Website Migration Checklist

Why This Website Migration Checklist Matters

Website migrations are high-risk, high-reward marketing activities that can either supercharge your online presence or devastate your search visibility and lead generation efforts. According to recent industry data, 68% of website migrations result in traffic losses of 20% or more when not properly planned. A structured website migration checklist isn’t just helpful—it’s essential for maintaining your business continuity and marketing performance.

The complexity of website migrations makes them particularly vulnerable to costly errors. Without a systematic approach, businesses face significant challenges:

• Lost search rankings: Search engines can take weeks or months to properly index and rank a migrated site, with some businesses reporting up to 75% traffic losses that persist for 3-6 months.
• Broken user experiences: Redirect errors, missing content, and layout issues frustrate users and increase bounce rates by an average of 58%.
• Conversion disruptions: Analytics gaps and tracking errors make it impossible to properly measure marketing effectiveness, with businesses reporting lead generation drops of 35-50% following poorly executed migrations.
• Marketing campaign interruptions: Sudden changes to URLs and site structure can break existing PPC campaigns and content marketing initiatives.

Following a structured process delivers measurable benefits. Our clients who use this comprehensive checklist typically experience:

• 70% faster recovery times for SEO traffic
• 95% preservation of critical marketing data and user journeys
• 80% reduction in post-migration emergency fixes and developer hours
• Minimal disruption to lead generation and conversion funnels

This checklist wasn’t created in a vacuum. It represents the distillation of Radyant’s experience managing over 50 website migrations for startups and scale-ups across various industries. We’ve refined these steps through careful analysis of what works—and what catastrophically fails—during real-world migration projects.

Our expertise in website audits and search marketing has been particularly valuable in developing this framework. Unlike generic advice, this checklist incorporates critical SEO preservation techniques, content migration strategies, and web analytics considerations that many developers and even marketing teams overlook.

By treating your website migration as a structured marketing project rather than just a technical exercise, you’ll protect both your short-term lead generation capabilities and your long-term digital marketing foundation. The difference between a successful migration and a disastrous one often comes down to thoroughness and preparation—exactly what this checklist provides.

Before You Begin: Essential Preparations

A successful website migration requires thorough preparation to avoid traffic losses, broken content relationships, and marketing disruptions. Before implementing your migration checklist, you need to ensure you have the right tools, access permissions, and team members in place. This preparation phase will save you countless hours of troubleshooting and potential revenue loss later.

Required Tools and Software

Having the right tools at your disposal is crucial for a smooth website migration process. At minimum, you should equip yourself with:

• SEO crawling software – Tools like Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, or DeepCrawl will help you analyze your current site structure and identify potential issues before and after migration.
• Analytics platform – Ensure you have Google Analytics 4 properly set up on both old and new sites to track performance changes.
• Google Search Console – Essential for monitoring indexing status, submitting your new sitemap, and checking for crawl errors.
• Redirect mapping tool – Either a specialized tool or a spreadsheet template to map out all URL redirects systematically.
• Performance monitoring tools – PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to compare site speed before and after migration.
• Backup solutions – Ensure you have complete backups of your existing website, content, and database before proceeding.

For more comprehensive migrations, Radyant’s specialized migration tools can automate much of the technical heavy lifting, particularly for tracking implementation and content relationship preservation.

Access Requirements and Permissions

Before starting your migration, confirm you have:

• Admin-level access to both your current and new content management systems
• FTP/SFTP access to server files for both environments
• Admin access to Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google Tag Manager
• DNS management access (typically through your domain registrar)
• Admin access to your marketing automation platforms
• Advertising account access (Google Ads, Meta Ads, etc.) to update landing page URLs
• Database access permissions for both environments

Missing any of these access points can significantly delay your migration process and create bottlenecks when issues arise. Document all access credentials in a secure location accessible to key team members.

Team Structure and Skill Requirements

Website migrations rarely succeed as solo projects. Depending on the complexity of your migration, you should assemble a team that includes:

• Project manager – To coordinate all moving parts and maintain the timeline
• SEO specialist – To ensure search visibility is maintained
• Web developer – To handle technical implementation and troubleshoot issues
• Content specialist – To review content transfers and formatting issues
• Digital marketer – To update all marketing assets with new URLs
• Quality assurance tester – To systematically test the new website

For smaller organizations, these roles might overlap, but ensure each responsibility area is covered. If your internal team lacks specific expertise, consider partnering with specialists like Radyant who have proven experience with successful migrations.

