Keeping redirects and search rankings when you move hosts or redesign

Every address your site has ever published is still in use somewhere: in search results, bookmarks, printed brochures and signage, emails from years ago, and links on other organizations' websites. A redesign, a new CMS, or a new domain can change hundreds of those addresses in one evening. Without redirects, each one becomes a "page not found" error, search rankings built over years start to slip, and the support inbox fills up. A redirect map, built before launch, prevents all of it.

When you need one

• A redesign that changes page addresses or section names
• A move to a new CMS, such as Drupal to WordPress or into Cascade
• A new domain or a merger of several sites into one
• A host move where the URL structure also changes

A host move that keeps every address exactly the same needs no new redirects, but the existing ones must come along; see the note on where redirects live below.

Build the redirect map

1. List the old URLs that matter. Export your most visited pages from analytics, the pages with search traffic or links from other sites from Google Search Console, and every URL in the current sitemap.
2. Add the URLs printed or shared offline: QR codes, brochures, forms, and signage. These are the easiest to forget and the hardest to reprint.
3. Match each old URL to its new home, one to one: the closest equivalent page, not the home page.
4. Decide what is retired. Pages that genuinely have no replacement can show a helpful "not found" page with search, rather than a misleading redirect.
5. Keep the map in a spreadsheet with two columns, old and new. It becomes the input for whoever configures the redirects.

Rules for good redirects

Where redirects live

Redirects can be set in several places, and moves lose them when nobody knows where they were:

• WordPress: a redirect plugin, the web server configuration, or, on WP Engine, the User Portal; see moving from WP Engine.
• Drupal: the Redirect module, often with Pathauto creating redirects automatically when titles change; on Pantheon, sometimes in settings.php.
• Cascade: published pages are static files, so redirects live in the web server or CDN configuration rather than in Cascade.
• CDN or edge: domain-level rules, such as sending every page on an old domain to the new one.

Changing domain?

If the domain itself changes, redirect every page on the old domain to its match on the new one, verify both domains in Google Search Console, and use its Change of Address tool. Keep the old domain registered and its redirects running for years, not months: renewal is cheap, and an old domain that lapses can be bought by someone else.

After launch

• Test a sample of old URLs from the map, including the offline ones
• Watch the "not found" report in Search Console and in your site's logs for the first weeks
• Expect some movement in search rankings for a few weeks while search engines catch up

Beyond your own site

Redirects catch old links, but the best fix is updating the links you control elsewhere: your Google Business Profile, social media profiles, email signatures, newsletter templates, and listings in directories. Tell partner organizations that link to your most important pages, such as a program, service, or application page, so they can update their links to the new address.

How eWay handles redirects

On sites eWay manages, every changed URL gets a managed redirect, and 404 errors are monitored after any content restructure or migration so missed addresses are caught and added. During host moves, eWay carries existing redirects across from wherever they were configured and tests a sample before cutover.

What to include in a support ticket

• The redirect map spreadsheet, or the URLs to redirect
• The launch date
• Whether the domain is changing

eWay customers can open a ticket in the support portal or email support@ewaycorp.com. Related reading: moving from Pantheon and managing DNS and pointing your domain.