Website Migration Services for Tech Companies
Website migration services move your site to a new platform, domain or host without losing the search traffic the old pages earned. C4 Solutions maps every old URL, tests the new site before launch, then watches rankings.
What Website Migration Services Actually Cover
Website migration services cover the planning, redirects, testing and monitoring that protect a site’s search visibility while it changes platform, domain, URL structure or host. Google’s name for this is a site move. Change the design all you like. Just don’t let the addresses and signals the old pages earned disappear.
A migration is one job inside owning the site after launch, which is why it sits next to our website management services for tech companies. The how-to version is our website migration SEO checklist. This page is for owners who’d rather hand the move to someone and get it back working.
Say the old site has 300 pages earning search traffic and the redirect file covers 25. It happens. Fixing it before launch is cheap, but after launch you’re rebuilding traffic while sales wonders where the demo requests went.
Why Migrations Lose Traffic Without Anyone Noticing
No alarm goes off. The new site loads fine, the launch email goes out, and a few weeks later the page that used to bring in demo requests is just… quiet.
Google doesn’t hide this. Its guide to site moves with URL changes says to expect some ranking fluctuation, and a medium-sized site can need a few weeks or more before the new URLs replace the old ones. A wobble is normal. A slide nobody can explain is a bug.
Then comes the noindex trap. The guide says to keep the test site out of search and then to update those rules after launch, so a rushed launch can ship the live site still wearing the tag that tells search engines to stay away. Small fixes. Big downside if they’re missed.
What a Website Migration Engagement Covers
Not every move needs every row. Changing only the host while keeping the URLs asks for far less than changing the domain, so we agree which rows you need before work starts and drop the rest.
Our website migration SEO checklist lists the steps in order. Search Console Help adds that combining a move with a redesign of content and URL structure will probably cost some traffic, so plan the two as separate steps. The budget side is in our website redesign cost for tech companies guide, and the redirect mechanics are in Google’s page on redirects and Google Search.
| Component | What we do | What it fixes |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-move audit | Crawl the live site and rank pages by traffic, links and leads | Surprises on launch day |
| URL map | Match every old address to its new destination | Pages with nowhere to go |
| Redirect file | Write one-hop permanent redirects from the map and test them | Chains, loops and homepage dumps |
| On-page carryover | Compare titles, headings, canonicals and structured data, old against new | Lost metadata and mismatched schema |
| Test-site crawl | Crawl the hidden new site the way a search crawler would | Broken templates and blocked bots |
| Internal links | Point links at the new addresses instead of through redirects | Slow paths and wasted crawling |
| Search Console and analytics | Verify each property, submit the new sitemap, file a Change of Address when the domain changes | Blind spots after launch |
| Launch-day check | Test a sample of old URLs live and confirm noindex and robots rules are right | Test-site rules left on the live site |
| Monitoring | Track indexing, errors and traffic against the old baseline and keep the redirects in place | Slow leaks nobody sees |
is how long Google says to keep redirects in place, as a general rule, so it can transfer all signals to the new URLs.
is the minimum Search Console Help gives for keeping redirects after a Change of Address, longer if old URLs still get traffic.
or more is how long Google says a medium-sized site can take before new URLs replace the old ones in results.
Same guide as the first figure
change at a time. Google says a new domain, a new CMS and a new layout should go one after another.
Same guide as the first figure
Website Migration Services for Every Tech Segment
A reseller with thousands of product URLs breaks in different places than an MSP with forty service pages. So the plan fits the site. We size the work to the pages that actually earn traffic and leads, and we cut whatever doesn’t apply to your stack.
Four common situations. Four common weak spots.
MSPs and IT Services
Service and location pages, plus redirects stacked up from past redesigns, make the URL map the main job. Our technical SEO services pick up from there.
MSSPs and Cybersecurity Firms
Firewalls and bot rules on a new host can block search crawlers along with the bad traffic. Google says to confirm Googlebot can reach the new infrastructure, so we test it. Deciding which AI bots to allow? See should you block AI crawlers.
VARs and Telecom Providers
Big vendor and product catalogs mean thousands of URLs, and many of them aren’t worth keeping. The map decides which move, which merge and which retire. Pages that overlap on one search are worth sorting first, and our guide to keyword cannibalization shows how to tell a real overlap from two pages that answer different questions.
Acquired and Merged Companies
Two sites becoming one after a deal is a migration too. Search Console Help says to move merged sites one at a time and wait for traffic to settle before the next.
How C4 Runs a Website Migration
Map. Test. Launch. Monitor.
