but also aligns with SEO best practice.

Technical considerations for a successful migration

A successful migration involves careful attention to technical details, such as domain names, redirects, meta tags, and content. Without SEO input from the start, a site risks facing issues like broken links, ranking drops, and traffic loss.

Maintaining the same domain or setting up proper 301 redirects from old URLs to new ones ensures link equity is preserved and prevents traffic loss. Google recommends maintaining these redirects for at least 180 days to fully pass value and preserve search visibility.

Additionally, Google advises that retaining the same site architecture during migrations can help minimise ranking disruptions, as it allows signals to pass more directly to the new site. Optimising the CMS to manage essential elements like meta tags, heading tags, canonical tags, and image alt text can significantly improve search engine performance while keeping the site's structure intact.

When migrating to a new domain, it’s essential to keep the old domain active for as long as possible to retain the 301 redirects. These redirects ensure that valuable link equity is passed from the old site to the new one, preserving the hard-earned backlinks that help boost rankings.

Losing access to the old domain could lead to the loss of these backlinks, negatively impacting search visibility. Maintaining the old domain during this transition isn’t just a technical step - it’s about safeguarding your brand’s credibility and protecting the trust you’ve built with both users and search engines.

Backup data and benchmark rankings

Before starting a migration, it’s important to back up your existing site and take time to benchmark rankings. This provides a reference point to track changes and measure the impact of the migration.

Record important metrics like keyword rankings, traffic, and data from tools like GSC. SEMrush provides actionable steps for SEO-friendly migrations, including backing up content, benchmarking rankings, and monitoring redirects. Their advice to involve SEO experts from the start ensures that technical tasks, such as redirects are implemented correctly. These benchmarks will be crucial in understanding how the migration impacts performance and help identify any issues early on.

One often overlooked aspect of migrations is documenting the internal linking structure of the original site. Internal link equity can easily be lost during a migration, which can negatively affect rankings. For one client, I performed a thorough audit of their internal linking and replicated the structure on the new site. This straightforward but vital step helped preserve their organic traffic and avoid ranking drops. Ensuring continuity in internal linking is a key factor in maintaining traffic and rankings throughout the migration process.

Pay attention to 404 pages

A common issue during migrations is an increase in traffic to 404 pages, which can frustrate users and hurt SEO. Make sure your 404 pages are not only user-friendly but also guide users to the most relevant content, helping them to stay engaged. This is another area where early SEO input ensures that your 404 pages are optimised for both user experience and crawling.

For example, customising 404 pages with links to popular categories or a search bar can reduce bounce rates. Early SEO involvement ensures these pages support both user experience and crawling.

Stay calm and monitor progress

After a migration, it's common to see a temporary dip in traffic. However, it’s crucial not to make quick changes to title tags or other optimisations based on early ranking fluctuations. Instead, take a calm and measured approach—address issues as they arise while closely monitoring progress over time.

With patience, most migrations recover if managed correctly, and rankings often improve beyond their initial positions. An SEO’s role throughout this process is key, ensuring decisions are made at the right time and built on solid data.

Focusing on data-driven decisions rather than reactive fixes is vital for long-term success. For example, one of our clients was keen to make drastic adjustments after initially seeing a decrease in traffic. I decided to wait, keep an eye on things, and deal with the problems in a methodical manner. Within two months, there was an increase in traffic. This highlights how crucial it is to stay calm and have faith in the process—SEO is a deliberate, long-term approach rather than a quick fix.

By involving SEO from the outset of the migration process, businesses can ensure a smoother transition, keep existing rankings, and create a website that is optimised for both user experience and search engine performance.

3 benefits of involving SEO from the start

A website migration is often a critical moment for a business—one that can lead to either growth or setting back the company. When SEO is integrated early, it addresses more than just technical issues. It lays the foundation for a website that excels in visibility and user experience.

1. Optimised URL structures and preserving link equity

The URL structure is often overlooked during a migration, but it plays a critical role in SEO performance. Early SEO involvement ensures URLs are search-engine friendly, preventing broken links, complicated redirects, and link equity loss.

Properly handling redirects preserves valuable backlinks, maintaining visibility and ranking power throughout the migration. Google recommends careful URL changes to avoid losing link authority, which can cause long-term damage if not done correctly.

2. Improved navigation and user flow

User experience is at the heart of a successful website, and SEO can make sure that the site not only works for search engines but also for people. By analysing user behaviour and aligning it with the business goals, SEOs ensure that the navigation is intuitive, and the structure supports both user intent and SEO best practice.

When SEO is involved early, it helps identify the paths users take to reach high-conversion pages, ensuring that they can quickly find what they’re looking for—and that search engines can rank these pages. It’s this synergy between user needs and SEO goals that helps businesses connect with their audience and drive long-term growth.

