How to Keep SEO Positions When Migrating a Site?

Imagine: you move to a new engine, and on launch day you see empty titles and 404 on every page. Losing positions for a single high-volume query can cost up to 200,000 rubles monthly. This scenario occurs on dozens of projects. Without proper SEO data transfer and redirects, search results reset in hours, and recovery takes months. Our approach is automated export, manual validation, and a detailed checklist. Automation cuts transfer time by 3–4 times compared to manual copying, and manual validation of key pages eliminates mapping errors. We have transferred SEO data for 50+ projects — from small blogs to e-commerce stores with 15,000 products.

How We Transfer Meta Tags Without Loss

The main reasons for loss are different storage formats for meta fields in old and new CMS, missing URL mapping, and forgotten plugin redirects. For example, in WordPress (Yoast) meta tags live in wp_postmeta with keys like _yoast_wpseo_title, while in a new headless CMS they reside in a seo.metaTitle JSON field. We automatically transform the structure, preserving all relationships. We write a Python script that reads the old database, maps fields to the new schema, and uploads via REST API. This eliminates human error and speeds up transfer.

The key point: we don't just copy fields; we validate them during import. For example, meta description length must not exceed 160 characters — the script automatically truncates and logs the change. According to Google Search Central, canonical URL is mandatory to avoid duplication.

List of Transferred Data

Besides basic meta tags, we transfer hreflang attributes, canonical URLs, Schema.org markup, and image alt texts. Each element is critical for preserving positions. For instance, missing canonical can cause page duplication, leading to content penalties. Manual verification of 100 pages takes about 5 hours; automated verification takes 10 minutes — 30 times faster.

Why Redirects Are Critical for SEO

Even one broken link can cost several positions. The principle: every old URL must return 301 to a relevant new one. According to the HTTP/1.1 specification, a 301 redirect passes page authority. We avoid redirect chains (301 → 302) deeper than one hop. Configuring via nginx map file gives zero delay and does not load the CMS.

map $request_uri $redirect_uri {
    default "";
    "/old-page" "/new-page";
    "/category/news" "/blog/news";
}

server {
    if ($redirect_uri != "") {
        return 301 $redirect_uri;
    }
}

For comparison, the Redirection plugin in WordPress creates 301 redirects via PHP, which slows down server response. nginx map works at the kernel level, ensuring minimal TTFB.

How We Validate the Result

After import, we run a validation script that crawls all old URLs from sitemap.xml and checks:

• Response code (301 or 200) — not 404 or 500.
• Presence of <title> and <meta name="description"> on target pages.
• Match of canonical URL to target.
• No redirect chains.

For the most important pages (landings, high-traffic categories), we perform manual verification: compare old and new meta tags, check indexing in Search Console. Typical migration errors:

• Using 302 instead of 301 (temporary redirects do not pass authority).
• Forgotten plugin redirects (e.g., Redirection does not export all rules).
• Missing mapping for custom fields (ACF, Pods).

All these errors are identified during audit and fixed before launch.

How We Transfer SEO Data: Step by Step

1. Audit the old CMS — identify all SEO field sources: plugins, custom meta boxes, ACF.
2. Export to universal JSON — Python script dumps data from WordPress (or other CMS) database.
3. Transform for the new CMS — field mapping: _yoast_wpseo_title → seo.metaTitle, _yoast_wpseo_robots → seo.metaRobots.
4. Import via REST API — batch upload with error handling (timeouts, duplicates).
5. Generate redirects — create CSV file old_url, new_url, 301 and nginx map config.
6. Validate — check all URLs for 404, redirect chains, presence of meta tags and Schema.org.

Case study: Migrated an e-commerce store with 15,000 products from WordPress (WooCommerce) to Strapi + Next.js. Old category URLs changed structure — /category/electronics → /catalog/electronics. We wrote mapping via CSV, uploaded 12,000 redirects in 2 days. Result: positions for 90% of queries unchanged, traffic grew 3% due to site speed improvement. Automation alone saved the client 40 hours of manual work, which at a rate of 3,000 rubles/hour amounts to 120,000 rubles.

When transferring 10,000 pages, each URL is processed individually.

What's Included in the Work?

• Complete map of old and new URLs (all pages, including archives).
• Export of all SEO fields (title, description, OG, Schema.org, hreflang).
• Generation and setup of 301 redirects (nginx map or CSV).
• Data import into the new CMS via API.
• Validation with automated report (statuses, errors).
• Manual check of top 20 pages by traffic.
• Documentation of the process and access handover.

Timeline and Cost

Full SEO data transfer (export, import, redirects, validation) takes 2 to 5 business days depending on volume and complexity. Cost is calculated individually — depends on page count, number of CMS fields, and need for custom transformations. Contact us to get an estimate for your project within one day.

Why Choose Us?

• Over 5 years of experience in web development and migrations.
• 50+ successful SEO data transfer projects.
• Position retention guarantee — if positions drop due to our error, we fix it for free.
• Certified engineers in WordPress, Strapi, Next.js.

Want to avoid traffic loss during migration? Order an SEO transfer audit right now — get a consultation and preliminary work plan within a day.

Website Redesign and Migration: CMS Change, SEO Preservation

A client came to us 6 weeks after a self-attempted redesign: 'We moved from WordPress to Tilda, traffic dropped by 70%.' I opened Google Search Console — 847 pages returned 404, the URL structure had completely changed, not a single 301 redirect was in place. Yandex hadn't reindexed the new site yet, positions collapsed. Recovery took 4 months and resulted in significant revenue loss for the quarter. Our experience — over 7 years and 80+ successful migrations, we guarantee position retention with the right approach.

