Website Relaunch: Securing SEO and Rankings During the Move
The relaunch is the most expensive moment in a website’s life. If the redirect plan is missing or the staging environment sits open in the index, years of visibility are gone overnight. Before go-live, the module captures every old URL, plans the right redirect per URL and afterwards monitors 404 errors, indexing and rankings.
What the module does
Before go-live, the module crawls your old website completely. Every URL that ranks, carries backlinks or is internally linked gets captured – the data comes from the crawl, Google Search Console for traffic and Ahrefs for backlinks. Then comes the old-versus-new comparison: which old URL gets which target? Each one receives a decision with a rationale – 301 for permanently moved, 302 for temporary, 410 for permanently gone, or keep.
The module also checks whether the staging environment sits in the index. After go-live, it monitors 404 spikes, indexing losses and ranking drops. One limit I name clearly: whether two old pages should be merged into one new one is not decided by an algorithm. That’s a judgement call – it belongs in relaunch consulting or on your desk.
Why a relaunch costs rankings
In a relaunch, URLs almost always change: new structure, new CMS, new slugs. That’s exactly where the most expensive mistakes happen.
Missing redirects
Without a redirect, Google loses the connection between the old, established ranking URL and its new home. Visibility drops to zero.
Redirect chains
Chains across several stations arise unnoticed and dilute signal transfer instead of pointing straight at the final target.
Open staging environment
If the staging version sits indexable on the web, it competes as a duplicate with the real, new site.
Forgotten URLs with backlinks
In larger migrations, the URL inventory often runs into four digits. From memory, nobody names a fraction of it – and that’s exactly where the backlinks sit.
No monitoring afterwards
Without continuous monitoring, 404 spikes, indexing losses and ranking drops only get noticed once the damage is already done.
“In the plentymarkets-to-Shopify migration, the URL inventory ran into four digits. From memory, the owner would have named a fraction of it – the backlinks pointed to pages nobody thought about anymore. Exactly that gap devours the rankings after go-live.”
— Viktor Pásztor, SEO freelancerThe process in eight steps – always ending with your approval
Before-crawl
Complete inventory of the old website while it’s still fully crawlable.
Value per URL
GSC traffic, backlinks and internal links determine what’s at stake.
Comparing old against new
Every old URL gets assigned a concrete target on the new website.
Decision with rationale
301, 302, 410 or keep – documented traceably per URL.
No chains
Every redirect points straight at the final target, not across several stations.
Locking down staging
Noindex, password protection and clean canonicals prevent duplicate-content risks.
Monitoring after go-live
404 spikes, indexing and rankings in the weeks when it counts.
Approval
The redirect plan comes to you as a review sheet: old URL, recommendation, target, rationale. None of it goes live without your yes.
Four phases to a safe go-live
Four ways through the relaunch
| Criterion | Do it yourself | SEO pro (manual) | Agency | How I do it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| URL inventory before go-live | patchy, mostly from memory | complete, takes days | complete, with lead time | complete crawl, automated |
| Decision per URL | Gut feeling | cleanly justified | justified, depending on the team | data-based rationale, you approve |
| Redirect chains | arise unnoticed | checked manually | checked if commissioned | every URL straight to the final target |
| Monitoring after go-live | spot checks when there’s time | booked by the day | on the retainer’s monthly rhythm | continuous, with alerts on anomalies |
| Judgement calls and strategy | you carry alone | strong | strong | not included – that’s what the consulting is for |
| Costs | your time plus the risk | hourly rate, €100 with me | project budget by effort | €99–399 per month, depending on module scope, plus credit usage as consumed |
What the safeguard concretely delivers
You won’t get a ranking guarantee – anyone promising you one for a relaunch has never accompanied one. What the module delivers:
Complete inventory
instead of spot checks – including the forgotten pages with backlinks
Justified decisions
every redirect documented, readable even months later
No chains
and no blanket redirect to the homepage
Monitoring
in the critical weeks after go-live, not only in the next quarterly report
Questions about relaunch and migration
When is the best time to bring in the module?
As soon as it’s clear that URLs will change – ideally several weeks before go-live. Then the before-crawl runs against the old website while it’s still fully reachable. After go-live, the inventory can only be reconstructed from GSC and backlink data, and that remains patchwork.
My relaunch is already live and rankings are falling. Can the module still help?
Yes – as damage control, not as repair. The module reconstructs the old URLs from Search Console and backlink data, builds the redirect plan retroactively and stops the 404 losses. The faster the redirects are in place, the more can be preserved; there’s no guarantee the rankings will return.
What happens to old URLs without a new counterpart?
They get a justified decision instead of a blanket rule: 301 to the topically closest page if traffic or backlinks exist, 410 if the page is demonstrably worthless. Blindly redirecting everything to the homepage? Not something I do.
Does the module replace relaunch consulting?
No. Relaunch consulting from €2,500 covers strategy, coordination with developers and agencies, and the judgement calls – such as which content gets merged. The module handles the automated part: URL comparison, redirect plan, monitoring. In larger relaunches, the two interlock.
Back to the pillar
Relaunch & Migration is a module of MCP SEO, my system for automated SEO routine work. In day-to-day operation, the Redirects module maintains the inventory – individual deleted pages, 404 errors, chains. The relaunch is the same mechanism in a state of emergency: everything at once, under time pressure. The foundation beneath is checked by the Technical SEO module – indexing, robots.txt, canonicals.
What the modules cost and how that compares to manual support is listed on the SEO costspage.
Planning a relaunch?
The right time for this conversation is now – not three weeks after go-live. I reply within 24 hours on weekdays. And if your project needs more judgement than automation, I’ll tell you so in the first conversation.
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