3. Proper technical setup and avoiding future SEO mistakes

SEO is about creating a technically sound website that stands the test of time. From meta tags to 301 redirects and image alt tags, early SEO involvement ensures crucial technical elements are embedded in the development process. It helps businesses proactively avoid common migration mistakes, such as duplicate content, site structure issues, and 404 errors, ensuring the site is optimised from the start for both users and search engines.

4 problems caused by involving SEO too late

Delaying SEO involvement until after the website is launched can create significant problems that may take time, effort, and resources to fix. These include:

1. Missed optimisation opportunities

SEO plays a crucial role in site structure, content, and overall user experience. If SEO is added too late, key opportunities for optimising elements like URLs, meta titles, descriptions, and internal linking are missed. 

In addition, decisions made earlier in the migration – such as navigation design or URL structure – might not align with the site’s long-term goals, limiting the site’s full potential. I worked with a retail client who launched their ecommerce site without involving SEO from the beginning. As a result, they missed opportunities to optimise product page URLs, headings and meta titles. This led to poor organic search performance. We eventually restructured URLs and rewrote meta titles, but by then, they had already lost valuable traffic during the first few months.

2. Ranking drops and slow recovery

Without SEO’s early input, technical issues like improperly configured redirects, slow-loading pages, and incorrect content indexing can cause ranking drops. Google’s John Mueller has pointed out that it can take months for a site migration to fully settle, with ranking fluctuations often occurring as the site is processed. For marketers and business owners, this can be devastating, as a site they hoped would drive revenue ends up hurting performance. Fixing these issues after launch can be time-consuming and costly, and recovery may take months.

3. Content duplication and cannibalisation

SEO oversight prevents issues like content duplication and keyword cannibalisation, which occur when multiple pages target the same keywords. Additionally, without SEO’s early involvement, developers may unintentionally create a confusing navigation system or remove important elements like H1 tags, impacting search engine readability. Fixing these mistakes post-launch uses valuable time and money that could have been fixed from the start.

4. Strained relationships and frustration

Migrations bring together multiple teams—marketing, development, design, and more. When SEO is added too late, it can create friction as changes are made that contradict earlier decisions. Developers may feel their work is being undone, while marketers may be frustrated by delays.

These tensions can erode trust, making collaboration more difficult not only during the migration but in future projects as well.

Practical steps for SEOs and web teams to collaborate effectively

Successful website migrations are not just about technical execution; they’re about people working together toward a shared goal. When SEOs and web teams collaborate effectively, they create a synergy that ensures a seamless transition and lays the foundation for long-term success.

Here’s how to make that collaboration impactful at every stage of the migration process.

Before the migration: build trust and lay the groundwork

1. Start with a shared vision

Migrations can feel overwhelming but starting with a clear and shared vision makes all the difference. SEOs and web teams must align on primary goals: retaining traffic, preserving rankings, and delivering a great user experience. These shared objectives transform the migration from a series of tasks into an objective that everyone is invested in.

2. Communicate openly and regularly

Establish communication channels – whether through project management tools or regular meetings – where questions can be asked freely, and challenges addressed collaboratively. Transparency builds trust and ensures any issues are resolved quickly during the process.

3. SEO pre-migration audit and CMS collaboration

SEOs bring valuable insights into site performance. Conduct an audit to capture what’s working well, identify areas of risk, and share actionable data with the web team. Collaborating on site structure, CMS setup, and technical SEO essentials – like the ability to update meta tags, generate sitemaps, and set up redirects – saves hours of fixes later.

4. Plan redirects together

Redirects are critical for preserving site authority. SEOs should create a detailed redirect map, and developers should test its implementation to ensure it works for users and search engines.

During the migration: execute with precision

1. Test in staging

Use a staging site to test redirects and check meta data. This ensures the migration runs smoothly when it goes live.

Editor’s Tip: Find out how Bring Digital use Sitebulb to ace complex website migrations. And you might also like Katie Cunningham’s guide on how to support your deployment workstream with a crawling strategy.

2. Real-time collaboration

Even after the migration goes live, issues can happen. SEOs and developers need to be in close contact to resolve any issues – like broken links or indexing errors – quickly. This promotes teamwork and ensures fast issue resolution.

After the migration: reflect and optimise

1. Monitor, audit, and adapt

After the site is live, SEOs should check redirects, indexing, and page performance immediately. Developers should remain agile, addressing any issues, such as broken redirects or server errors. SEOs should also review rankings, traffic, and crawl data to measure success and make corrections as needed.

2. Celebrate wins together

Acknowledge the successes. Did rankings remain the same? Did the new site pass an SEO audit? Celebrating wins together reinforces the value of teamwork.

3. Improve

The migration is just the beginning. Use what you’ve learned to refine processes for future updates. Document what worked well and what didn’t, ensuring smoother migrations in the future.

