What Belongs in a Website Migration URL Map?

Give every important address a decision

A website migration URL map records where existing pages should go when a redesign changes their addresses.

It turns a vague instruction to preserve the old site into decisions your developer can implement and test.

Start before launch. Keep the map in a shared spreadsheet, with one person responsible for approving destinations.

Focus on matching the purpose of each page rather than making the old and new navigation look identical.

Build an inventory worth checking

Gather existing addresses from your sitemap, a site crawl, analytics, and Search Console. Include useful pages missing from navigation.

Keep the full old URL, page title, content purpose, and proposed action. Mark pages with links or visits for careful review.

Add important downloadable files and campaign destinations where relevant. A migration can affect more than the pages in your menu.

Choose relevant destinations

For each old page, identify the closest useful replacement. Record the full destination URL and explain any content being merged.

For example, an old website-design service page could move to a new web-development page that still answers the same buying questions.

Do not send unrelated retired pages to the homepage. Google's migration guidance warns that irrelevant redirects can confuse visitors.

Separate moves from removals

Label each row as unchanged, redirected, merged, or removed. Do not assume every old address needs a new destination.

Google recommends permanent server-side redirects, such as 301 or 308, for permanent moves; removed content without a replacement should return 404 or 410.

Link the implementation team to Google's migration guidance so the map and technical behaviour follow the same plan.

Test the map as a handover

Add an owner, implementation status, and test result. Check the old address, redirect response, final destination, and visible content.

Update internal links to their final addresses. Check canonical references and sitemap entries against the new URLs as well.

Our web development service can help turn migration decisions into an implementation and acceptance checklist.

Keep the record after launch

Test the public addresses again after release. Record failures and assign corrections rather than relying on a quick homepage check.

Review crawl and indexing reports as the move progresses. A URL map supports a migration; it cannot guarantee unchanged rankings.

Planning a move?

Talk to Hibrinix about preserving useful destinations before your new website goes live.