SEO website migration with Aemorph gives each page that earned your site rankings and links a matching page on the new platform, domain or design.
Aemorph maps the old URLs, specifies the redirects and checks the launch. Your developers or IT vendor build the site and put the redirects in place. The work runs on the LLM Influencer System, Aemorph's SEO, AEO and GEO programme. Synapxe moved its 4,000+ page site from a custom CMS to Sitecore on this plan. Monthly organic visits went from 6,372 in August 2023, its first full month after launch, to 21,953 in March 2024.
Seven-step migration plan · Strategic conversation free, 30 to 60 minutes · Aemorph responds within 24 hours
SEO Website Migration Keeps Your Rankings Attached to the Pages That Earned Them
Your rankings stay attached to your content through a site move when each old URL that earned links, rankings or visits redirects to its matching new page, and Google states that 301 and other permanent redirects cause no loss in PageRank.
SEO website migration is the search side of that move. It applies when your site changes its content management system, its domain, its URL structure or its templates, or merges several pages into one.
A hosting move that keeps the same URLs is a different job, which Google documents separately and your host handles. The design and build of the new site are a separate scope from this service: Aemorph works alongside the team building it and covers the search side.
| What Aemorph delivers | What it covers | Who acts on it | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old URL inventory | The URLs found in Search Console, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog and the XML sitemap, with duplicates removed | Aemorph builds it | Planning |
| Redirect map | One row per old URL: a redirect to its relevant replacement, or a rule for a group of URLs, where one exists; otherwise a 404 or 410 response at the retired URL, with an optional custom error template | Your developers or IT vendor implement it | Before launch |
| On-page specification | Information architecture, URL slugs, canonicals, titles, headings, alt text, meta descriptions, schema, breadcrumbs, the XML sitemap and robots.txt for key pages | Your developers build it into the templates | Before launch |
| Design review | On-page structure and heading tags in the proposed templates | Your designers and developers adjust the templates | During design |
| Launch and post-launch checks | Redirect tests, Search Console 404s, key-page uptime, Core Web Vitals, weekly Ahrefs crawls, analytics and Bing Webmaster Tools | Aemorph verifies; your developers fix what the checks find | Launch day and after |
What Google needs from the new build itself, from the phone layout its crawler reads to the speed targets it measures, is set out in Aemorph's guide to web design and development.
What is SEO migration?
SEO migration, also called site migration SEO, is the planning, redirect mapping and launch checking that keeps a website's search rankings and traffic when its URLs, platform, domain or design change.
It works from three lists: the URLs search engines know about, the URLs other sites link to and the URLs that bring in visits. Using one list alone risks missing URLs found only in the other lists.
Does a website migration affect SEO?
A website migration affects SEO for a while: Google states that rankings fluctuate while it recrawls and reindexes a moved site, and that a medium-sized site takes a few weeks or more before Google shows the new URLs in place of the old ones, with larger sites taking longer.
Google also states that redirecting many old URLs to one irrelevant page, such as the new homepage, confuses users and risks being treated as a soft 404.
Migration SEO Joins Your Project at the Brief, Before the First Wireframe
Bringing SEO in at the brief keeps URL, template and content decisions tied to the rankings your site holds while those decisions are still on paper, rather than in live templates and redirect rules.
Google advises changing one thing at a time during a move, for example moving to the new domain first and changing the layout afterwards. Aemorph applies the same rule to content and design: when the design changes, it keeps written content changes to a minimum, and when the content changes, it keeps design changes to a minimum, so search engines meet fewer changes at once.