The human element: building relationships, not just processes

Over the years, I’ve learned that working closely with developers is key to successful SEO, especially during website migrations. When SEOs bring data-driven insights and developers bring technical expertise, we can turn what feels like a daunting challenge into a real opportunity for growth. It’s not just about building a site that works—it’s about creating one that truly thrives.

A big part of this is taking the time to explain why certain SEO tasks matter. When developers understand the reasoning behind things like structured data, redirects, or site architecture, they’re more likely to see the bigger picture and feel invested in the project’s success. This mutual understanding goes a long way—it prevents miscommunication, keeps everyone aligned, and makes the whole migration process much smoother.

I’ve also found that people are more likely to collaborate when they feel heard and included. That’s why I always make an effort to build trust-based relationships by:

• Being proactive: Joining planning meetings early on so SEO is baked into the process from the start.
• Listening first: Taking time to understand everyone’s goals and concerns so recommendations feel tailored and relevant.
• Bridging gaps: Acting as a go-between for marketing, development, and project management to break down silos and keep everyone on the same page.

When you prioritise relationships over just ticking boxes, it transforms the way teams work together.

Tips for shifting stakeholder perception

As SEOs, we often find ourselves in the challenging position of educating stakeholders about the importance of early SEO involvement. Too many clients, project managers, and developers see SEO as a post-launch task, unaware of the risks and missed opportunities that come from delaying its input. Changing this perception requires more than just technical knowledge. It demands empathy, education, and a deep understanding of stakeholder priorities, especially when it comes to revenue.

Speak their language: framing SEO as a shared goal

Stakeholders are more likely to engage when they see SEO as directly aligned with their objectives. For example:

• To developers: I highlight how SEO recommendations contribute to a faster-loading, technically sound site, improving user experience and site performance.
• To project managers: I explain how early SEO involvement prevents costly delays or rework caused by overlooked issues like broken redirects, saving both time and money.
• To clients: I focus on SEO as the bridge between their website and their revenue goals. I always emphasise how SEO ensures that traffic and sales are maintained post-migration, making it clear that SEO isn't about rankings, it's about the bottom line.

This approach humanises SEO and shifts the narrative from a technical necessity to a direct contributor to their success.

Share case studies: real-world examples that resonate

While data is essential, stories are often what truly resonates. I make it a point to share real-world examples of migrations where SEO wasn’t involved early, leading to avoidable traffic losses, revenue dips, or wasted money. For example:

"We recently worked on a migration where failing to set up redirects properly led to users being sent to 404 pages, resulting in a significant drop in organic traffic and rankings, which cost the company thousands in lost revenue."

I also highlight success stories:

"In contrast, when SEO was involved early, rankings held steady, and traffic recovered within two weeks, thanks to a well-executed redirect plan."

These examples make the risks and rewards of SEO involvement more tangible and memorable, showing that it’s not just about avoiding issues but also about capitalising on opportunities.

Provide risk vs reward scenarios: show the financial impact

To truly drive the point home, I pair potential risks with achievable rewards, especially in financial terms. I often say things like:

• Without SEO: "Post-migration, traffic dropped by 40%, resulting in a £35,000 revenue loss due to missed redirects."
• With SEO: "By implementing SEO early, we preserved rankings and even saw a £10,000 increase in revenue as a result of a smooth transition and well-structured redirects."

Pairing potential risks with revenue outcomes makes it clear why SEO should be prioritised—not just for rankings, but for the business’s revenue.

Be patient and persistent

Changing perceptions takes time. When faced with resistance, I remain calm and reiterate my points with patience, always emphasising the financial benefits. Stakeholders are often juggling multiple priorities and may not immediately grasp the bigger picture. That’s when I focus on small wins and use setbacks as opportunities to demonstrate my expertise.

For example, if SEO isn’t brought in early and issues arise, I offer constructive solutions instead of focusing on missed opportunities. This positions me as a trusted SEO rather than an “I told you so” critic.

The human touch: turning sceptics into advocates

Educating stakeholders about the importance of early SEO isn’t just about data, it’s about building a shared understanding that resonates with their priorities. By speaking their language, sharing relatable stories, and framing SEO’s value in terms of tangible revenue outcomes, I’ve seen resistance turn into collaboration, and scepticism transform into advocacy.

Conclusion

The takeaway is clear: SEO is not an optional extra, it’s critical in every stage of a migration. By involving SEO from the beginning, businesses not only avoid challenges but also unlock opportunities for a smoother, more successful migration. Starting right ensures teams can focus on growth and innovation, rather than damage control.

The earlier you get involved, the better. SEO shouldn’t be an afterthought or something you’re only brought in for right before launch. It’s essential to be part of the conversation from the moment developers begin scoping out the project. Effective communication is key. When pushback happens from developers, take the time to understand why. Provide clear facts to back up your reasoning and help steer the process in the right direction.

Proper planning and early SEO involvement can significantly reduce the risk of migration disasters, ultimately benefiting both the project and the business as a whole.

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