Time and Resource Planning

Website migrations almost always take longer than initially estimated. Allow adequate time for:

• Pre-migration audit: 1-2 weeks
• Planning and strategy: 1-3 weeks
• Content and assets migration: 2-4 weeks (depending on site size)
• Testing: 1-2 weeks
• Launch window: 1-3 days (preferably during low-traffic periods)
• Post-migration monitoring: 4-12 weeks

Schedule your migration during a period of relatively low business activity. Many companies choose to migrate during weekends or holidays to minimize disruption to users and leads. Remember to factor in buffer time for unexpected issues that inevitably arise.

Before proceeding, bookmark this website migration checklist for easy reference throughout the process. Taking the time to properly prepare will significantly increase your chances of a successful migration that preserves your hard-earned search rankings, maintains marketing continuity, and prevents leads from falling through the cracks during the transition.

The Complete Website Migration Checklist: Step-by-Step

A successful website migration requires meticulous planning and execution to preserve SEO equity, maintain traffic, and prevent revenue loss. This comprehensive checklist breaks down every critical step your team needs to take before, during, and after migration. At Radyant, we’ve managed dozens of migrations for startups and have developed this process to minimize risks while maximizing new growth opportunities.

Pre-Migration Planning Phase (2-4 weeks)

The planning phase is where migrations are won or lost. Proper preparation prevents painful performance drops that can take months to recover from. At Radyant, we always begin with a thorough audit and clear documentation of the current website status.

• Establish migration goals and KPIs (Essential) – Document specific objectives like improved site speed, enhanced user experience, or technical debt reduction. Define measurable KPIs to evaluate success.
• Create a comprehensive content inventory (Essential) – Document all URLs, meta data, content assets, and their performance metrics. This becomes your migration roadmap and helps identify content to keep, improve, merge, or remove.
• Perform technical SEO audit (Essential) – Capture current site architecture, page speed metrics, mobile usability, and technical elements that contribute to rankings.
• Document current analytics setup (Essential) – Ensure proper tracking is maintained by documenting all existing Google Analytics events, goals, and Google Ads conversion tracking.
• Prepare redirection map (Essential) – Create a detailed 301 redirect strategy mapping old URLs to their new destinations to preserve link equity and user experience.
• Analyze backlink profile (Essential) – Identify high-value backlinks that drive traffic and rankings to ensure they’re properly redirected post-migration.
• Benchmark current performance (Essential) – Take snapshots of rankings, organic traffic, conversion rates, and core web vitals as benchmarks for post-migration comparison.
• Create communication plan (Nice-to-have) – Develop strategy for notifying users, partners, and stakeholders about the upcoming changes.

When working with startup clients, Radyant emphasizes this phase as the foundation of a successful migration. We often find that startups underestimate the complexity here, especially with content inventories for sites with hundreds or thousands of pages. Our team uses specialized crawling tools to ensure nothing is missed.

Development and Testing Phase (4-8 weeks)

This critical phase involves building and testing the new website while maintaining the existing one. Thorough quality assurance during this stage prevents major issues post-launch.

• Set up staging environment (Essential) – Create a secure, password-protected staging site that mirrors your production environment for development and testing.
• Implement all redirects (Essential) – Set up the redirection map from the planning phase, ensuring all old URLs properly redirect to their new destinations.
• Migrate and optimize content (Essential) – Transfer content to the new site while improving it based on current SEO best practices to drive better results post-migration.
• Implement technical SEO improvements (Essential) – Update meta data, schema markup, internal linking, and fix any legacy technical issues identified in the audit.
• Update tracking and conversion codes (Essential) – Re-implement all analytics, ads tracking, and third-party marketing tools to maintain data continuity.
• Perform cross-browser and device testing (Essential) – Test functionality and appearance across all major browsers and devices to ensure consistent user experience.
• Run performance tests (Essential) – Verify improved page speed, Core Web Vitals, and other performance metrics to capitalize on the migration’s technical advantages.
• Conduct user testing (Nice-to-have) – Have real users test key conversion paths to identify potential issues with navigation or functionality.

Radyant’s technical team integrates directly with client development resources during this phase. For startups with limited technical resources, we provide specific checklists for developers to follow and perform quality assurance checks before launch. We’ve found that thorough testing with specialized tools can prevent up to 95% of post-migration issues.

Launch Phase (1-2 days)

The actual migration execution requires precise timing and coordination. This is where all your planning and testing pays off, with minimal disruption to users and search engines.