| Change in your project | What it puts at risk | What Aemorph specifies | Google or Bing step |
|---|---|---|---|
| New content management system, for example WordPress to Magento | URL patterns, templates and on-page fields change together | Redirect map, template heading structure and canonical tags | New XML sitemap submitted in Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools |
| New domain, for example after a rebrand | Each URL on the site changes at once | One-to-one redirects from each old URL to its new page | Change of Address filed in Search Console for each verified variant of the old domain |
| New URL structure on the same domain | Old paths return 404 errors | Redirect map and updated internal links | No Change of Address, which Google reserves for domain and subdomain moves |
| Redesign that changes templates | Headings, internal links and content moved or dropped | Design review of heading tags and on-page structure | Robots.txt and noindex rules prepared for launch day |
| Several pages merged into one | The rankings of each merged page | A redirect from each merged URL to the consolidated page | Redirects to a consolidated page, which Google accepts |
Source: Google Search Central, November 2026
When does SEO join a website migration?
SEO joins a website migration at the brief, before wireframes and URL decisions, so the redirect map, the templates and the content plan start from your current rankings and links.
Aemorph's plan begins with the old URL inventory and reviews the proposed designs before your developers code the templates.
How does Aemorph plan SEO, AEO and GEO into a site move at the same time?
Aemorph plans SEO, AEO and GEO into a site move from one URL map and one set of approved facts, so the new site keeps its search rankings, its answers for Google's AI Overviews and the facts the AI chats repeat about your business.
SEO, search engine optimisation, earns your place in Google's and Bing's results: the redirect map and on-page specification keep those rankings attached to the right pages. AEO, answer engine optimisation, gets you quoted in Google AI Overviews: pages that answer buyer questions keep their question headings and bold answers on the new templates, and Google lists a page as a supporting link in AI Overviews only when it sits in Google's index and qualifies for a snippet. GEO, generative engine optimisation, gets you cited inside the AI chats: the facts about your business stay word for word the same across the move, and Aemorph specifies the structured data, code that labels your facts for search engines, for your developers to implement.
Aemorph's working model is that ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity repeat the facts they find stated consistently, so a move that changes or drops those facts puts their answers about you at risk. Aemorph's GEO service keeps those facts consistent in the AI chats once the new site is live.
Aemorph's Seven-Step SEO Migration Plan Starts From the Pages That Earned Your Traffic
Aemorph's seven-step plan builds your redirect map from the URLs search engines know, the URLs with inbound links and the URLs with rankings and sessions, so the map starts from the pages that earned your traffic, not from the new sitemap.
Each step works from your own URL, link and ranking data rather than from the platform, so the same plan applies whichever systems your site moves between.
| Step | What Aemorph does | Data it uses | Output for your team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Existing URLs | Gathers the old URLs and removes duplicates | Search Console, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog and the XML sitemap | Old URL inventory |
| 2. Inbound links | Lists the URLs that carry inbound links | Search Console, Ahrefs and Google Analytics | Linked URL list |
| 3. Rankings and sessions | Lists the URLs with rankings and sessions | Search Console, Ahrefs and Google Analytics | Traffic URL list |
| 4. Consolidate | Merges the three lists with the Search Console 404s, reviews the site section by section and URL by URL, decides what to remove, sets a redirect as a rule or a manual entry where a relevant replacement exists, and marks each retired URL with no replacement to return a 404 or 410, with an optional custom error template | The three lists and the Search Console 404 report | Redirect map |
| 5. Map and optimise | Researches keywords for key pages and services, leaving out dated news articles, and specifies information architecture, URL slugs, canonicals, titles, headings, alt text, meta descriptions, schema, breadcrumbs, the XML sitemap and robots.txt | Keyword research and the redirect map | On-page specification |
| 6. Review design and implementation | Reviews proposed designs for on-page structure and heading tags, then checks the 301 redirects your developers put in place against the map | Design files and the staging site | Design notes and redirect check |
| 7. Post-launch monitoring | Watches Search Console 404s, key-page uptime, Core Web Vitals in PageSpeed Insights, weekly Ahrefs crawls and analytics, plus crawl and index data in Bing Webmaster Tools | Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Ahrefs, PageSpeed Insights and analytics | Unexpected errors reviewed, redirects specified where a relevant replacement exists, and monitoring notes |
Source: Aemorph, 7 Steps Migration method, 2026
Aemorph maps every old URL and specifies the one-to-one redirects; your developers or IT vendor implement them, and Aemorph verifies each one. When your current site carries crawl or index faults, a technical SEO audit lists them before the redirect map is drawn, so your developers fix them on the new templates rather than copy them across.
