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Tool kit, 8 steps in order
Eight free tools in the order we suggest for a website move. Before the move you decide what to keep and map every old address to a new one; after it you check that crawlers are allowed in, the redirects work, key pages can be indexed, the sitemap is clean and every page has its own title and description. Our suggestion is to run the checks again a few days after the move.
Who it is for: Anyone moving to a new domain, a new platform such as WordPress or Shopify, or a new URL structure.
The order is our suggestion. Skip a step you have already done, or come back to one later.
Step 1: Content writing tools
Before the move, join your page list and Search Console data to get keep, update, merge, redirect or remove for every page.
Then: Carry the pages to keep, merge or redirect into the redirect map.
You need: Sitemap and Search Console
Open the tool: Content Audit and Pruning PlannerStep 2: Site audit & technical
Match each old URL to a new one, check the map for chains and loops, and export 301s for Apache, nginx, Cloudflare or WordPress.
Then: Give the export to whoever sets up the new site, and keep the map to check against later.
Step 3: Site audit & technical
Once the new site is live, check that its robots.txt does not block the whole site, CSS or JavaScript.
Then: Use the corrected file it gives you if anything you need is blocked.
Step 4: Site audit & technical
Check old URLs, up to 10 at a time, to see each redirect step and the final address.
Then: Fix chains, loops and temporary redirects with the rule it gives you.
Step 5: Site audit & technical
Check that key new pages can be indexed: status, robots.txt, noindex and the canonical link.
Then: Fix each blocker it finds before you look at anything else.
Step 6: Site audit & technical
Check the new sitemap, and find listed pages that redirect, fail, carry noindex or point their canonical link elsewhere.
Then: Fix the sitemap so it lists the new addresses that work.
Step 7: Content writing tools
Check the title and meta description of every page in a crawl export of the new site for missing, duplicate and boilerplate tags.
Then: Fix the pages it lists first.
You need: Crawl export
Open the tool: Meta Tags Bulk CheckerStep 8: Google Ads tools
If you run Google Ads, check the final URLs in your ads, sitelinks and keywords for 404s and bad redirects after the move.
Then: Update the final URLs in Google Ads to the new addresses.
You need: Your ad URLs
Open the tool: Google Ads Link CheckerSteps 1 and 2 are for before the move, while the old site is still live. Steps 3 to 8 are for the day the new site goes live, and again a few days later (our suggestion).
301 redirects, as Apache or nginx rules, a Cloudflare Bulk Redirects CSV, a WordPress Redirection CSV or a plain CSV. You can change any match before you export it.
Only for the first step, the Content Audit and Pruning Planner, which joins your page list with a Search Console Pages export. The redirect map works from your old and new URL lists alone.
Tell us about your business and the job in hand. We reply within one business day with next steps.
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