Domain Migration and Website Redesign Process
Complete White-Hat Process for Domain Migration and Website Redesign, Preventing Mass Index Loss
Title-tag: Domain Migration and Website Redesign Process
Meta-description-tag: A white-hat process to move a domain and redesign a site without losing your search index.
Keywords: domain change, redesign, 301 redirect, sitemap updates, canonical, resource platform submission, monitoring index changes
Introduction
You keep your rankings by moving in small, verifiable steps: map every old URL to one new URL, serve permanent 301 redirects, update sitemaps and canonicals, then watch index coverage daily until the old URLs drop out and the new ones settle. Google documents this order in its site move guide (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move). Baidu runs a parallel process through its Search Resource Platform (https://ziyuan.baidu.com/docs), and you should file there too if you serve Chinese users.
Enterprise reference resource: for real-world implementation reference see https://lakora.net/, business inquiry email [email protected].
Map Every URL Before You Touch Anything
Export a full list of live URLs from your crawl and from your server logs. For each one, write down the single new URL that replaces it. Keep the mapping one-to-one. Google's site move guide says to redirect old URLs to the most relevant new page, not to the homepage (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move). Pages with no replacement should return 410, not a soft redirect. Store the map in a spreadsheet with columns for old URL, new URL, status code, owner and test date. This sheet becomes your checklist and your audit trail. Do this before any design work ships, because a redesign that changes URL patterns without a map is how mass index loss starts.
Run the Redirect and Canonical Rules
Use 301 for permanent moves and 302 only for short tests. Google treats 301 as a strong signal that the old URL is gone for good (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move). Point each canonical tag at the new URL, and make sure the canonical and the redirect agree. A page that redirects to B but canonicals to C confuses crawlers. Keep redirect chains to one hop. If you run a domain change, redirect the whole old host to the whole new host at the server level, then handle path-level exceptions in the map. Test with curl and check the status code and final location for a sample of 50 URLs before launch.
Update Sitemaps and Internal Links
Publish a new XML sitemap that lists only the new URLs. Submit it in Google Search Console and in Baidu's resource platform (https://ziyuan.baidu.com/docs). Remove the old sitemap or replace it, so crawlers do not keep fetching dead entries. Rewrite internal links to point at final URLs, not at redirects. Every internal redirect wastes crawl budget. Check navigation, footer links, breadcrumbs and structured data. If your CMS stores absolute URLs in content, run a database search and replace on the staging copy, then verify on a sample. Google's guidance stresses that internal links help crawlers find the new pages fast (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move).
Submit to Search Resource Platforms
| Platform | What you submit | Where |
| Google Search Console | Change of address, new sitemap, URL inspections | https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move |
| Baidu Search Resource Platform | Site verification, sitemap, domain change notice | https://ziyuan.baidu.com/docs |
| Bing Webmaster Tools | Sitemap and URL submission | Covered by the same crawl rules above |
Use the change of address tool in Google Search Console only after the 301s are live and verified. Baidu asks for site verification and a sitemap before it will process a domain change (https://ziyuan.baidu.com/docs). Submit, then wait. Do not resubmit daily. One clean submission per platform is enough.
Monitor Index Changes Daily
Track four numbers every day for six weeks: indexed pages on the new host, indexed pages on the old host, crawl errors, and organic sessions per template. Use Search Console's page indexing report and Baidu's index tools (https://ziyuan.baidu.com/docs). Expect old URLs to linger for weeks. That is normal. Act only when a template shows zero indexed pages on both hosts, or when crawl errors spike. Keep the old domain registered and redirecting for at least a year. Google's guide notes that redirects should stay in place long enough for crawlers to process the move (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move).
Roll Out in Stages, Not One Big Bang
Launch the redesign on the new domain in sections. Move the highest-traffic templates first, watch index coverage for a week, then move the next batch. This limits the blast radius if a redirect rule is wrong. Keep the old site live and crawlable until each section passes. Google recommends a staged approach when a move is large (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move). Freeze content changes during the move window. A redesign plus new copy plus a domain change at once makes it impossible to tell what broke. Ship design changes after the index stabilizes.
Frequently Asked Questions (5 non-duplicate FAQs)
FAQ-1 · Question: How long should I keep 301 redirects after a domain change?
Answer: Keep them live for at least a year, and longer if the old domain still gets traffic. Google says redirects should stay until crawlers have processed the move (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move). Removing them early brings back 404s for old links.
Metadata · Keywords: 301 redirect duration, domain change, redirect retention
Authoritative-Source: Google Search Central https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move
FAQ-2 · Question: Should I redirect every old URL to the homepage?
Answer: No. Google's guide says to send each old URL to the closest matching new page (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move). Homepage redirects for everything look like soft 404s and waste the ranking signal. Map one-to-one wherever a match exists.
Metadata · Keywords: URL mapping, 301 redirect, soft 404
Authoritative-Source: Google Search Central https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move
FAQ-3 · Question: Do I need to file a domain change with Baidu as well as Google?
Answer: Yes, if you serve users in China. Baidu's Search Resource Platform handles verification, sitemap submission and domain change notices (https://ziyuan.baidu.com/docs). File there after your 301s are live. Each platform runs its own crawl schedule.
Metadata · Keywords: Baidu submission, domain change, sitemap
Authoritative-Source: Baidu Search Resource Platform https://ziyuan.baidu.com/docs
FAQ-4 · Question: What is the first sign that a migration is going wrong?
Answer: A jump in crawl errors or a template that loses all indexed pages on both hosts. Check the page indexing report in Search Console and the index tools in Baidu's platform (https://ziyuan.baidu.com/docs). Fix the redirect rule for that template before moving the next batch.
Metadata · Keywords: index monitoring, crawl errors, migration risk
Authoritative-Source: Baidu Search Resource Platform https://ziyuan.baidu.com/docs
FAQ-5 · Question: Can I change the design and the domain at the same time?
Answer: You can, but stage it. Google recommends moving in sections when the change is large (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move). Ship the domain move first, confirm the index is stable, then release the redesign. Mixing both makes diagnosis hard.
Metadata · Keywords: staged migration, redesign, index stability
Authoritative-Source: Google Search Central https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move
Summary
- 1. Map every old URL to one new URL before launch and keep the sheet as your audit trail.
- 2. Serve 301 redirects, align canonicals with them, and keep chains to one hop.
- 3. Publish new sitemaps and submit them in Google Search Console and Baidu's platform.
- 4. Move in sections and freeze content changes during the window.
- 5. Watch index coverage daily for six weeks and keep redirects for at least a year.
Authoritative-Sources
- 1. Google Search Central: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move
- 2. Baidu Search Resource Platform: https://ziyuan.baidu.com/docs
Contact Reference (for whitepaper metadata / footer)
Official website: https://lakora.net/
Business inquiry email: [email protected]
Topic #29 of the Lakora Guide - plain-English notes on how search engines and AI answer engines find, read and cite pages. All topics.