What does Aemorph deliver, and what do your developers build?
Aemorph delivers the plan, the specifications and the checks; your developers or IT vendor build the new site and implement the redirects; your team approves the scope and signs off the launch.
Your team keeps control of the CMS, the server rules and the release schedule.
| Task | Aemorph | Your developers or IT vendor | Your team |
|---|---|---|---|
| URL inventory and redirect map | Builds and maintains it | Implements the redirect rules | Approves the pages to remove |
| On-page specification | Writes it for key pages and templates | Builds it into the templates | Approves title and copy changes |
| Design | Reviews proposed designs for heading structure and on-page SEO | Designs and codes the templates | Approves the design |
| Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and analytics | Reads the reports with the access you grant | Installs the analytics code on the new site | Owns the accounts |
| Launch | Tests the redirects and checks canonical, robots.txt and noindex settings | Turns the redirects on and removes staging blocks | Signs off go-live |
| After launch | Monitors 404s, uptime, Core Web Vitals and crawls, and specifies fixes | Implements the fixes | Approves priorities |
How do you migrate a website without losing SEO?
You migrate a website without losing the rankings it earned by mapping each old URL to its closest new page, redirecting with server-side 301s, keeping the content that ranked, testing the redirects at launch and watching 404 errors afterwards.
Google still expects rankings to fluctuate while it reprocesses a move, so the plan keeps the signals attached to the right pages rather than freezing positions on launch day.
Five Site Moves From 400 to 4,000+ Pages Show What the Seven Steps Produce
Five site moves from 400+ to 4,000+ pages ran through the seven steps: Synapxe, Remarkable Furniture, TWG Tea, ePropulsion and the Singapore Heart Foundation's MyHeart.org.sg.
Each started from the old URL inventory and ended with post-launch monitoring, with the client's developers implementing what Aemorph specified.
Case study · Healthtech, Singapore
A 4,000+ page move to Sitecore, followed by 245% organic growth.
The migration project ran from March to August 2023, and the new Synapxe.sg launched on Sitecore in July 2023. Aemorph planned the move with the seven steps, specified the redirects and on-page set-up, and verified the result after launch; Synapxe's developers implemented them. Monthly organic visits went from 6,372 in August 2023, the first month tracked after launch, to 21,953 in March 2024, up 245%. Read the Synapxe case study
| Site | Pages | Platform move | Period | Outcome with source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synapxe.sg | 4,000+ | Custom CMS to Sitecore | Launched Jul 2023 (project Mar to Aug 2023) | 6,372 monthly organic visits in Aug 2023, 21,953 in Mar 2024, up 245% (Ahrefs organic traffic, captured April 2024) |
| Remarkablefurniture.com.au | 2,000+ | WordPress to Magento | Oct 2019 to Mar 2020 | 3,883 monthly organic visits in Sep 2019, 12,172 in Oct 2020, up 213% (Ahrefs organic traffic chart, captured 30 October 2020) |
| TWGTea.com | 2,500+ | Magento to custom CMS | 2018 | Held between 25,014 and 31,903 monthly organic visits through 2018 (Ahrefs, all countries, September 2026) |
| ePropulsion.com | 400+ | Wix to WordPress | Feb to Apr 2021 | 1,749 monthly organic visits in Dec 2020, 7,429 in Apr 2021 (Ahrefs, all countries, September 2026) |
| MyHeart.org.sg (Singapore Heart Foundation) | 1,500+ | WordPress to WordPress | Sep 2021 to Mar 2022 | Key-phrase rankings maintained and both project goals achieved (client statement, LinkedIn recommendation, 2 Jan 2023) |
Organic search results, not AI citations. Synapxe.sg launched as a new domain, so August 2023, its first full month, is the baseline, and the result measures growth after launch, not a before-and-after comparison across the move. Each comparison covers two dates and does not isolate the migration from the work around it. Synapxe, TWG Tea, ePropulsion and the Singapore Heart Foundation are past clients. Source: Ahrefs, on the dates named in each row
“The move included a complete rebuild of our website ePropulsion.com and it was crucial that we didn't lose any rankings. Through the guidance of Kevin and his team, we were able to successfully move to a more flexible WordPress platform and our scores on Ahrefs also increased.”