• Schedule migration during low-traffic period (Essential) – Choose a timeframe when traffic is typically lowest to minimize potential impact on users and conversions.
• Back up the existing website (Essential) – Create complete backups of the database, files, and server configurations before making any changes.
• Update DNS settings (Essential) – Implement DNS changes with appropriate TTL settings to minimize downtime.
• Verify redirects are working (Essential) – Test all redirects immediately after launch to confirm they’re properly implemented and functional.
• Submit new XML sitemap (Essential) – Update and submit the new sitemap through Google Search Console to accelerate crawling and indexing.
• Verify analytics and conversion tracking (Essential) – Confirm all tracking is functioning correctly to avoid data gaps or misattribution.
• Adjust Google Ads campaigns (Essential) – Update ad destinations and settings to match new URL structure and landing pages.
• Monitor server performance (Essential) – Watch for unexpected traffic spikes or server issues during the transition period.

For our clients at Radyant, we create a detailed hour-by-hour launch plan with assigned responsibilities for each team member. We also set up real-time monitoring dashboards to catch issues immediately. One key insight from our experience: having a “war room” with key stakeholders available during launch dramatically reduces response time to any unexpected issues.

Post-Migration Monitoring Phase (4-12 weeks)

The work doesn’t end at launch. Careful monitoring and quick fixes in the weeks following are essential to maintain and improve performance.

• Monitor crawl errors (Essential) – Review Google Search Console for new crawl errors daily for the first few weeks.
• Track indexation progress (Essential) – Monitor how quickly Google is discovering and indexing your new URLs.
• Check for ranking fluctuations (Essential) – Track keyword positions closely, especially for high-value terms that drive leads and conversions.
• Verify redirect chains (Essential) – Identify and fix any redirect chains or loops that could be hampering user experience or SEO performance.
• Monitor organic traffic trends (Essential) – Compare post-migration traffic to benchmarks, looking for any concerning drops by page, section, or device type.
• Check conversion rates (Essential) – Monitor leads and conversion rates closely to catch any friction points in the new user journey.
• Update external links where possible (Nice-to-have) – Reach out to important referral sources to update their links to your new URLs.
• Document lessons learned (Nice-to-have) – Compile insights for future reference or for ongoing site improvements.

At Radyant, we provide clients with a 90-day post-migration support period with weekly status reports. Our data shows that even with perfect planning, approximately 20% of migrations encounter some unexpected issues that require intervention. For startups we’ve worked with, having expert monitoring during this phase has prevented many potential traffic and revenue losses.

Implementing this detailed website migration checklist has helped our clients maintain and even grow their organic traffic and leads during what is typically a high-risk period. By taking a methodical approach with clear priorities and thorough testing, you can transform a potentially disruptive process into an opportunity for performance improvement. For complex migrations or limited internal resources, partnering with specialists like Radyant who have experience with similar website transitions can significantly reduce risk.

Do’s & Don’ts: Expert Guidance

Navigating a website migration is like crossing a digital minefield – one wrong step can lead to catastrophic traffic and revenue losses. After helping dozens of startups successfully migrate their websites while preserving their SEO equity, we’ve compiled this actionable guidance to help you maximize gains and minimize risks during your migration journey.

Quick Wins

When implementing your website migration checklist, focus on these high-impact, low-effort tactics that deliver substantial results with minimal resource investment:

• Create a comprehensive 301 redirect map for all your existing URLs to their new destinations. This preserves link equity and ensures users don’t encounter frustrating 404 errors. Our clients typically retain 90-95% of their organic traffic when this is properly executed.
• Preserve essential on-page SEO elements including title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and core content. Migrating without protecting these crucial elements is like moving to a new house but leaving all your valuables behind.
• Update your XML sitemap immediately after migration and submit it through Google Search Console. This simple 15-minute task dramatically speeds up re-crawling and indexing.
• Implement analytics tracking code before launching the new website to ensure continuity in your marketing data. This prevents the dreaded “data blackout” period that hampers decision-making.
• Test critical conversion paths like lead generation forms, checkout processes, and call-to-action functionality before going live with your new website.

