Change your site without losing rankings
Boltly is an SEO migration agency that protects your search traffic when your website changes. Whether you are replatforming, redesigning, moving domains or restructuring URLs, we map every redirect, test the new build on staging, then watch launch day closely. The work is senior-led and there is no lock-in.
What is an SEO migration agency?
An SEO migration agency protects your search rankings while your website changes, whether that is a new platform, a redesign, a domain change or a switch to HTTPS. The job is to map old URLs to new ones, redirect them correctly, test everything on a staging copy before launch, then watch closely once the new site is live so any drop in traffic is caught and fixed fast.
A migration is any change that affects the addresses, content or structure search engines already know about. That covers more situations than people expect. Moving from one content management system to another counts. So does a fresh design that rewrites the page templates, a rebrand onto a new domain, merging two websites into one, or finally moving the whole site from HTTP to HTTPS. In every case Google has built up an understanding of your pages over months or years, and a careless change can throw a large part of that understanding away overnight.
The reason this matters is that search rankings are tied to specific URLs. Google remembers that a particular address answers a particular query, and it has measured how trustworthy that page is from the links pointing at it. When the address changes and nothing tells Google where the page went, that history is stranded. The new page may be better in every way a visitor would notice, yet it starts from scratch in the eyes of search. A migration agency exists to carry the old value forward instead of leaving it behind.
This is close cousins with our wider technical SEO work, because a migration is mostly a technical exercise done under a deadline. The difference is the stakes and the timing. A normal technical fix improves a site that is already stable. A migration changes a live, ranking site all at once, so the planning, the testing and the launch-day discipline matter far more than they would in everyday work.
// In short
- Redirect maps for every old URL.
- Staging crawl before anything goes live.
- Parity checks against the current site.
- Launch-day monitoring and quick fixes.
- No lock-in and plain reporting.
What does an SEO migration include?
Everything needed to move a site without dropping the traffic it already earns. We scope the exact work to the type of change you are making and the size of your site after a free consultation, so you are not paying for steps your migration does not need.
Redirect mapping with 301s
We list every URL on the current site and match it to its new address, then set a 301 redirect for each one so the ranking value moves across instead of ending in a 404.
Pre-launch staging crawl
Before the new site ships, we crawl the staging build to find broken links, missing pages, wrong canonicals and any tag that has quietly changed, so problems are caught while they are still cheap to fix.
Content and tag parity checks
We compare the old and new sites side by side: titles, headings, body copy, internal links and structured data. Anything that ranks today should still be present, not silently dropped in the redesign.
Launch-day monitoring
On cutover we test redirects in real time, watch crawl errors and traffic, and submit the new structure to Google. If something slips through, we see it in hours rather than weeks.
Traffic recovery
Already lost rankings in a past migration? We diagnose what was skipped, rebuild the redirect map and restore dropped pages and tags to bring the traffic back.
HTTPS and domain moves
Moving to a secure protocol or a new domain has its own pitfalls. We handle the certificate, redirect and Search Console steps so the change is read as a clean move, not a brand-new site.
Site merges and restructures
Combining two sites or reorganising your URL structure means consolidating signals carefully. We plan the new architecture and redirect logic so authority pools rather than scatters.
Documentation and handover
You get the redirect map, the staging checklist and a clear post-launch report, so your team and developers know exactly what changed and why.
Where migration traffic actually goes
When traffic falls after a site change, the design is rarely the culprit. The damage almost always traces back to a migration step that was skipped under deadline pressure. These are the three that hurt most, and all three are avoidable.
Missing or wrong redirects
URLs change in the rebuild but never get a 301, or they all point at the homepage. Old links and Google's index hit dead ends, and the ranking value those pages held simply evaporates.
Content quietly dropped
A redesign favours fewer words and slicker layouts, so the copy, headings and internal links that earned rankings get trimmed away. The page survives the move but no longer says what it used to.
Staging left open to Google
Staging is built quickly and often left crawlable. Google indexes the test site, sees duplicate pages, and the launch starts in a confused state with the wrong version competing against itself.
How does Google rank it after a move?
Google does not rank your new site instantly. It recrawls the changed URLs, follows your redirects, and decides whether each new page is the same page it used to know or a different one. If the redirect is clean and the content matches, the old ranking transfers. If the trail is broken, the new page has to earn its place from nothing. These four things decide which way it goes.
Redirect signals
301s tell Google a page moved permanently, so the old ranking history follows to the new URL.
Content match
The new page must cover the same intent and keywords, or Google treats it as a different page.
Crawl and index
A clean structure and a fresh sitemap help Google reprocess the new URLs quickly and fully.
Stable signals
Consistent canonicals, internal links and performance stop the move from looking like chaos.
What does the migration process look like?
A staged plan that runs alongside your build, peaks on launch day and continues until traffic has settled. Every step is documented and shared, so you and your developers always know what is happening and why.
Baseline and crawl
We crawl the current site, record its rankings, top pages and traffic from Google Search Console, and capture the full URL list as the reference point for everything that follows.
Redirect map
We match every old URL to its new home and write the 301 rules, flagging any page that has no equivalent so a decision gets made instead of a 404.
