To maintain your SEO ranking during site migration or redesign, follow these essential steps:

Record Your Current URL Structure

• Create a spreadsheet of your existing URLs before migration
• Document page titles, slugs, and full URLs
• Track both the old and new URLs to identify changes

Preserve Domain and URLs

• Keep your existing domain name whenever possible
• Transfer or connect your domain through domain mapping
• Match URL slugs to maintain inbound links (e.g., /about should remain /about)
• Update URLs in page settings to match previous structure

Implement 301 Redirects

• Set up redirects for any changed URLs
• Ensure old URLs point to corresponding new content
• Maintain link equity from existing backlinks
• Use proper redirect mapping for blog posts and other content

Optimize Error Pages

• Create a custom 404 page for broken links
• Include clear navigation options
• Add helpful information about the site transition
• Provide search functionality to help users find content

Monitor and Submit to Search Engines

• Use Google Search Console to monitor migration impact
• Submit new sitemap to search engines
• Request site reindexing after migration
• Check for and fix crawl errors promptly

Post-Migration Tasks

• Verify all redirects are working correctly
• Monitor site performance and search rankings
• Address any 404 errors that appear
• Continue regular SEO optimization practices

This systematic approach helps minimize ranking drops during site migration while maintaining search visibility and user experience.

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