A release-focused guide to preserving URLs, content equity and customer journeys. The practical challenge is deciding where to invest time without losing focus on the customer, data quality or maintainability.
Export and categorise existing URLs from sitemaps, analytics and server logs.
Gather the current URL inventory from a crawl, analytics, XML sitemaps, Search Console and server logs. Mark pages with organic entrances, backlinks, enquiries or important business functions.
Export and categorise existing URLs from sitemaps, analytics and server logs.
Map old URLs one-to-one to relevant new destinations; avoid redirecting everything to the homepage.
Every changed URL needs a directly relevant destination. Use server-side permanent redirects, verify response codes and avoid long chains or indiscriminate homepage redirects.
Map old URLs one-to-one to relevant new destinations; avoid redirecting everything to the homepage.
Test canonical URLs, metadata, internal links, redirects and important conversion events.
Inspect page templates on mobile and desktop. Check one canonical per page, page titles, structured data, important forms, JavaScript actions, navigation, sitemap paths and analytics events.
Test canonical URLs, metadata, internal links, redirects and important conversion events.
Compare rankings, crawl coverage and business outcomes after publishing.
After release, compare crawl errors, conversions and organic landing-page traffic to a baseline. Correct missing redirects and indexing changes quickly; allow search engines time to process the migration.
Compare rankings, crawl coverage and business outcomes after publishing.
What to do next
Start with a short audit of current priorities, choose the highest-value problem and build a measurable plan. Keep ownership clear and document the decisions that will matter during the next iteration.