At Radyant, we’ve seen these quick wins reduce migration-related traffic drops by up to 70% compared to migrations that skip these steps. Most startups begin seeing positive results within 2-4 weeks of implementation, with full recovery typically achieved within 3 months. For one of our B2B SaaS clients, focusing on these fundamentals allowed them to maintain 93% of their lead generation capacity during a complex domain migration that typically could have resulted in a 40-50% temporary decrease.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Even seasoned marketing teams make critical mistakes during website migrations. Here are the most common pitfalls we’ve identified and how to avoid them:

• Rushing the migration timeline: Many teams underestimate the complexity and set unrealistic deadlines. This pressured approach leads to cutting corners on critical SEO tasks. Instead, allocate at least 2-3 months for planning a complex migration.
• Failing to create a complete redirect map: We regularly see teams only redirecting their main pages while neglecting blog content or resource sections. This results in massive organic traffic drops as search equity evaporates. You can identify this issue by using tools like Screaming Frog to compare your old sitemap against your redirect plan.
• Launching without proper testing: Going live before thoroughly testing your website across devices, browsers, and user journeys is a recipe for disaster. If your bounce rate spikes above 80% post-migration, this is likely your culprit.
• Changing URLs unnecessarily: Many migrations introduce new URL structures without clear SEO benefits, creating needless redirect chains. This dilutes link equity and slows down site performance. Preserve your URL structure where possible, especially for high-performing content.
• Neglecting to update ads and marketing materials: We often see clients forget to update Google Ads, social media links, and marketing collateral with new URLs, resulting in broken user journeys and wasted ad spend.

At Radyant, we’ve developed a proprietary migration monitoring system that identifies these issues in real-time. For instance, when helping a climate tech startup migrate their content-heavy website, we caught a critical error where 30% of their blog posts weren’t properly redirected – an oversight that would have cost them thousands in lost leads monthly. By implementing our full website migration toolkit, we not only preserved their traffic but improved their post-migration conversion rates by 22% through better information architecture and conversion path optimization.

Remember that successful website migrations aren’t just about avoiding disaster – they’re opportunities to improve your site’s performance, user experience, and conversion capabilities. With proper planning and execution, your migration can become a catalyst for marketing growth rather than a setback.

What to Do Next: Implementation Strategy

You’ve got your website migration checklist in hand, but a checklist without strategic implementation is just a document gathering digital dust. Turning this roadmap into successful migration requires methodical execution that minimizes disruption while maximizing new opportunities. Let’s transform your checklist into an actionable plan that protects your SEO equity, maintains ad performance, and ensures your web presence continues generating valuable leads.

Prioritization Framework: What Comes First

Not all checklist items carry equal weight during a website migration. Use this priority framework to determine which tasks demand immediate attention:

• Critical Path Items (Do First): Tasks that directly impact site functionality, SEO rankings, and revenue streams. These include preserving 301 redirects, maintaining tracking codes, ensuring proper indexing controls, and preserving your Google Ads landing page experiences.
• High-Impact Items (Do Second): Elements that significantly influence user experience and conversion potential, such as URL structure planning, content migration strategy, and server configuration testing.
• Supporting Elements (Do Third): Tasks that optimize performance after critical functions are secured, including content quality improvements, schema markup updates, and performance optimization.
• Post-Launch Tasks (Do Last): Monitoring and refinement activities that happen after the migration is complete, such as crawl error resolution, ranking recovery tracking, and conversion rate optimization.

This framework ensures you’re always working on the most impactful aspects of your migration, reducing risk while maximizing efficiency. One client reduced their migration-related traffic drop by 78% by strictly adhering to this prioritization system.

Implementation Timeline: Realistic Scheduling

A website migration is a marathon, not a sprint. Establish a realistic timeline that accounts for complexities and contingencies:

• Planning Phase (4-6 weeks): Conduct comprehensive audits, establish benchmarks, develop URL mapping strategy, and prepare technical specifications.
• Pre-Migration Phase (2-3 weeks): Test server environments, create redirect maps, back up all critical data, establish monitoring systems, and notify key stakeholders including your marketing team.
• Migration Execution (24-72 hours): Implement redirects, transfer content, configure tracking, update internal links, and verify technical SEO elements.
• Post-Migration Phase (4-12 weeks): Monitor performance, fix crawl errors, adjust ads campaigns, optimize underperforming pages, and implement recovery strategies as needed.

Remember that complex e-commerce or enterprise sites may require longer timelines, while simpler brochure sites might move more quickly. One startup’s migration fell behind schedule when they didn’t account for content migration complexity, ultimately delaying their relaunch by three weeks—a costly setback that proper timeline planning could have prevented.

