Website · THE NO-PANIC PLAN
Migrate a website to new URLs with Search Console checks
This workflow covers a planned website move that changes public URLs, such as moving to a new domain or replacing old paths with new ones. It does not cover only changing hosting/CDN while keeping URLs the same; Google has separate guidance for that case. Search engines may need to recrawl and reindex a move, so no checklist can promise uninterrupted traffic or rankings. Keep the existing site available during the transition, stage and test the new site, identify an owner for redirects and rollback, and avoid combining a domain move with an unrelated redesign unless you have planned for the extra troubleshooting. The linked Nirmion utilities help prepare URL lists; they do not deploy redirects, crawl your site or communicate with Google.
MISSION Move a site to a new domain or URL structure with a page-by-page redirect plan, prelaunch tests, Search Console notices and postlaunch monitoring.
Read Google Search Central's site-move checklistTHE REAL-WORLD BIT
What happens outside this browser tab?
Inventory important old URLs and verify that every retained page has an appropriate new destination; build and review one direct permanent redirect per moved URL; stage the new site with correct canonicals, internal links and crawl settings; test representative old-to-new paths before launch; release the redirects and submit the new sitemap; use Search Console's Change of Address tool only when its domain-level requirements apply; monitor old and new properties, crawl errors, indexed pages, redirects and traffic; fix mismatches and keep redirects in place according to Google's current guidance.
YOUR CHECKLIST, WITH FEWER DRAMATIC SIGHES
One step at a time.
Follow the order below. If a step names a Nirmion tool, its link is right there with it.
- 01
Choose the move type and baseline the current site
Write down exactly what is changing: scheme (HTTP/HTTPS), hostname, domain, URL path, site architecture or hosting only. Google provides different procedures for URL-changing moves and moves with no URL changes. List the old and planned new canonical hostname, protocols, subdomains, launch window, technical owner, content owner, analytics/Search Console access and a rollback contact. Export the current URL inventory from the existing sitemap, CMS, analytics and Search Console; mark key landing pages, conversions, documentation and incoming-link destinations rather than assuming the sitemap is complete. Capture baseline indexed-page, crawl-error, traffic and conversion data for both available properties. If the destination URLs or ownership are not confirmed, pause before changing DNS, canonical tags or redirects.
- 02
Create a page-by-page destination and redirect map
For every old URL that should survive, choose its closest useful equivalent on the new site. Record old URL, new URL, reason, content owner, redirect type, test result and exception. Do not send every retired page to the new homepage; remove obsolete URLs deliberately and preserve useful equivalents. Google recommends directing old URLs to final destinations and avoiding redirect chains, so resolve each source directly to its final target. Redirect Map Generator (291) can validate explicit source/target URL pairs and export a reviewable CSV; have an engineer or web owner inspect the mappings before implementation because a syntactically valid pair may still be the wrong destination. Keep a written exception list for removed content, changed language paths, query-string behavior and variants such as www/non-www.
- 03
Prepare the new site and test it before the move
Deploy the destination pages to a controlled staging environment and check that each intended URL returns the expected page, has the correct self-referencing canonical, and links to the new URL structure. Confirm that the production launch will not carry staging robots directives, test authentication, placeholder canonicals or temporary hostnames into the public site. Test redirects for representative pages and edge cases: old trailing-slash forms, protocol/hostname variants, encoded paths, query parameters and removed pages. Confirm each permanent redirect resolves directly to the intended final URL, returns the expected status and does not loop or break page content. Canonical URL Checker (290) compares URL pairs locally but does not fetch pages or certify search indexability. Keep a revert plan for DNS, server rules and deployment artifacts, and have a reviewer sign off on the mapping and test report.
- 04
Launch redirects, update site signals and notify Search Console
At the planned change window, deploy the new site and the reviewed redirects together, then update internal links, canonical tags, structured data where URLs are embedded, and any public references you control. Generate and publish a sitemap containing the new canonical URLs; Sitemap Generator (284) builds XML from supplied same-origin URLs but does not crawl your site, so validate the result against the live site and Google’s sitemap requirements. Submit the new sitemap in Search Console. For a move between eligible domain-level properties, first implement the redirects and complete Google's requirements to use the Change of Address tool; it is not for an HTTP-to-HTTPS-only move, a www/non-www change, a path-only move or a hosting/CDN change with identical URLs. Verify each relevant old and new property with the same Google account and save the tool's result. If critical prechecks fail, correct them before requesting the move.
- 05
Monitor the transition and keep the old routes working
For the weeks and months after launch, compare the old and new Search Console properties, sitemap reports, indexed-page trends, crawl errors, server logs, analytics and conversion data. Check that important old URLs reach the intended new page, the new page is crawlable and canonicalized correctly, the new sitemap lists only preferred URLs, and internal links no longer point back to old routes. Triage missing pages, redirect loops, soft 404s, unexpected noindex rules and traffic drops against the URL map; correct the destination or restore a working page rather than redirecting blindly. Google's current Change of Address guidance says to maintain redirects for at least 180 days and longer while Google Search traffic still reaches them; domain ownership should also be retained to reduce takeover risk. Expect recrawling and ranking fluctuations, and keep an incident owner and rollback decision criteria until the move stabilizes.
THE HELPER CREW
Tools for the fiddly bits.
These are the currently published Nirmion tools matched to this guide. Open a tool page for its accepted inputs and limits.
RECEIPTS, PLEASE
Sources & review notes
Each source is linked to the steps it supports. Open it to check its scope and current guidance.
Source checked 2026-10-05