A practical guide to moving a business website while protecting useful content, customer journeys and the ability to operate it.
Inventory before you rebuild
List every published URL, page purpose, image, download and form. Include pages that are not in the menu, historical articles, campaign landing pages and third-party embeds. Identify the person who owns each integration.
- Capture sitemap URLs and analytics landing pages
- Preserve original publication dates
- Record form fields and delivery destinations
- Identify booking, media, support and tracking integrations
Plan the destination
Give every old URL a deliberate outcome: keep it, redirect it to a matching page, or retire it for a documented reason. Match titles, canonical links, metadata and internal navigation to the final destinations. Avoid sending unrelated pages to the homepage.
Test the actual experience
Review the site on phones and desktop, with keyboard navigation and with scripts unavailable. Check inquiry delivery, downloads, maps, redirects, sitemap output and editor permissions. Verify both successful and failed form submissions.
Launch with a recovery path
Keep a recoverable copy of the previous site and DNS configuration. Agree the change window, owner approvals and rollback process. After launch, verify external HTTPS access and monitor real requests and contact delivery.
Useful next steps
Explore & prepare.
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