Do you want to move your website from one host to another host or from local to live server. This is the only website migration checklist you need.

Pre-Migration Check List

1. DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT

When making a new website, make sure it’s inaccessible to Search Engines and anyone else while it’s being development and tested.

If you are using WordPress, Go to Reading Settings > click on Discourage search engines from indexing this site. Read more about WordPress Settings Reading Screen at WordPress codex page.

2. STICK TO THE SAME DOMAIN

Use the same domain where possible to minimize fluctuations. You can also move a sute with URL change.

Move a site with URL changes article describes how to move your site by changing the URLs of the website.

In this case, you want Google to index your content under new URLs, and to surface these new URLs in our search results.

3. MINIMISE URL STRUCTURE CHANGES

Keep the same URL structure so it’s easier to understand and navigate through. It is highly recommended to keep a Simple URL Structure.

Read more about Simple URL Structure at Google WebMaster Tools.

4. REDIRECTS FROM OLD TO NEW PAGES

Make sure the old pages redirect to the new pages by using 301 redirects.

5. INTERNAL LINKING

Double check all internal links on the new site to make sure they don’t link to any pages that no longer exist.

6. USING A NEW PLATFORM?

Make sure new robots.txt file has the right list of pages to be disallowed. If you are using WordPress, raed WordPress robots.txt example for great SEO at Yoast Blog.

7. CANONICAL DOMAINS

Can your site be reached with and without ‘www.’? This could cause duplication issues. Don’t forget to set preffered domain name. Read more at Google WebMaster.

8. <> TITLE AND TAG MIGRATION </>

Migrate the current Page Titles, Meta Descriptions, Header Tags and Image Alt Tags on the new pages.

9. MINIMISE CONTENT CHANGES

Minimise content changes to reduce the amount of change the Search Engine sees when the new site goes live.

10. SCHEMA & MICROFORMATS

Migrate all Schema and Microformats across the new pages.

11. NEW XML SITEMAP CREATION

It is important that your new site’s XML sitemap reflects all the live pages that you want indexing in Search Engines.

12. Check For Broken Links

Before the new site goes live, it is a good idea to crawl the new site for any broken links, missing tags and canonical issues that might have been missed.

Post Migration Checklist

1. VERIFY THE SITES IN Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools

You may need to re-verify your website in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools for error checking.

2. SUBMIT YOUR XML SITEMAP

Submit the new XML sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools accounts.

3. DON’T DELETE THE OLD SITE

Change the location of the old site so it’s only accessible to developers.

4. ANNOTATE GOOGLE ANALYTICS DATA

Annotate when the migration took place in Google Analytics for benchmarking.

5. PPC AD DESTINATIONS

Update the destination URLs of the Ads to make sure they lead you to the right page.

That’s all. This is a quick Website Migration Checklist for you. If you want to share few more tips, add your comments below.