Web & App Engineering

Why rankings drop after a move

Google ranks individual pages, not whole websites. When a page's address changes and nothing tells Google where it went, the old address starts returning an error and the ranking it had built up is lost. Most traffic drops after a migration come from a handful of causes: missing redirects, important pages left out of the new site, rewritten content, or a staging site that was accidentally left hidden from search engines.

The good news is that every one of these is preventable with a bit of planning before launch day.

1. Make a list of every URL that matters

Before anything changes, record what you have today. You can pull most of this from Google Search Console and your analytics:

• Every page in your current sitemap
• Pages that bring in search traffic, from the Search Console Performance report
• Pages other websites link to
• Pages that produce enquiries or sales
• Images and PDFs that rank or are shared

Save this list as a spreadsheet. It becomes your redirect map and your checklist on launch day.

2. Map old addresses to new ones

For each old URL, choose the closest matching page on the new site and set up a permanent redirect, known as a 301. A few rules keep this clean:

• Redirect to the most relevant page, not everything to the homepage
• Avoid chains: old page to new page in one step, not via a third address
• Keep the same URLs where you can; no redirect is better than a good redirect
• Remember variations such as www and non-www, and http and https

3. Keep what made the old pages rank

A move is not the moment to rewrite everything. Keep page titles, headings, main content and internal links on your best-performing pages as close as possible to the originals, at least for the launch. Change one thing at a time so that, if traffic moves, you know why.

Carry over structured data, image alt text and meta descriptions too. They are easy to lose when content is copied into a new platform.

4. Test on a staging copy before launch

• Build the new site on a staging address that search engines are told not to index
• Run through your redirect map and confirm every old URL lands on the right page
• Check forms, payments and tracking on a real phone
• On launch day, remove the staging block so Google can index the live site

That last step is the one most often missed. A live site still telling Google not to index it can disappear from results within days.

5. Launch, then watch closely for four weeks

After the switch, submit the new sitemap in Google Search Console and use URL inspection on your most important pages. For the next month, check weekly:

• Pages reported as not found (404) in Search Console, and add redirects for any that matter
• Search clicks and impressions compared with the weeks before the move
• Enquiries and sales, not just traffic

Some movement in the first couple of weeks is normal while Google processes the changes. A steady decline is a sign that something on the list above was missed.

If you would rather hand this over, my Migration & Replatform service starts from ₱40,000: move off the platform that's holding you back, with your search rankings intact. A Technical SEO Audit & Roadmap starts from ₱15,000. See web development or get an itemised quote.