Why Do Migrations Break SEO?

Search engines have indexed specific URLs. If /catalog/shoes/nike-air-max-270 turned into /products/nike-air-max-270 without a 301 redirect — all the link equity, traffic, and rankings go nowhere. Google says 301 passes ~99% of PageRank, but in practice positions recover over 2–8 weeks, not instantly.

Commonly, SEO gets broken not out of malice, but because a developer doesn't view the URL structure as a public API. Here are typical breakages:

How to Recover Traffic After a Failed Migration?

If traffic dropped, act immediately:

1. Crawl the new site for 404s and compare with the pre-migration URL list.
2. Create redirects for all lost pages with traffic >0.
3. Check structured data and meta tags on a test sample.
4. Daily monitor Coverage in Search Console and positions for top 50 queries.
5. If after 2 weeks traffic does not recover — deep audit of redirects (transitivity, chains, loops).

In our practice, a large e-commerce site lost 50% of traffic when moving from Bitrix to React + Strapi. We restored 95% of redirects in three days, and within 3 weeks traffic returned to 90% of original.

What Does a Pre-Migration Audit Include?

Before starting development on the new site:

1. Full crawl of current site via Screaming Frog or Sitebulb. Get list of all indexable URLs with traffic from Google Search Console.
2. Export all pages with organic traffic >0 over the last 6 months — these are priority for redirects.
3. Record all external backlinks to specific pages — Ahrefs, Semrush.
4. Snapshot current positions for key queries — baseline for post-migration comparison.
5. Save Core Web Vitals from Search Console for the previous 90 days.

Table for recording:

Contact us for a detailed pre-migration audit — we will help identify all risks and create an action plan.

URL Mapping and Redirects

For projects with 200+ pages, we create a mapping table: old URL → new URL → status (301, merged with another page, deleted). Each row is verified: does the content actually migrate here?

In Laravel, redirects are handled via configuration file and middleware, not .htaccess — faster and more manageable. For WordPress → Next.js: redirects are set in next.config.js (static) and at the Nginx/CDN level for dynamic ones. Old .htaccess on shared hosting with 500+ lines of redirects is a special hell. Each redirect is checked sequentially, performance suffers. We move to Nginx map directive or Redis cache for dynamic lookup. More at Wikipedia: HTTP 301.

How to Migrate Content from Different CMSs?

WordPress → Headless CMS (Contentful, Strapi, Sanity): WordPress REST API or WP All Export to export posts, meta fields, media files. Migration script in Node.js: parse export, transform structure, upload via CMS API. Media files are reuploaded to new storage, links updated in content. Typical problem — shortcodes in WordPress content ([gallery id="123"]): need parser and transformation to new format.

1C-Bitrix → modern stack: Bitrix stores content in non-standard tables with IBLOCK_ELEMENT_PROPERTY. Direct SQL export via phpMyAdmin or Bitrix API. Transformation is the longest part due to specific Bitrix data structure.

Heavy WYSIWYG → structured content: Years of editing in FCKEditor/TinyMCE leave inline styles, non-standard tags, broken attributes. HTML sanitize + transformation to Markdown or Portable Text (Sanity) with manual check of problematic pages.

How to Preserve Technical SEO Elements During Migration?

Structured data (Schema.org) — if the old site had Product, Article, BreadcrumbList markup, they must be on the new site too. Google Search Console → Enhancement reports will show loss of rich snippets.

Sitemap XML: generated automatically, submitted to GSC a day after launch. Old sitemap remains until full reindexing.

hreflang for multilingual sites: if tags are lost during migration, conflicts between language versions in search results will start within weeks.

Open Graph and Twitter Card meta tags — often forgotten when changing template, pages stop displaying correctly when shared on social networks.

Launch and First Weeks Monitoring

DNS propagation: DNS switching takes up to 48 hours, plan launch with buffer. Cloudflare as DNS provider — propagation takes minutes, not hours.

After launch, monitor daily: Search Console → Coverage (indexing errors), Analytics → organic traffic, year-over-year comparison, crawl site for 404 errors.

First 2 weeks are critical. If traffic drops more than 30% — immediate audit of redirects and comparison with pre-migration crawl.

What the Service Includes

Results you receive:

1. Migration plan with URL mapping and redirects in Excel/Google Sheets format.
2. Configured 301 redirects at server level (Nginx/Cloudflare/Vercel).
3. Migrated content with integrity check: images, meta fields, links.
4. Structured data (Schema.org) on the new site, identical to old or improved.
5. SEO report: position trend at 1, 3, and 6 weeks after launch.
6. Coverage monitoring in Search Console with error notifications.
7. Guaranteed position retention: if traffic drops more than 15% within the first month — free audit and correction.

Timelines and Estimates

• Redesign with migration for a small site (up to 100 pages): 4–8 weeks.
• E-commerce migration with 500+ product pages: 8–16 weeks.
• Only technical migration part (redirects, metadata) without redesign: 1–3 weeks.

Cost is calculated individually based on scope.

Get a consultation for your project — we will respond within a day. Order a pre-migration audit of your site and receive a detailed proposal with a redirect plan. Contact us to discuss details.