Monitor first week post-migration for 404s, redirect errors, and indexing issues.
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Why this matters
Early detection of broken redirects, 404s, and indexing problems prevents long-term SEO damage following domain migration.
Hypothetical standard operating procedure
Adapt this example to your site, access, tools, and change process. It is our suggested procedure, informed by the sources below.
- Set up daily crawls to detect 404 errors and redirect chains on the new domain.
- Check Google Search Console coverage and indexing status reports every day.
- Compare new domain traffic and impressions daily against pre-migration baseline for sudden drops.
- Monitor server logs or hosting analytics for spikes in 404 errors from old URLs.
- Document and promptly resolve detected issues or rollback if critical errors appear.
Watch for
Delaying error monitoring can cause sustained traffic loss and slow recovery due to unnoticed issues.
Definition of done
Daily crawl and Search Console reports show no unexpected 404s, redirect chains, or coverage errors during week 1.
Sources & attribution
Original checklist wording and example SOP by Best SEO Checklist, using source-grounded AI assistance. Editorial contact: Ted Kubaitis, @tedkubaitis on Teams. Check current source guidance before implementation.