How to Move to a New CMS Without Losing Search Traffic

Why migrations lose traffic

Search engines know your pages by their addresses. When you move to a new CMS, page addresses can change: a Squarespace blog post at one path becomes a WordPress post at another, product pages gain or lose a folder, and some pages disappear in the rebuild. If nothing tells search engines where each old page went, links pointing to those pages break, visitors land on error pages and rankings built up over years can drop.

The fix is not complicated, but it takes discipline. Google Search Central's guide to site moves with URL changes sets out the steps, and this guide follows its order, adding the platform-specific details that trip people up.

Step 1: Take an inventory of every address

Google's guide puts the mapping of old addresses to new ones at the center of the job, and you cannot map what you have not listed. Build a spreadsheet of every live address, drawing on:

• your current sitemap file;
• the pages reported in Google Search Console, including those with search impressions;
• your analytics tool's list of landing pages;
• the CMS itself: every page, post, product, category and tag page.

Add a column for monthly visits or search clicks, so you can see which pages matter most. Also note pages that earn links from other sites; those are the ones where a broken address costs the most.

Step 2: Export the content

Every platform exports differently, and some barely export at all. Before you plan the build, check what you can actually get out:

• Squarespace exports a WordPress-format XML file that includes layout pages, one blog and gallery pages, but not store, portfolio, album, calendar and several other page types.
• Webflow lets you export Collection items as CSV; its code export, on Workspace plans, leaves CMS content out.
• Wix lets you export CMS collection content as CSV; pages built in the editor have to be recreated.
• Shopify exports products as CSV, but the product images are not included in the file, so keep the old store live until images have been copied.

Whatever the platform, save every image and document separately, with its current address noted, before anything is switched off.

Step 3: Build the redirect map

Now add a column to the inventory for each page's new address. Rules of thumb:

• Keep addresses unchanged where the new platform allows it. The best redirect is one you do not need.
• Map each old page to its closest equivalent, not to the homepage. Sending everything to the homepage leaves visitors hunting for what they came for and throws away the relevance of the old page.
• Pages you are deliberately removing either map to the nearest relevant page or return a "gone" status.
• Avoid chains. Google's guide advises pointing each old address straight at its final destination rather than through several hops.

Step 4: Set up permanent redirects

Google's guidance asks for permanent redirects set up on the server, sending each old address to the new one your map assigns it. In practice that means permanent (301 or 308) redirects configured on the new platform or the server in front of it. Check whether your new platform has a redirect setting; self-hosted software can use server rules or a plugin. Check your new platform's help center for a bulk import option before typing redirects in one by one.

How long should redirects stay? Google's answer is as long as you can manage, and a year at the very least. Treat them as permanent; old links on other sites will keep pointing at the old addresses for years.

Step 5: Test before launch

On a staging copy or immediately after switching:

1. Request every old address from your inventory and confirm each returns a single permanent redirect to the right new page.
2. Check that new pages return a normal 200 status and are not blocked from search engines by a leftover "noindex" setting or robots rule.
3. Compare titles, descriptions and headings on your top pages with the old versions, so nothing important was lost in the rebuild.
4. Confirm structured data, canonical tags and internal links point to new addresses, not old ones.
5. Test forms, checkout and search, which can stop working in a move without any visible error.

Step 6: Launch and tell Google

Once the new site is live, Google's guide advises submitting the new sitemap through Search Console. If the domain name itself changes, also use Search Console's Change of Address tool for the old site; Google notes this is not needed for moves between HTTP and HTTPS, or between the www and non-www versions of the same domain.

Who does what during a migration

Even a small move goes better with named owners for each part:

• The site owner approves the URL map, checks the new pages for accuracy and signs off before launch.
• Whoever builds the new site imports content, sets up templates and configures redirects.
• Whoever manages the domain switches DNS on launch day and keeps the registrar login to hand.
• Someone watches results for the first months: Search Console errors, traffic to top pages and form submissions.

On a one-person business these may all be the same person, but writing the list down still helps, because it shows which jobs fall on launch day.

How long a migration takes

Time depends mostly on the number of pages and how much the export does for you. A rough guide for planning, which the migration planner also uses:

Allow more time if the old platform exports little, if content needs rewriting, or if several people must approve pages. Launch early in a week rather than before a holiday, so problems can be fixed while people are at work.

Common migration mistakes

These errors can each cost traffic after a move, and each is easy to check for:

• Redirecting everything to the homepage instead of to matching pages.
• Forgetting pages that are not in the menu, such as old blog posts, tag pages or product variants that still attract visitors.
• Leaving a "noindex" setting switched on from the staging site.
• Changing titles and headings wholesale during the rebuild, so pages that ranked well no longer match what searchers look for.
• Removing redirects after a few months to tidy up, which breaks old links that still bring visitors.
• Switching off the old platform before images and documents were saved.

Each is avoidable with the inventory spreadsheet and a test pass before launch.

Step 7: Monitor for several weeks

Expect some movement in rankings while search engines process the change. Watch Search Console for crawl errors and pages reported as not found, and fix missing redirects as they appear. Compare traffic to your top pages week by week against the inventory. Keep the old platform's content accessible, at least privately, until you are sure nothing is missing.

Sources for this page

1. Google Search Central: Site Moves and Migrations. Official source, read November 4, 2026.
2. Google Search Central: Redirects and Google Search. Official source, read November 4, 2026.
3. Squarespace Help Center: Export your site content. Official source, read November 4, 2026.
4. Webflow Help Center: Collection items overview. Official source, read November 4, 2026.
5. Wix Help Center: CMS: Exporting Content from Your Collection. Official source, read November 4, 2026.
6. Shopify Help Center: Exporting products. Official source, read November 4, 2026.