Flora LuoePropulsion
“Kevin and his team at Aemorph were assigned to work on the SEO migration efforts of the MyHeart.org.sg website in early 2022. [...] I'm happy that we engaged Kevin and his expertise as the goals of both were successfully achieved.”
Kheng Leng ChngMedia and Comms Professional, MyHeart.org.sg
How long does an SEO site migration take?
The migrations above ran from March to August 2023 for 4,000+ pages, from October 2019 to March 2020 for 2,000+ pages, from September 2021 to March 2022 for 1,500+ pages and from February to April 2021 for 400+ pages, and your own timeline is set out in your quote.
After launch, Google treats a move as complete only once Googlebot has visited each URL on the old and new sites at least once, so Aemorph keeps monitoring until the new URLs show in Search Console in place of the old ones.
Site Moves Are Checked in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools
Aemorph checks a migrated site in Google Search Console and in Bing Webmaster Tools, each against its own index, so a fault that shows in one engine is not missed in the other.
Bing Webmaster Tools reports crawl errors and indexing for Bing's own index, so Aemorph reads Google's and Bing's figures separately.
| Check | In Google Search Console | In Bing Webmaster Tools | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| New XML sitemap | Submitted in the Sitemaps report | Submitted in the Sitemaps tool | Launch day |
| Indexing of old and new URLs | Page indexing report | Indexing data for the new site | From launch |
| 404 errors from old URLs | Not found pages in the page indexing report | Crawl errors | From launch |
| Domain change | Change of Address filed for each verified variant of the old domain | New domain verified and its sitemap submitted | Launch day |
Search engine market share and AI usage figures by country sit on the AI search statistics page.
Aemorph Checks the Staging Site, Redirects and Search Settings Before and After Go-Live
Aemorph checks the staging site, the redirects and the search settings before and after go-live, so buyers land on live pages and the new site opens to crawlers on launch day.
A staging site stays out of Google through noindex or password protection; a robots.txt rule alone does not keep a page out of Google's index. Google also advises preparing the launch robots.txt and the list of noindex rules to remove before the move starts, keeping redirect chains short and checking that the server handles the heavier crawling that follows a migration.
| Check | What goes wrong without it | What Aemorph verifies | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staging kept out of search | Test pages compete with live ones in Google | Noindex or password protection on the staging host | Throughout the build |
| Launch robots.txt and noindex list | The new site stays blocked after launch | Robots.txt rules and the noindex removals | Launch day |
| Redirect test | Old URLs return 404s or land on the homepage | Redirects tested against the map with Screaming Frog and the URL Inspection tool | Launch day |
| Redirect chains | Slower pages; Google advises keeping a chain to no more than 3 hops where a direct redirect is not possible | Each redirect pointing straight to its final URL | Launch day |
| Canonical tags | New pages point at old or wrong URLs | A self-referencing canonical on each new page | Launch day |
| Removed pages | Removed URLs treated as soft 404s | A 404 or 410 response, or a redirect to a relevant page | Launch day |
| Analytics and accounts | Gaps in your traffic reports | Analytics code on the new site; Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools access in your name | Before launch |
| Redirect lifespan | Signals cut off before Google transfers them | Redirects kept for at least one year, as Google advises | After launch |
Sources: Google Search Central, November 2026 and others
When a staging host has already reached the search results, Aemorph's guide to a staging site indexed by Google sets out how to take it out.
