SEO Checklist After WordPress Migration — 25 Essential Steps

Before touching anything, document your current SEO baseline comprehensively. This data is your safety net — without it, you can't measure whether migration helped or hurt your rankings. **Crawl Your Existing Site** Use Screaming Frog (free for up to 500 URLs) or Ahrefs Site Audit to create a complete inventory of every page, image, script, and resource on your current site. Export this as a spreadsheet. This becomes your URL map. **Record Current Rankings** Open Google Search Console → Performance. Export all queries, pages, clicks, impressions, CTR, and positions for the last 3 months. Save this data — it's your pre-migration benchmark. **Export Analytics Data** In Google Analytics 4, export key reports: traffic by source, top landing pages, conversion data, user behavior metrics. You'll compare post-migration data against these baselines. **Document All Meta Data** For every page, record: meta title, meta description, H1 tag, heading structure (H2s, H3s), internal links, canonical tags, and Open Graph tags. AI to Wordpress preserves most of this automatically, but verification is essential. **Identify Critical Pages** Your top 20 pages by traffic get special attention. These pages drive most of your organic traffic — any issues with these pages have outsized impact on overall performance. List them separately and check each one individually after migration.

URL management is the single most important SEO factor during migration. Get this wrong and rankings can tank overnight. **The Golden Rule: Preserve URLs** If your old site has `/about-us` and your WordPress site can have `/about-us`, no redirect is needed. AI to Wordpress preserves page names during conversion, making this the default behavior. **Setting WordPress Permalinks** Immediately after installing WordPress: Settings → Permalinks → select 'Post name' (/sample-post/). This creates clean, keyword-rich URLs. Never use the default (?p=123) structure. **Implementing 301 Redirects** For any URL that must change, implement a 301 (permanent) redirect. Options: • **Redirection Plugin** (free): User-friendly interface, redirect logging, 404 tracking • **.htaccess Rules**: Direct server-level redirects (fastest performance) • **Rank Math**: Built-in redirect manager with SEO integration Redirect rules format: Old URL → New URL (301 Permanent) **Critical Redirect Rules:** 1. Never use 302 (temporary) redirects for permanent moves 2. Avoid redirect chains (A → B → C). Always redirect directly to final URL 3. Test every redirect with httpstatus.io or Redirect Checker 4. Keep redirects active for at least 12 months 5. Include trailing slash consistency (redirect /page to /page/ or vice versa) **Common Redirect Mistakes:** • Redirecting everything to the homepage (destroys page-specific rankings) • Missing image URL redirects (broken images in Google Image Search) • Forgetting parameter URLs (?utm_source=... variations) • Not handling www vs non-www consistently

After migration, systematically verify every page against this checklist: **Title Tags (1-3)** 1. ✅ Every page has a unique meta title under 60 characters 2. ✅ Primary keyword appears naturally in each title 3. ✅ Brand name included (usually at the end: '| YourBrand') **Meta Descriptions (4-6)** 4. ✅ Every page has a unique meta description under 160 characters 5. ✅ Descriptions include a call-to-action or value proposition 6. ✅ Primary keyword appears in description naturally **Heading Structure (7-10)** 7. ✅ Exactly one H1 tag per page matching the page's primary topic 8. ✅ Logical heading hierarchy: H1 → H2 → H3 (no skipping levels) 9. ✅ H2 subheadings include secondary keywords where natural 10. ✅ No empty heading tags or headings used purely for styling **Images (11-14)** 11. ✅ All images have descriptive, keyword-rich alt text 12. ✅ Images are compressed and served in WebP where possible 13. ✅ Filenames are descriptive (blue-widget.jpg not IMG_4832.jpg) 14. ✅ Large images use responsive srcset attributes **Links (15-18)** 15. ✅ Internal links connect related content with descriptive anchor text 16. ✅ No broken links (test with Broken Link Checker plugin) 17. ✅ External links use rel='noopener' for security 18. ✅ Navigation is crawlable (no JavaScript-only menus) **Technical (19-25)** 19. ✅ Canonical tags point to preferred URL version 20. ✅ Open Graph and Twitter Card meta tags present 21. ✅ Schema markup (JSON-LD) for your content type 22. ✅ XML sitemap generated and submitted 23. ✅ Robots.txt allows crawling of important pages 24. ✅ SSL/HTTPS active on all pages 25. ✅ Core Web Vitals meet thresholds (LCP < 2.5s, FID < 100ms, CLS < 0.1)

