SEO migration: what to hire before a website redesign
Before hiring a website redesign, assign responsibility for SEO review and for implementing fixes. If your team can make those changes, a technical review with verification of the fixes may be enough. If it needs help changing templates, links or configuration, include that implementation. Rebuilding the whole website needs an additional justification. Buy the work that is missing rather than a guarantee of keeping your rankings.
First, define what will change
SEO migration work checks and manages search signals during a website change. That change may affect the domain, paths, platform or how content is delivered. Write down what changes and what stays before comparing proposals.
Google distinguishes URL changes from hosting changes that keep the same URLs. Its documentation, consulted on October 21, 2026, recommends sequencing changes and warns about temporary ranking fluctuations. It does not offer a traffic guarantee.
Changing technology does not require changing public addresses. Ask the provider to justify each path change. If the goal is a better design, avoid adding content restructuring or a new domain by default: each decision needs its own reason and checks.
Compare three scopes by who implements the work
This matrix is a purchasing framework proposed by Duotach. It does not represent project results or a performance guarantee.
| Current situation | Scope to request | Delivery evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Your team redesigns and can fix issues | SEO review and verification of fixes | Prioritized findings, an owner and evidence for each fix |
| Your team designs but cannot cover technical changes | Review plus bounded implementation | Versioned changes, a test environment and agreed acceptance |
| The platform prevents an essential requirement | Evaluate rebuilding or switching platforms | Demonstrated limitation, an alternative and operating costs described |
An audit that delivers recommendations does not automatically include implementing them. A rebuild does not automatically include reviewing old paths or maintaining follow-up either. Ask the proposal to separate those tasks and name who receives each result.
If the current team can fix the findings, keep that option in the comparison. Commissioning a full rebuild to fix one template may expand the project without addressing an additional need.
Request an inventory and a reference from before the change
The scope should identify existing pages, their commercial purpose and their intended destinations. Include site URLs, the sitemap, internal links and pages appearing in Search Console. Any single source may miss pages. Also document articles, public files and languages that need to be preserved.
For each relevant URL, request a row with its current state, proposed decision, owner and test. Separate keeping, changing, removing and redirecting. Removal needs content approval; a technical error alone is not a reason to delete a useful page.
Save a dated reference of queries, pages, countries and devices over complete periods, alongside contact event definitions. This helps distinguish a traffic change from a measurement change later. A WhatsApp click is not a sale, and an event with an unverified trigger is not a confirmed contact.
Agree on the tests required before launch
Request tests against the specific version of the new site, using a sample chosen by purpose: organic entry, service, article, language and contact journey. Cover the templates rather than choosing only the pages that look best.
Content
Retained pages preserve useful content, links and the expected response.
Destinations
Every approved URL change has a relevant destination and a response test, rather than sending everything to the homepage.
Identity
Canonical URLs, languages and the sitemap consistently describe the agreed destinations.
Rendering
Main content and links can be checked in the rendered HTML.
Contact
The form has an authorized sending and receipt test, with test data excluded from commercial measurement.
Google's JavaScript SEO documentation distinguishes crawling, rendering and indexing. It also explains that blocking resources prevents their rendering. Do not block CSS, JavaScript or images to clean up a report. A passing build or an attractive screenshot alone does not establish indexing or a working contact flow.
Fictional example: a site retains a Spanish service page and its English translation. In testing, both should display their own language, final links and matching identity. If the translation declares the Spanish page as its canonical URL, record and fix that discrepancy before accepting that part of the change. This is a proposed check, not an observed client result.
Assign owners for launch and follow-up
The proposal should identify who implements, who verifies, who approves publication and who receives an incident. Also specify the evidence that can stop a launch: a broken contact journey or an incorrect destination for a priority page are examples to agree on.
Request a rollback procedure explaining what can be reversed and what needs separate recovery. Reverting code does not necessarily undo changes to data, DNS or external services. The procedure should match the contracted change and be tested with authorization in an appropriate environment.
After publication, separate verified technical errors from search variation. Review the same pages and cohorts where possible, including position and concurrent changes. A lower aggregate CTR does not prove the redesign caused it; an increase does not demonstrate additional sales either. Record actual inquiries and their known or unknown origins separately.
What to bring to a consultation and what belongs in paid work
To discuss scope, describe your current platform, intended changes, available development team and the commercial journey to preserve. You do not need to share personal data or production access through the form.
Duotach works on custom software and web applications and technical SEO auditing. We can agree on a review and, where appropriate, implementation of bounded changes. Site assessment, inventory and tests belong in the agreed paid scope; they are not promised as free preliminary work or as guaranteed traffic preservation.
If you also need to receive code, accounts and documentation when the project ends, see the custom software handover guide. That handover complements the redesign's SEO checks and has its own tests.
Assign review and implementation
Describe the change and your current team to discuss a scope.