You've spent years building your rankings. A site migration can erase them in a weekend — if nobody is watching the SEO layer. We watch it. So you don't have to.
Every migration failure we've seen comes back to the same root causes. All three are preventable with the right SEO oversight in place before the first file moves.
Every URL that changes without a 301 redirect is a broken link from Google's perspective. The ranking authority built over years disappears overnight — and Google won't tell you why your traffic dropped.
Dev agency owns the code. Design agency owns the layouts. SEO agency is briefed at the end. Three teams, three handoffs, three gaps where SEO signals get dropped. Nobody is accountable for the rankings.
Without documenting every ranking, page, and traffic source before migration, you have nothing to compare against after. You won't know what moved, what's recovering, or what needs fixing.
Every migration engagement starts with understanding where you are in the process. Different stages have different risks and different fixes — the wrong intervention at the wrong time makes things worse.
Six phases. One agency owning all of them. This is what end-to-end SEO ownership of a migration looks like in practice.
We document every ranking, every URL, every page's traffic and authority before a single file moves. This baseline is what we compare against on day 30. Without it, you're flying blind post-launch.
Every URL that changes gets a 301 redirect — mapped, verified, and tested. We also design the new URL structure to be cleaner, more crawlable, and more logical than what existed before. Migration as an SEO opportunity, not just a risk.
Before going live, we crawl the staging environment with the same tools Google uses. Every redirect is tested. Every meta tag is verified. Every canonical is checked. Nothing gets signed off without passing our 40-point pre-launch checklist.
We're available on launch day. We monitor GSC for crawl errors in real time, verify the sitemap is submitted and accepted, confirm indexation is proceeding correctly, and flag anything unexpected within hours, not days.
Daily ranking tracking against the pre-migration baseline. Weekly reports showing exactly what's transferred, what's stable, and what (if anything) needs attention. We catch drops before they compound — not after they've been running for 3 months.
Dev agencies migrate sites correctly from a technical standpoint. But they make decisions every day that have significant SEO implications — and they rarely know it until the rankings drop.
| What they handle | Dev Agency (without SEO oversight) | RR Web Services (SEO-Safe Migration) |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-migration ranking baseline | ✗ Not their concern | ✓ Every keyword documented before launch |
| Redirect map | ✗ Set up if asked, usually incomplete | ✓ Every URL mapped and verified |
| URL structure decisions | ✗ Made for dev convenience, not SEO | ✓ Designed for crawlability and authority flow |
| Schema markup migration | ✗ Not included | ✓ Migrated, validated, and improved |
| Staging environment SEO check | ✗ Rarely done | ✓ 40-point pre-launch SEO sign-off |
| Post-launch monitoring | ✗ Project closes on launch day | ✓ 30 days daily tracking against baseline |
| Accountability for rankings | ✗ That's the SEO team's problem | ✓ We own the ranking outcome |
A UK retailer migrating from Shopify to a custom headless platform. 16,000 product URLs changing, faceted navigation being rebuilt, and a new subdomain structure. Three months of planning before a single file moved.
A US SaaS company rebranding and moving to a new domain. The old domain had 4 years of authority built. The risk of losing that authority to a new domain was the primary concern going in.
Not if the migration is planned correctly. Rankings are lost when redirects are missing, URL structures change without mapping, or internal link equity is broken. A pre-migration SEO audit and redirect architecture plan eliminates these risks entirely. In many cases, a well-executed migration improves rankings because it's an opportunity to fix existing SEO issues at the same time.
Recovery typically takes 3–6 months, sometimes longer for competitive terms. Google needs to re-crawl and re-evaluate your entire site after technical fixes are applied — and that process takes time. The best approach is preventing the drop entirely with a controlled migration process rather than recovering after the fact.
A redirect map is a complete document of every URL on your current site and exactly where it should point on your new site. Without it, Google loses the connection between your old pages and new pages — and the ranking authority built over years disappears. Every URL that changes without a 301 redirect is essentially a broken link from Google's perspective.
Yes — our Post-Migration Recovery service starts with a full crawl audit to identify every missing redirect, broken internal link, and indexation issue. Most migration damage can be reversed within 60–90 days with the right technical fixes applied in the right order. The earlier you start recovery, the faster and more complete it tends to be.
Yes — significantly. Shopify's /collections/ URL structure, Webflow's CMS export format, Magento's layered navigation — each requires platform-specific knowledge. We've handled migrations across all major platforms and know the specific SEO pitfalls of each. Platform matters from day one of planning.
Dev agencies migrate sites correctly from a technical standpoint but rarely understand the SEO implications of their decisions. They won't document your pre-migration rankings, audit your redirect map for SEO completeness, fix your schema, or monitor your rankings for 30 days post-launch. That's what we do — and it's the difference between maintaining your rankings and losing them.
Daily ranking tracking compared against the pre-migration baseline. GSC crawl error monitoring with same-day alerts. Week-on-week traffic comparison. Indexation coverage tracking. A weekly report summarising what's moved, what's stable, and what (if anything) needs attention. If we see an unexpected ranking movement in the first 30 days, we catch it before it compounds.
Tell us where you are in the process. We'll tell you exactly what you need — and what it costs. No obligation, no sales pitch. Just a straight answer.