The universal migration checklist: URL mapping, 301 redirects and monitoring

Whether you are migrating from WordPress, Squarespace, Shopify, or any other platform to Wix, the fundamental SEO migration principles are the same. This lesson provides a platform-agnostic migration framework that applies to every migration scenario. Use this as your master checklist alongside the platform-specific guides in this module. Every step exists because we have seen migrations fail when it was skipped.

Phase 1: Pre-Migration Documentation

The pre-migration phase is about creating a complete snapshot of your current SEO state. This documentation serves as your benchmark for measuring migration success and your diagnostic tool if something goes wrong. Every metric you fail to document before migration is a metric you cannot compare against after migration. Be obsessive about documentation at this stage.

Pre-migration documentation checklist

• Export Google Search Console data: all queries, all pages, click/impression/position data for the past 16 months
• Export GA4 data: organic traffic by landing page, conversion data, and revenue for the past 12 months
• Complete a full site crawl capturing: all URLs, status codes, title tags, meta descriptions, H1s, canonicals, and internal links
• Export your complete backlink profile from Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz with referring domains and target URLs
• Document all existing 301 redirects, 302 redirects, and canonical tags currently in place
• Screenshot your top 20 ranking keyword positions in Google
• Export your XML sitemap and note the total number of URLs
• Document all structured data types currently implemented: Organization, LocalBusiness, Product, Article, FAQ, etc.
• List all third-party integrations that will need recreation: analytics, marketing tools, chat widgets, booking systems

Phase 2: Building the URL Redirect Map

The URL redirect map is the most critical document in any migration. It is a complete mapping of every old URL to its new Wix equivalent. Start with your site crawl export and your backlink target URLs. For each URL, determine the corresponding page on the new Wix site. If a page is being merged, consolidated, or removed, the redirect should point to the most relevant alternative page, never to the homepage unless there is genuinely no better option.

URL Redirect Map Template (CSV format):

old_url,new_url,redirect_type,priority,notes
/about-us/,/about,301,high,backlinks from 12 domains
/services/seo/,/services/seo,301,high,top 5 traffic page
/blog/seo-tips-2024/,/post/seo-tips-2024,301,medium,update content for 2026
/team/john-smith/,/about,301,low,team page consolidated into about
/old-service/,/services,301,low,service discontinued redirect to parent
/wp-login.php,not-redirected,n/a,none,WordPress system URL ignore
/xmlrpc.php,not-redirected,n/a,none,WordPress system URL ignore

Phase 3: Testing Redirects Before Going Live

Redirect testing protocol

• Import your redirect map into the Wix URL Redirect Manager on a staging or temporary domain
• Use a bulk redirect checker tool to test every redirect in your map simultaneously
• Verify that each redirect returns a 301 status code, not a 302 or a redirect chain
• Check for redirect loops where URL A redirects to URL B which redirects back to URL A
• Test redirects from both desktop and mobile browsers to ensure consistent behaviour
• Verify that redirects with query parameters and trailing slashes work correctly
• Have a second person independently test the top 50 highest-priority redirects

Phase 4: Sitemap Resubmission and Indexing

The moment your new Wix site goes live on your production domain, submit the new Wix-generated sitemap to Google Search Console. The Wix sitemap at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml will contain all your new URL structures. Additionally, submit the old sitemap URLs (if still accessible) so Google can discover the redirects when it attempts to crawl the old URLs. Use the URL Inspection tool to request indexing of your ten most important pages immediately.

In Google Search Console, monitor the Index Coverage report daily for the first two weeks. You will see old URLs moving from "Valid" to "Redirected" status, and new URLs moving from "Discovered" to "Crawled" to "Valid/Indexed". This progression is normal and healthy. If you see a spike in "Excluded" or "Error" pages, investigate immediately because this indicates redirects are not functioning correctly.

Phase 5: The 30-60-90 Day Monitoring Framework

• Days 1-7 (Critical Phase): Check GSC daily for crawl errors. Monitor 404 rates. Verify sitemap processing. Test all redirects for top 50 pages.
• Days 7-14 (Stabilisation): Track keyword position changes for top 50 terms. Compare daily organic sessions to baseline. Fix any remaining redirect gaps.
• Days 14-30 (First Benchmark): Generate a full comparison report of organic traffic vs pre-migration baseline. Expected variance is plus or minus 20%.
• Days 30-45 (Recovery Window): Rankings should begin returning to pre-migration levels. Investigate any keywords still down more than 15 positions.
• Days 45-60 (Normalisation): Organic traffic should be within 10% of the pre-migration baseline. Remaining gaps indicate specific issues to diagnose.
• Days 60-90 (Final Benchmark): Traffic should match or exceed pre-migration levels. Generate a comprehensive migration success report documenting all metrics.

