Key takeaways
- Most search traffic lost in a platform move comes from URLs that changed without a working permanent redirect.
- Build the URL inventory from four sources, the sitemap, analytics landing pages, Search Console top pages and backlinks, because each one finds pages the others miss.
- Redirect every old URL to its closest equivalent with a single 301, not to the homepage and not through a chain.
- Keep titles, meta descriptions, headings and body copy of your top pages the same at cutover; change one thing at a time so you can tell what moved rankings.
- Keep the staging or preview site out of the index and keep the old platform accessible until orders, redirects and rankings are reconciled.
- Some ranking movement during the first weeks after a move is common; judge the migration on four to eight weeks of data, not the first few days.
What actually loses search traffic in a move
Search traffic is usually lost in a platform move for three reasons: old URLs stop working, pages lose the content that ranked them, or the new site cannot be indexed properly. A new platform is not the problem by itself.
All three are preventable with a written URL inventory, a redirect map, a content freeze for top pages and a monitoring plan. This guide goes deeper than our URL mapping worksheet and pairs with the business side in the migration cutover plan.
Build a complete URL inventory
Collect every URL that has search value from four sources, then de-duplicate them into one sheet. No single source is complete: sitemaps miss old pages, analytics misses pages nobody visited recently and backlink tools find URLs your own site has forgotten.
- Download the current sitemap.xml and every child sitemap it lists.
- Export landing pages from your analytics for the last 12 months, sorted by sessions.
- Export top pages from Google Search Console’s Performance report for the last 12 to 16 months, with clicks and impressions.
- Export linked pages from Search Console’s Links report or a backlink tool; these URLs carry authority from other sites.
- Add policy pages, blog posts, image URLs used in emails and any URL printed on packaging or inserts.
- Mark the top 50 pages by clicks; they get manual checks at every step.
Know the URL patterns on each platform
Each platform has fixed URL patterns, and most redirect work is translating one pattern to another. Some paths cannot be changed on the old platform, which is why the redirect map matters.
Shopify
Shopify uses /products/handle for products, /collections/handle for categories, /pages/handle for static pages and /blogs/news/post-handle for articles, where news is the default blog name. Products can also be reached at /collections/handle/products/handle, which normally points back to /products/handle as the canonical version. Policies live under /policies/.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce defaults to /product/slug/ for products and /product-category/slug/ for categories, with trailing slashes. Many stores changed these bases in permalink settings, so read your real URLs rather than assuming defaults. Paginated listings use /page/2/, and filter or sort parameters can create many near-duplicate URLs you should not map one by one.
Build the 301 redirect map
Every old URL with search value needs one permanent (301) redirect to the closest new page, in a single hop. Keep the product handle wherever the new platform allows it; an unchanged path is the safest redirect of all.
Map patterns first, then handle exceptions. Test each row by requesting the old URL and checking the status code and the final page, not just that something loads.
| Old URL | New URL | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| /products/bpc-157-10mg | /products/bpc-157-10mg | None needed | Handle kept; verify page content matches |
| /collections/peptides/products/bpc-157-10mg | /products/bpc-157-10mg | 301 | Shopify collection path to canonical product |
| /product/bpc-157-10mg/ | /products/bpc-157-10mg | 301 | WooCommerce product base changed |
| /product-category/peptides/ | /collections/peptides | 301 | Category to collection |
| /product-category/peptides/page/2/ | /collections/peptides | 301 | Pagination to first page |
| /blogs/news/storing-lyophilized-samples | /resources/storing-lyophilized-samples | 301 | Keep article text and title |
| /products/discontinued-kit | /collections/kits | 301 | No equivalent; closest category, noted in sheet |
| /pages/coa | /documentation | 301 | Keep COA links working from old emails |
Keep the content that earned the rankings
At cutover, keep the title tags, meta descriptions, H1s and body copy of your top pages as close to the old versions as the new design allows. If you rewrite everything at once and rankings move, you cannot tell whether the cause was the redirects or the copy.
Improve content after the move has settled, one group of pages at a time.
- Copy titles and meta descriptions into the catalog sheet before export.
- Keep product descriptions, FAQs and specification tables on the page, not behind tabs that load later.