With your WordPress site live, configure the technical SEO foundation: **Install Rank Math or Yoast SEO** Both are excellent. Rank Math offers more features in the free version. Complete the setup wizard — it configures sitemaps, schema, breadcrumbs, and basic meta tag templates automatically. **XML Sitemap Setup** 1. Verify your SEO plugin generates an XML sitemap (usually at /sitemap_index.xml) 2. Submit to Google Search Console: Sitemaps → Add new sitemap → enter URL 3. Submit to Bing Webmaster Tools as well 4. Verify the sitemap includes all important pages and excludes thin content **Google Search Console Configuration** 1. Add your domain as a property (DNS verification recommended) 2. Submit your XML sitemap 3. Use URL Inspection to request indexing of critical pages 4. Set your preferred domain version (www or non-www) 5. Check Coverage report daily for the first 2 weeks **Schema Markup Implementation** Add structured data for your content type: • Local Business: address, hours, reviews • Article: author, dates, headline • Product: price, availability, reviews • FAQ: question and answer pairs • Breadcrumb: navigation path Rank Math makes this point-and-click. Test with Google's Rich Results Test. **robots.txt Verification** Ensure your robots.txt (Settings → Reading → Search Engine Visibility) is not blocking important content. Common issues: accidentally blocking /wp-content/ (images) or /wp-includes/ (required resources).

Migration is the perfect time to strengthen your content architecture: **Internal Linking Structure** Build a hub-and-spoke model: cornerstone content pages (hubs) link to and from related supporting content (spokes). Every page should have at least 3 internal links. Use descriptive anchor text — 'WordPress speed optimization guide' instead of 'click here'. **Content Audit During Migration** Review all content for: • Outdated information (update statistics, dates, tool versions) • Thin pages under 300 words (expand or consolidate) • Duplicate content (merge similar pages, add canonical tags) • Missing internal links between related pages • Broken external links (remove or update) **Category and Tag Structure** If adding a blog, set up categories that mirror your keyword strategy. Each category should target a primary topic area. Tags should be specific, not redundant with categories. Avoid tag bloat — under 20 tags total. **Content Freshness Signals** Update the 'last modified' date when making substantial content changes. Install a 'Last Updated' plugin to display this date. Google uses freshness as a ranking signal, particularly for queries with time-sensitive intent.

The month after migration is when problems surface. Monitor aggressively: **Week 1: Daily Checks** • Google Search Console: Coverage report (new errors?) • Google Search Console: Performance (clicks dropping?) • Site speed: Run PageSpeed Insights on key pages • 404 errors: Check logs for broken URLs • Index status: Are new pages being indexed? **Week 2: Comparison Checks** • Compare traffic to pre-migration baseline • Check ranking positions for top 20 keywords • Verify all redirects are functioning • Test mobile experience on actual devices • Review Core Web Vitals in Search Console **Week 3-4: Optimization** • Address any ranking drops with content improvements • Fix remaining 404 errors • Optimize slow-loading pages • Add any missing schema markup • Begin content publishing on the new platform **Red Flags to Act On Immediately:** • Sudden traffic drop > 20%: Check for crawl errors, missing redirects, or accidental noindex • New 404 errors: Missing redirects — add them immediately • Deindexed pages: Verify canonical tags and robots.txt • Mobile usability issues: Fix immediately — Google uses mobile-first indexing After 30 days, run a complete SEO audit with Screaming Frog and compare against your pre-migration baseline. Most well-executed migrations show ranking stability or improvement by this point.