Map Every URL
We crawl the live site, pull the pages that earn traffic, links and leads, and match every old address to a new one. You get the map as a plain sheet your developer can use, not a deck.
Test Before Launch
The new site gets crawled while it’s still hidden. We check redirects, titles, canonicals, structured data and whether a crawler can reach it, then hand back a short list of fixes.
Launch and Redirect
Permanent redirects go live with the new site, and we check a sample of old URLs right away. Test-site rules come off. Sitemaps and Search Console get updated at the same time.
Monitor and Clean Up
Indexing, errors and traffic get compared with the old baseline, and the redirects stay in place well past launch. Fixes follow while the report is still fresh.
What to Have Ready Before the Move
Don’t tidy anything first. Gather what you have and treat whatever’s missing as a finding.
- Google Search Console and analytics access
- Your current sitemap and robots.txt addresses
- Every domain, subdomain and host involved in the move
- Your top 20 pages by traffic and by leads
- Who controls DNS and the domain registrar
- Access to the test site, or the date it will exist
- The launch date and who is building the new site
- A list of past redirects and redesigns
- Any content or URL changes planned for the same project
Missing pieces are normal. A gap in this list is a finding, not a reason to wait.
Migration Only, or Migration Plus Ongoing Care
Some owners want the map, the redirect spec and the launch check, then they’re done. Others want C4 to keep watching after launch, which is where our website management services for tech companies come in. Either works, as long as somebody owns the old-URL list until the move settles.
If the site has deeper crawl or speed trouble, our technical SEO services page covers that layer, and our guide to website architecture and SEO shows how URL structure ties back to your service lines. After launch, our on-page SEO services tune the titles, headings and links on the new pages that matter. If traffic already fell after a launch, our Google penalty recovery page explains how to tell a penalty from a bad redirect. The organic traffic drop checklist walks through the other causes. When the site runs on WordPress, our WordPress SEO services check the permalink, redirect and plugin settings the new setup depends on.
Already Have a Developer, Designer or Host?
Good. Who builds and who handles the search side gets settled on a call before any work starts, so nobody is guessing who touches DNS or the redirect file. Your team keeps ownership of the code.
Right Fit for C4 Website Migration
- A tech company with up to $50M in revenue whose site brings in calls and leads
- A move to a new platform, domain or host, or a merge of two company sites
- Leadership that wants the traffic risk named and owned before launch
- Someone who can approve changes to DNS, redirects and the new site
- A brand-new site with no search traffic to protect yet
- You want rankings or traffic held in writing
- You only need files copied between servers, with no search traffic at stake
- You want a full redesign in the same move, see our website redesign cost guide
Questions Tech Leaders Ask About Website Migration Services
What are website migration services?
Website migration services plan and carry out a site move so the search visibility the old pages earned survives it. That covers the URL map, redirects, test-site checks, launch checks and monitoring, whether the change is a platform, a domain, URL paths or a host.
Will a website migration hurt our rankings?
Some movement is normal. Google says to expect temporary ranking fluctuation during a site move. A tested URL map and clean redirects keep it small, but nobody honest can promise zero change, and we won’t. The site moves guide explains what to expect.
How long does a website migration take?
It depends on the size of the site and what’s changing, so there’s no honest single number. Planning and testing take longer than the switch itself. After launch, Google says a medium-sized site can need a few weeks or more before the new URLs show in results.
How much do website migration services cost?
There’s no rate card on this page. Page count, whether the domain changes, how many redirects the map needs and whether you want monitoring afterward all move the price. Book a session and we’ll scope it against what the crawl turns up.
Do we need the Change of Address tool in Search Console?
Only when you move from one domain or subdomain to another. For path changes inside one domain, Search Console Help says to add redirects and update your sitemaps. Google also says the tool isn’t needed for an HTTP to HTTPS move.
How long should redirects stay in place after a migration?
At least a year, as a general rule. Google says to keep redirects as long as possible, generally for at least a year, so it can transfer all signals to the new URLs. Search Console Help sets 180 days as the floor after a Change of Address, and longer if old URLs still get traffic.
Can we redesign the site and migrate it at the same time?
Better to do them one after another. Google advises changing one thing at a time, and Search Console Help says combining a move with a redesign of content and URL structure will probably cost some traffic. See our website redesign cost for tech companies guide for the budget side.
Move the Site Without Losing What It Earned
You get a URL map, a tested redirect plan and a launch-day check built around your actual site, and you leave knowing who owns each step.