Website migration is more than moving pages from one platform to another.
A website can look perfect after launch while important details are missing. Forms may stop working, redirects may be incomplete, or nobody may be sure who is responsible for maintenance.
For agencies managing client websites, a migration checklist helps make the process more predictable.
Here are six areas worth checking before going live.
1. Audit Your Existing Content
Before moving anything, identify what the current website contains.
Review:
- Main website pages and blog posts
- Images, downloadable files, and other media
- Landing pages and resource pages
- Content that needs to be updated or removed
Create an inventory so the team can confirm what should be transferred and what should intentionally be left behind.
2. Protect URLs and SEO
A new website structure can affect existing links and search visibility.
Before launch:
- Map important old URLs to their new destinations.
- Set up and test appropriate redirects.
- Update internal links where needed.
- Review page titles, metadata, and indexability.
- Check that important pages load at the correct URLs.
Avoid assuming that every old URL will automatically lead to the right page.
3. Test Forms and Integrations
A page may look correct without its functionality working properly.
Test contact forms, email notifications, booking tools, payment flows, CRM connections, and analytics tracking where applicable.
Submit actual test entries and verify that the expected information reaches the right destination.
4. Prepare a Recovery Plan
Before launch, establish how the team will respond if something goes wrong.
Confirm that backups are available, recovery steps are documented, and the responsible person knows how to restore the site or roll back the launch if necessary.
A backup is most useful when the team knows how to recover from it.
5. Test Before Launch
Review the website on mobile and desktop.
Check important user journeys, navigation, buttons, images, links, page loading, SSL, and redirect behavior. Also confirm that important pages are accessible to search engines when they should be.
Use a staging environment where possible, and document issues that still need to be resolved.
6. Assign Post-Launch Ownership
Launching the website is not the end of the migration.
Decide who will monitor errors, check forms and integrations, handle content updates, and respond to technical issues after launch.
Clear ownership helps prevent small problems from being overlooked once the project is handed over.
Final Thoughts
A successful migration is not simply a website that looks good on launch day.
It is a website where important content is accounted for, functionality has been tested, URLs are handled carefully, and the team knows what happens next.
A checklist cannot prevent every issue, but it can help agencies catch avoidable problems before they affect clients.
What's the one thing you always double-check before launching a migrated website?
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