Website migration monitoring checklist
Migrations combine every launch risk with a redirect map. Monitor the old URLs, the new URLs, robots.txt and the sitemap until Google’s selected canonicals catch up.
Updated 2026-09-01
Before cutover
- Baseline titles, canonicals and indexability on the old site.
- Prepare the redirect map as a testable list, not a spreadsheet hope.
- Confirm the new host’s robots.txt and sitemap will be ready on day one.
After cutover
- Old money URLs redirect once to the correct new URL.
- New money URLs are 200, indexable, and self-canonical unless planned otherwise.
- robots.txt does not Disallow the new IA.
- The new sitemap lists the new URLs and drops retired ones.
- TLS, DNS and the domain record match the new host.
- Hreflang targets, if you have them, point at live equivalents.
Leave SEO change monitoring running for weeks, not hours. Migrations keep surprising people on day 12.
Questions
Should I monitor old URLs after cutover?
Yes, until they 301 in one hop to the intended new URL and stay there. A 302 or a hop to the homepage is a Warning.
Buy the desktop licence. Keep the crawl data local.
One-off licence, 77 shipped checks, Slack/Teams/Discord alerts, and no monthly monitoring subscription. Current launch price: $89.50.