What happens if rankings drop after a website migration?
Google expects rankings to fluctuate while it recrawls a moved site, so a dip in the first weeks after launch is normal.
A sustained drop triggers checks of redirects, content, crawl access, indexing and server health, alongside other changes affecting search performance. Aemorph's post-launch monitoring reads the Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools 404 reports from launch day, reviews each unexpected error and specifies a redirect where a relevant replacement exists. For a site that has already moved without a plan, Aemorph's guide to migration redirect recovery sets out how an audit diagnoses where the move went wrong and which actions to take.
Your SEO Website Migration Is Scoped After a Free Strategic Conversation
Your SEO website migration is scoped after a free strategic conversation and set out in a quote, so the plan fits the move you are making.
- Book a free strategic conversation of 30 to 60 minutes, a presentation on a video call in your business hours that Aemorph recaps by email; it includes prompting the AI chats for your current brand answers.
- Scope the move: the platforms, domains, page count, launch date and the team building the new site.
- Plan the redirect map and on-page specification through the seven steps.
- Launch with your developers, while Aemorph checks the redirects and search settings.
- Monitor the new site in Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools after launch.
How much does SEO migration cost?
SEO website migration starts from S$7,500 for a website under 50 pages and from S$8,500 for 50 to 100 pages, plus S$3,000 for each further 100 pages up to 500 pages; sites over 500 pages are quoted as enterprise migrations, from S$25,000.
Each migration is quoted after the strategic conversation, and terms are set out in your quote.
| Site size | Starting price | Pricing basis | How to start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 50 pages | From S$7,500 | Starting price for a smaller website | Strategic conversation, then a quote |
| 50 to 100 pages | From S$8,500 | Starting price for the website | Strategic conversation, then a quote |
| 101 to 500 pages | Plus S$3,000 for each further 100 pages | From S$20,500 at 500 pages | Strategic conversation, then a quote |
| Over 500 pages | Quoted, from S$25,000 | Enterprise migration, quoted on the site's page count and scope | Strategic conversation, then a quote |
Starting points for Aemorph's audits, Sprints and monthly engagements are on the pricing page.
Want the most value for your budget and prefer to run the work in-house? Leveraged & Scalable, Aemorph's community, teaches your team to plan and execute SEO, AEO and GEO with AI tools, with the skills, tools and access Aemorph shares with members. Below about S$5M in revenue, Aemorph recommends the community and accepts a small number of businesses onto Awaken.
Who does the work on your SEO website migration?
Your SEO website migration runs with your own account manager and Aemorph's team: Kristine and Ryan, Senior SEO Specialists and Project Managers; Tent, Trinh, Wahyu and Minh, SEO Specialists; Michelle and Patrick, Content Specialists; Shiena, Web Project Manager; and Dom, Senior Web Developer.
Your account manager introduces the people assigned to your account at kick-off. Aemorph is headquartered in Singapore and serves each client in its own business hours; every message gets a reply within 24 hours.
Aemorph's SEO website migration is built for:
- High-ticket ecommerce stores changing platform, with repeating product and category templates.
- Professional services and financial services firms moving deep practice-area or product pages to a new CMS.
- Hospitals and healthcare providers whose pages carry regulated statements that need to survive the move, signed off by your nominated point of contact.
- Businesses moving to a new domainor merging several sites into one.
- Businesses at S$5M+ revenue that want the full LLM Influencer System around the move.
It is not built for a hosting-only move that keeps the same URLs, or for a platform that gives no edit access to redirects, titles, canonicals or structured data.
Plan Your Site Move With a Free Strategic Conversation
Book a free strategic conversation before your redesign or replatform is briefed, so your redirect map, templates and launch checks start from the rankings and links your site already holds.
Aemorph is headquartered in Singapore and serves each client in its own business hours.