Emergency Response: What to Do When Traffic Drops

Traffic drop diagnostic workflow

• Check Google Search Console for manual actions or security issues that coincide with the migration
• Verify that your robots.txt on Wix is not blocking Googlebot from critical pages
• Confirm that no pages have accidentally been set to noindex in Wix SEO settings
• Audit your top 20 pages: are title tags, meta descriptions, H1s, and content identical to pre-migration?
• Run a redirect audit: are all high-priority redirects still returning 301 status codes?
• Check for redirect chains or loops that may have been introduced during the migration
• Compare Core Web Vitals before and after migration to identify performance regressions
• If traffic drop exceeds 40% after 30 days, consider engaging an SEO specialist for a full audit

Complete How-To Guide

This step-by-step guide provides a universal, platform-agnostic process for migrating any website to Wix while preserving SEO. Follow these steps regardless of whether you are migrating from WordPress, Squarespace, Shopify, Joomla, Drupal, or any custom-built platform.

How to Execute a Complete SEO-Safe Migration to Wix From Any Platform

• Step 1: Crawl your existing site comprehensively using Screaming Frog or Sitebulb. Export every URL on the site along with its HTTP status code, title tag, meta description, H1 tag, canonical URL, word count, and internal link count. This crawl becomes your definitive source of truth for what currently exists on the old platform.
• Step 2: Export your complete SEO baseline data. Pull 16 months of Google Search Console data (queries, pages, clicks, impressions, average positions), 12 months of GA4 organic traffic by landing page, and your full backlink profile from Ahrefs or Semrush. Store these exports securely as they are irreplaceable once the old site is taken down.
• Step 3: Categorise every URL from your crawl into one of four groups: (A) migrate and redirect, for pages being recreated on Wix; (B) consolidate and redirect, for multiple old pages being merged into one Wix page; (C) retire and redirect, for pages being removed with a redirect to the most relevant alternative; (D) ignore, for system URLs, admin pages, and non-indexed utility pages that do not need redirects.
• Step 4: Build your master URL redirect map in a CSV spreadsheet with columns for old URL, new Wix URL, redirect type (301), priority (high/medium/low based on traffic and backlinks), and notes. Every URL in categories A, B, and C must have a defined redirect destination. Never redirect retired pages to the homepage unless there is genuinely no better alternative.
• Step 5: Identify and document all existing redirects on the old platform. Check .htaccess files, server config, CMS redirect plugins, and CDN-level redirects. These existing redirects must be flattened and carried over to Wix, pointing from the original source URL directly to the final Wix destination to avoid creating redirect chains.
• Step 6: Set up your complete Wix site on a staging or temporary domain. Recreate every page, post, and content piece, preserving the exact title tags, meta descriptions, H1 headings, body content, image alt text, and internal link structure from the old site. Do not use the migration as an opportunity to rewrite content. Make content changes after the 90-day recovery period.
• Step 7: Recreate all structured data on your Wix site. Document every schema type present on the old site (Organization, LocalBusiness, Product, Article, FAQ, BreadcrumbList, etc.) and implement the same types on the corresponding Wix pages using the Wix SEO panel or custom code. Validate every page with the Google Rich Results Test.
• Step 8: Import your redirect map into the Wix URL Redirect Manager. Use the CSV bulk upload for large redirect sets. After import, verify the total redirect count matches your map. Check for common formatting errors: missing leading slashes, accidental whitespace, and encoding issues with special characters in URLs.
• Step 9: Test every redirect systematically before switching your production domain. Use httpstatus.io or a similar bulk checker to verify that each redirect returns HTTP 301 and resolves to the correct destination. Check for redirect chains (more than one hop), redirect loops, and soft 404s (pages that return 200 but display error content).
• Step 10: Test your Wix site thoroughly on the staging domain. Verify every page loads correctly on desktop and mobile. Test all forms, interactive elements, and third-party integrations. Check that robots.txt is not blocking important pages. Confirm that your Wix sitemap at /sitemap.xml includes all pages that should be indexed.
• Step 11: Execute the domain switch during a low-traffic period (early morning or weekend). Update your DNS records to point to Wix. Monitor DNS propagation using a tool like whatsmydns.net. Keep the old platform running during the propagation window so users hitting cached DNS entries still see a working site.
• Step 12: Submit your new Wix sitemap to Google Search Console within one hour of the domain switch completing. Use the URL Inspection tool to request indexing of your top 10 most important pages. If you changed domains, use the Change of Address tool in GSC to notify Google of the move.
• Step 13: Execute the 30-60-90 day monitoring plan. Check GSC daily for the first 14 days (crawl errors, 404s, indexing issues), then weekly through day 90. Track keyword rankings daily for your top 50 terms. Compare organic traffic weekly against the same week in the prior year. Document every issue found and its resolution.
• Step 14: Generate formal migration success reports at the 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day marks. Compare total organic traffic, keyword positions, indexed page count, conversion rates, and crawl error counts against the pre-migration baseline. At the 90-day mark, organic traffic should be within 10% of the baseline for the migration to be considered successful.