- Carry over image alt text and keep image file names descriptive.
- Re-check structured data for products: name, price, currency and availability must match the visible page. See product structured data review.
- Make every page’s canonical tag point to its own final URL on the new domain, not the old one.
- Keep staging and preview sites set to noindex and out of the sitemap, so they never compete with the live store.
Cutover and the weeks after
Split the work into a pre-cutover and a post-cutover checklist, and do not start the second until the first is complete. Keep the old platform accessible until orders, redirects and rankings are reconciled.
Pre-cutover checklist
Complete these before changing DNS.
- URL inventory complete and top 50 pages marked.
- Redirect map reviewed; no chains, no mass redirects to the homepage.
- Top-page titles, descriptions and copy carried over.
- New site crawled for broken internal links and missing titles.
- Preview confirmed noindex; live site confirmed indexable.
- Old sitemap, analytics and Search Console data exported and saved.
Post-cutover checklist
After the switch, verify quickly and then monitor on a schedule. Search engines need time to recrawl, and some ranking movement in the first weeks is common. Judge the migration on four to eight weeks of data, and investigate specific pages that keep falling rather than reacting to daily swings. No platform or process can guarantee rankings.
- Request the top 50 old URLs and confirm each returns one 301 to the right page.
- Submit the new sitemap.xml in Search Console.
- Inspect the homepage and top product URLs with URL Inspection.
- Check Search Console weekly for 404s, page indexing issues and redirect errors.
- Compare clicks and positions for the top pages against the pre-move export.
- Fix any 404 with search value by adding the missing redirect.
How Torva handles this
On Growth and Command, the refresh direction reads your current public site, including name, logo, products, policy text and photos, to build a preview, so you start from content you already have. Private data such as customers, order history, consent records and payment credentials needs an authorized export; a public scan cannot get it. See moving your store.
Torva product pages live at their own /products/ addresses, so plan on redirecting every old product, category and page URL rather than expecting paths to match. A published Torva store checks the merchant’s stored permanent redirects whenever a path does not match a page, and records paths that still miss so you can find the URLs your map forgot. Published stores also generate sitemap.xml, robots.txt, canonical URLs and product structured data, and private previews stay out of search indexing. Test every row of the redirect map after cutover, whoever configured it.
After you connect your domain and publish, connecting Google from the Desk lets you choose your Search Console site and submit the sitemap; submission needs Search Console write permission, which you grant separately. Nothing changes for your current store until you switch the domain: preview a store free first, no card needed, while the old site keeps running.
Frequently asked questions
Will I lose SEO when I move from Shopify to another platform?
You do not have to. The main risk is URLs that change without a permanent redirect, followed by lost page content and titles. If you inventory every indexed URL, redirect each one with a single 301 to its closest equivalent, keep the content of your top pages and resubmit the sitemap, most moves settle within weeks. Some fluctuation is common while search engines reprocess the site, and no one can guarantee rankings.
How long does it take for rankings to recover after a site migration?
Plan to monitor for four to eight weeks. Search engines need to recrawl old URLs, follow redirects and reprocess the new pages, and larger sites take longer. Short-term movement in the first weeks is common and is not by itself a sign of a mistake. A steady decline on specific pages after a month usually points to a missing redirect, changed content or an indexing problem you can find in Search Console.
Should I redirect old product URLs to the homepage?
No. Redirect each old URL to the page that best replaces it: the same product, the closest variant or the category it belonged to. Mass redirects to the homepage frustrate visitors and search engines tend to treat them like missing pages. If a product is genuinely gone with no equivalent, a clear 404 or 410 is more honest than a misleading redirect.
Do I need to keep my old Shopify or WooCommerce store after moving?
Keep access for at least a few weeks after cutover. You will need it to fulfil and refund orders placed before the switch, to export data you missed, to check old URLs against your redirect map and to compare page content if rankings move. Cancel only after orders, redirects and reporting are reconciled.
Preview your store on Torva OS — no card needed — or explore the Desk demo, the eight themes and the plans. Questions: hello@torvaos.com.
General information for merchants, not legal, tax or financial advice. Check the rules in your jurisdiction and with your providers.