Progress Tracking & Performance Measurement

Establish clear metrics to track progress both during and after migration. This creates accountability and helps identify issues early:

• Key Progress Indicators: Percentage of URLs redirected, proportion of content migrated, number of critical bugs identified/resolved, and completion rate of checklist items.
• Performance KPIs: Organic traffic retention, crawl stats, indexed page count, Google Search Console impressions, SERP positions, page load speed, conversion rates, and paid ads performance.
• Monitoring Schedule: Daily checks for the first two weeks post-migration, then twice weekly for the next month, followed by weekly reviews until performance stabilizes.

Document everything in a centralized dashboard accessible to all stakeholders. This transparency ensures everyone understands the migration status and can react quickly to emerging issues. Create automated alerts for key metrics like traffic drops exceeding 15% or sudden ranking changes.

Use automated tools like Radyant’s monitoring templates to track your migration performance without spending hours manually pulling reports. Our templates automatically flag concerning patterns so you can focus on solutions rather than detection.

When to Revisit and Update Your Implementation

Website migration isn’t a one-and-done process. Plan for these strategic reassessment points:

• 24-48 Hours Post-Launch: Conduct an immediate audit focusing on critical technical issues, broken redirects, and tracking implementation.
• Two Weeks Post-Migration: Perform a comprehensive review of SEO metrics, user behavior, and conversion performance to catch any emerging issues.
• One Month Milestone: Evaluate recovery trajectory and implement any necessary adjustments to content, technical settings, or ad campaigns.
• Three Month Assessment: Conduct a thorough analysis comparing current performance against pre-migration benchmarks, making strategic adjustments where needed.

One e-commerce client discovered a 32% drop in mobile conversions during their two-week review that wasn’t apparent in their overall metrics. By isolating and fixing this device-specific issue early, they avoided significant revenue loss.

Real-World Success: Case Study

When ToolSense, a rapidly growing SaaS platform, needed to migrate to a new domain while preserving their hard-earned search rankings and lead generation system, they faced potential disaster. Using our structured implementation approach, they:

• Prioritized their checklist items based on revenue impact
• Created a detailed 8-week implementation timeline
• Established daily monitoring for critical metrics
• Implemented a staged migration for high-value content first

The result? They maintained 97% of their organic traffic throughout the migration, experienced only a 3-day dip in ad conversion rates, and ultimately saw a 12% increase in qualified leads within six weeks of migration completion. You can read their full migration story in our ToolSense case study.

How Radyant Can Support Your Migration

Implementing a website migration checklist properly requires specialized expertise and focused attention. Radyant’s migration services can help you:

• Create a customized implementation plan tailored to your specific website’s needs and business goals
• Provide technical migration oversight to ensure proper redirect implementation, tracking preservation, and SEO signal transfer
• Manage your Google Ads transition to maintain campaign performance throughout the migration process
• Deploy advanced monitoring systems that detect and alert you to potential issues before they impact performance
• Execute recovery strategies if rankings or traffic drop unexpectedly post-migration

Our team has successfully managed migrations for over 50 startups and scale-ups, preserving their hard-earned marketing assets while setting them up for future growth. Schedule a strategy call to discuss your specific migration challenges and get expert guidance on implementing your checklist effectively.

Frequently Asked Questions About Website Migration Checklist

What is the most critical step in a website migration?

The most critical step in any website migration is comprehensive planning with proper redirect mapping. At Radyant, we’ve witnessed many migrations where businesses rush into implementation without thoroughly mapping out 301 redirects for all existing URLs. This results in significant traffic drops, lost rankings, and missing content that previously drove valuable leads. A proper redirect strategy ensures search engines understand that your content has moved to a new location rather than disappeared entirely.

Your redirect mapping should include every URL on your old site, including blog posts, product pages, and category pages. We recommend creating a detailed spreadsheet matching old URLs with their new destinations and implementing these redirects before the migration goes live. In our experience with startup clients, those who invested time in proper redirect planning typically maintained 85-95% of their organic traffic post-migration, while those who skipped this step often saw drops of 40-60%.

How long does SEO recovery take after a website migration?

SEO recovery time after a website migration varies significantly based on migration quality, site complexity, and your pre-migration authority. Based on our experience managing migrations for dozens of startups, you can expect 2-4 weeks of fluctuations for smaller sites with excellent implementation, while larger websites or those with implementation issues may take 3-6 months to fully recover their rankings and traffic.

We’ve observed that websites with strong domain authority and a clean technical migration often recover faster. Content-heavy sites typically experience longer recovery periods as search engines need to recrawl and reindex all your content. One client in the SaaS space saw their recovery accelerate dramatically when we implemented an XML sitemap submission strategy alongside increasing their crawl budget through strategic internal linking. The key is monitoring your performance metrics closely during this period and being prepared to make adjustments as needed.

