Ecommerce SEO Migration Checklist: Redirects, Metadata and Search Console

An ecommerce site migration keeps its search traffic when three things are true at launch: every old URL that matters permanently redirects to its closest new equivalent, the content and metadata that earned rankings came across intact, and Google can crawl the new site from minute one. Then you watch Search Console closely for a month and fix what it shows you.

This checklist covers the before, launch-day and first-30-days work, with a redirect-map template you can copy into a spreadsheet. It applies whether you are changing platform, domain, URL structure or all three.

Before launch: build the baseline

You cannot judge a migration without a "before" picture. Capture it at least a few weeks ahead, and keep the exports.

• Full URL inventory. Combine a crawl of the live site, every XML sitemap, Search Console page reports, analytics landing pages for the last 12 months and backlink tool exports. Crawls alone miss old URLs that still get links.
• Performance by URL. Clicks, impressions and revenue per landing page, so you know which pages matter most.
• Top queries. Export Search Console queries with their landing pages.
• On-page elements. Title, meta description, H1, canonical, robots directives, hreflang and structured data for each indexable URL.
• Internal links and navigation. Note which categories the main menu and footer link to.
• Core Web Vitals field data for key templates, so you can compare after launch.

The redirect map

The redirect map is the single most important document in an ecommerce migration. Google recommends server-side permanent redirects (301 or 308), mapping each old URL to its new equivalent, avoiding chains, and keeping redirects in place for as long as possible, generally at least one year.

Redirect-map template

Set up a spreadsheet with these columns. The example rows show common ecommerce cases.

Rules that save trouble later:

• Map one-to-one wherever an equivalent exists. Do not send everything to the homepage; Google may treat mass redirects to an unrelated page as soft 404s.
• Use pattern rules (for example, an old category prefix to a new one) for long tails, then list high-value URLs individually to override them.
• Redirect old URLs straight to the final destination. If an older migration left redirects behind, update those to the new targets so there is one hop, not three.
• Keep query-string handling consistent; decide which parameters matter (pagination, filters) and which can be dropped.
• Remember images, PDFs and blog posts, not just products and categories.
• Store the map in version control or a shared sheet; it is a living document for the first year.

Content and metadata checks before launch

• Titles, meta descriptions and H1s migrated for every indexable page.
• Category descriptions and product copy present, not replaced by placeholders.
• Canonical tags point to the new URLs, not the old ones or staging.
• Structured data (Product, Offer, BreadcrumbList) is valid on the new templates.
• Hreflang annotations point to new URLs for each locale.
• Internal links in menus, footers and content point directly to new URLs, not through redirects.
• Faceted navigation rules (which filter combinations are indexable) carried over; see our ecommerce SEO guide for the wider framework.
• Staging blocks (password protection, noindex, robots.txt disallow) are listed so they can be removed at launch.

Launch-day checklist

1. Remove staging noindex tags, password protection and robots.txt blocks from the production site.
2. Deploy the redirect map and test a sample: top 100 URLs by traffic plus a random sample from each pattern rule. Check status code, number of hops and final destination.
3. Crawl the new site: look for 404s, 5xx errors, redirect chains, noindex on indexable pages, and canonicals to wrong URLs.
4. Verify the new property in Search Console, including domain and protocol variants if they changed.
5. Submit the new XML sitemap. Keep the old sitemap available for a while so Google recrawls old URLs and sees the redirects; Google says redirect warnings for the old sitemap are expected.
6. If the domain changed, use the Change of Address tool in Search Console on the old property.
7. Check analytics and conversion tracking fire on the new site, including purchase events.
8. Place a real test order and confirm the order confirmation page is not indexable.

First 30 days: monitoring checklist

Google notes that rankings can fluctuate during a move and that a medium-sized site can take a few weeks or longer to settle. Use this schedule to catch real problems early instead of waiting.

Common ecommerce-specific traps

• Variant URLs. Platforms handle variants differently. Shopify, for example, uses query parameters for variants, while some Magento setups give simple products their own URLs. Decide where each old variant URL should land.
• Layered navigation URLs. If the old site let filter URLs get indexed, decide whether the new site will index equivalent filtered pages or redirect them to the parent category.
• Out-of-stock and discontinued products. Do not 404 products that still earn links; redirect to a close replacement or category.
• Case and trailing slashes. Normalize at the server so /Shoes/ and /shoes do not become separate problems.
• Multi-store setups. Each store view or locale needs its own section of the redirect map.

For the full project around these SEO tasks, see our ecommerce replatforming guide.

Frequently asked questions

How long should I keep redirects after a migration?

Google's site-move guidance says as long as possible, generally at least one year. Many stores simply keep them permanently because they cost little.

Is a traffic drop after launch normal?

A short fluctuation is normal. A steep or growing drop concentrated on specific page groups usually points to missing redirects, lost content or crawl blocks.

Should I use 301 or 302 redirects?

Use permanent redirects (301 or 308) for a migration. Temporary redirects tell Google the old URL may come back.

Need a second pair of eyes?

Mistri builds redirect maps and runs launch monitoring as part of its Magento migration services, and our Magento SEO services cover the technical checks before and after go-live.

Sources

How to move a site with URL changes (Google Search Central); Redirects and Google Search (Google Search Central); Change of Address tool (Search Console Help).