Staging crawl and parity
We crawl the staging build, check it against the live site for missing content and tags, and confirm staging is blocked from search so it cannot be indexed early.
Launch day
At cutover we verify the redirects fire, the staging block is lifted, the sitemap is updated and the new site is submitted to Google, all within the launch window.
Monitor and fix
For the following weeks we watch crawl errors, index coverage and rankings, then correct any redirect or page issue the moment it shows up.
Report and recover
Once the dust settles we report on how traffic held up against the baseline, and chase down anything that dipped so it comes back.
What does an SEO migration cost?
A migration is priced by the scope of the change rather than a flat fee, because moving a tidy fifty-page site is nothing like restructuring thousands of product URLs across two merged domains. The number tracks how many URLs are moving and how much is being rebuilt.
Our pricing page shows the indicative bands so you can place your project roughly before we talk. From there a short free consultation lets us look at your current site, the planned change and the launch date, and give you a fixed figure with no surprises later. Compared with the traffic a botched move can wipe out, careful migration work tends to pay for itself the first time it saves a launch.
See SEO packages & pricingTell us what you are changing and when you plan to launch, and we will scope the migration and a price for your site, with no obligation and no lock-in.
Get a quote Start with a free consultationNo setup fees. No lock-in. Cancel anytime.
How long does a migration take?
Most of the work happens before anyone sees it. Planning and the staging crawl run alongside the build for a few weeks, the cutover is a single day, and the real test is the month or so afterwards while Google reprocesses everything. A small brochure site settles quickly; a large or heavily restructured site needs longer for its crawl and rankings to find a stable footing again. The schedule below is the usual shape, not a fixed guarantee, since launch dates and site sizes vary.
Plan and stage
Baseline crawl, redirect map and staging checks while the new site is built.
Cutover
Redirects go live, the block lifts and the new structure is submitted to Google.
Close watch
Crawl errors and rankings monitored daily, with fixes shipped as issues appear.
Settle
Google finishes reprocessing and traffic stabilises against the baseline.
Where do you offer SEO migration?
Across Australia. Boltly is Melbourne based and runs migrations for businesses in every state, online and on-site as needed, so your location does not change how carefully your launch is handled. Choose your city below for local SEO migration detail.
SEO migration Sydney
Safe replatforms and redesigns for businesses in Sydney.
SEO migration Melbourne
Safe replatforms and redesigns for businesses in Melbourne.
SEO migration Brisbane
Safe replatforms and redesigns for businesses in Brisbane.
SEO migration Perth
Safe replatforms and redesigns for businesses in Perth.
SEO migration Adelaide
Safe replatforms and redesigns for businesses in Adelaide.
SEO migration Gold Coast
Safe replatforms and redesigns for businesses on the Gold Coast.
SEO migration, answered
Planning a redesign, replatform or domain change? A free consultation tells you exactly what your migration needs to protect.
Book a free consultationAn SEO migration agency protects your search rankings while your website changes, whether that is a new platform, a redesign, a domain change or a switch to HTTPS. The job is to map old URLs to new ones, redirect them correctly, test everything on a staging copy before launch, then watch closely once the new site is live so any drop in traffic is caught and fixed fast.
Most traffic losses after a redesign are not caused by the new design itself. They come from migration steps that were skipped: URLs that changed without redirects, pages quietly dropped, title tags and headings rewritten, or a staging site left open for Google to index. The new site looks fine to a visitor while half its ranking signals have been thrown away.
Redirect mapping is the spreadsheet that tells the new site where every old URL now lives. Each retired address gets a 301 redirect to its closest match on the new site, which passes the ranking value across. Without a complete map, old links and Google's index point at pages that no longer exist, you collect 404 errors, and the authority those pages built up is lost.
Yes. We crawl the staging build before launch and run a parity check against the current live site, comparing URLs, titles, headings, internal links, canonical tags and indexability. We confirm staging is blocked from Google so it cannot be indexed by mistake, then sign off the redirect map. Catching problems on staging is far cheaper than fixing them after rankings have already dropped.
Often, yes. We crawl the old and new sites, pull the lost pages from Google Search Console and historical data, then rebuild the redirect map for anything that was missed or pointed at the wrong page. Fixing broken redirects, restoring dropped content and repairing changed tags usually brings most of the traffic back, though the longer a drop sits the harder it can be.
Pricing depends on how big the site is and how much is changing, since moving a fifty-page brochure site is a different job from restructuring thousands of product URLs. You can see indicative ranges on our pricing page, and a free consultation gives you a firm figure for your specific migration before any work starts.
Planning and the staging crawl usually run alongside the build over a few weeks, the cutover happens on launch day, and we monitor closely for the following four to six weeks while Google reprocesses the new site. Smaller sites settle faster; large or heavily restructured sites take longer to fully recover their crawl and ranking patterns.
Yes. Boltly is Melbourne based and runs migrations for businesses across Australia, including Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and the Gold Coast. The work is delivered online and on-site as needed, so your location does not change how carefully your migration is handled.
Changing your site? Keep the rankings you earned.
Free consultation · No lock-in · Australia wide