If you’re concerned about minimizing recovery time, scheduling a strategy call with our migration specialists can help you develop a targeted recovery plan.

Should I migrate my website and redesign it at the same time?

While it’s tempting to combine a migration with a complete redesign, this approach significantly increases risk. Each change introduces variables that can impact your marketing performance. At Radyant, we typically recommend separating these projects when possible, especially for websites that generate substantial leads or revenue from organic traffic.

If business requirements necessitate combining these projects, we recommend a phased approach. First, migrate the existing design to the new platform or domain while maintaining the same URL structure and content. Once this migration stabilizes (typically 1-2 months), proceed with the redesign phase. This strategy allows you to isolate and address issues from each change separately.

For clients who must combine migration and redesign, we emphasize comprehensive pre-launch testing. This includes content audits, technical crawls, and performance benchmarking. One e-commerce client successfully combined both by creating a detailed component-by-component comparison to ensure core elements affecting SEO (like product description placements, schema markup, and heading structure) remained consistent despite visual changes.

How do I handle my Google Ads during a website migration?

Managing your Google Ads during a website migration requires careful planning to prevent disruption to your paid marketing campaigns. First, update all destination URLs in your ads and extensions before the migration goes live. We recommend creating a comprehensive spreadsheet of all ad destinations and their corresponding new URLs.

Second, implement URL tracking parameter preservation in your redirects to maintain accurate attribution data. This ensures that UTM parameters and other tracking information carry over to the new site. Without this step, you risk losing valuable conversion tracking data.

Third, update your conversion tracking implementations, particularly if you’re changing platforms or significantly altering your site structure. This often requires updating Google Tag Manager configurations or reinstalling conversion pixels. Based on our experience managing migrations for PPC-focused clients, we recommend creating a “staging” version of your tracking setup that you can test before going live.

Finally, consider reducing your ad spend slightly during the first week after migration and closely monitor performance metrics. You can quickly identify and address any issues before they significantly impact your campaign performance. Our specialized tools can help monitor these transitions effectively.

What common mistakes should I avoid during a website migration?

Based on supporting numerous startups through migrations, we’ve identified several critical mistakes to avoid:

• Rushing the timeline: Many businesses underestimate the time required for a proper migration. Allow at least 1-2 months for planning before implementation.
• Neglecting pre-migration benchmarking: Without baseline metrics for organic traffic, rankings, and technical performance, you can’t accurately assess post-migration impact.
• Failing to preserve content value: Often, migrations result in unintentional content changes that affect keyword targeting and relevance. Conduct a thorough content audit checklist to preserve valuable content.
• Inadequate testing: We recommend thorough testing on a staging environment before going live, including technical SEO audits, content reviews, and functionality testing.
• Launching on high-traffic days: Avoid launching migrations before weekends or during peak business periods when support staff might be limited.
• Ignoring post-migration monitoring: Many businesses consider migration complete once the new site is live. In reality, the post-migration monitoring and adjustment phase is equally important.

One of our SaaS clients avoided these pitfalls by extending their migration timeline from 6 weeks to 12 weeks, allowing proper testing and implementation. As a result, they experienced only a 5% temporary traffic drop compared to the industry average of 15-30%.

How do I communicate the website migration to my customers?

Effective communication during a web migration helps manage user expectations and minimize confusion. Start by announcing the upcoming changes through multiple channels: email newsletters, social media, and a prominent notice on your current website. Explain the benefits customers will gain from the migration, whether it’s improved performance, better user experience, or new features.

For B2B companies with high-value client relationships, consider personalized outreach to key accounts. One of our clients in the professional services sector created a tiered communication strategy, with direct calls to top clients, personalized emails to mid-tier clients, and general announcements for broader audience segments.

During the actual migration, implement a clear maintenance page if there will be downtime, ideally with an estimated completion time. After launch, follow up with another announcement highlighting the successful migration and guiding users on navigating any significant changes.

If you’re changing domains, consider implementing a browser notification on the new site asking returning visitors if they’d like to update their bookmarks. As seen in our case studies, clients who communicate migrations effectively typically experience higher post-migration user engagement and lower support ticket volumes.

If you have specific questions about your upcoming website migration or need expert guidance, our team at Radyant specializes in seamless transitions that preserve your marketing value. Feel free to reach out for a personalized assessment of your migration needs.