Website migration with nothing lost.

What counts as a website migration

Several different jobs hide behind the word migration, and they share one thing: the site changes its home, and the business must not feel the change. The most common is a move from one hosting provider to another, when the server is slow, support never replies or the bill keeps growing for no reason; the files, database, SSL certificate and email accounts move over, and the page addresses stay the same. The second is a domain change, when a company renames itself or finally gets the domain it always wanted, so every page of the old domain must lead to its counterpart on the new one. The third is a platform change: a site on Wix, Squarespace or a legacy CMS that nobody can edit any more moves to WordPress or to a custom-built system. The fourth is merging two sites into one, after a company merger or a clean-up of a brand that has branched out over the years.

Just as important is what a migration is not. It is not a redesign: a move transfers the site as it is, and if you also want a new look, that is a separate redesign project. Nor is it a magic speed boost: a better server shortens response times, but heavy images and piled-up plugins move along with the site, so for a slow site the smarter first step is sometimes speed optimization, with no move at all. And if the review shows you do not actually need a migration, we will say exactly that, because the review costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Google rankings are kept with a map, not with hope

Google does not remember your site as a whole, it remembers each address separately. Years of ranking stand behind concrete addresses: the service page that shows up on the first page of results, the blog post that brings visitors, the address other websites link to. If those addresses lead nowhere after the move, Google drops them from the results, and visitors get an error page instead of your site. That damage does not show on the day of the move, it shows in the traffic report a month later, when it is too late.

That is why our migrations start with an inventory, not with copying:

• An inventory of every address: from the site itself, from Search Console and from analytics, including the addresses other sites link to.
• A snapshot of rankings for the phrases that bring visits, so after the move there is a benchmark, not an impression.
• An old-to-new map: every old address gets a permanent redirect (301) to the matching new page. Page to page, because redirecting everything to the homepage is treated by Google almost the same as if the pages no longer existed.
• Preserved structure: wherever the new platform allows it, addresses stay the same, because an address that never changed is the only one that needs no redirect at all.
• Titles and descriptions carried over, so Google finds a familiar place at the new location, not a brand-new site.

After the switchover the redirects are checked one by one, 404 errors are tracked in the logs and in Search Console, and the ranking measurement is repeated a few weeks later. A short wobble while Google re-crawls the site is normal and settles on its own; a lasting drop means a hole in the map, and that is exactly why the map is built before the move, not after the complaint.

Email and content are inventoried before the old server goes dark

The most expensive mistake in a hosting move is not about the website, it is about email. Mailboxes usually live on the same server as the site, so cancelling the old hosting deletes them too: the address printed on your business cards, three years of correspondence with customers, attachments that exist nowhere else. That damage is not noticed immediately, it is noticed when the first quotation never arrives.

That is why email gets its own schedule. First every account, forwarder and autoresponder is listed. Then the correspondence is copied to the new server, account by account, and only then are the records switched that point mail to the new location. The settings that keep your mail out of other people's spam folders are set up again, because a new server does not inherit them by itself. If you prefer, we separate email from the site's hosting entirely, so your next website move never touches your mail again.

The same inventory applies to content: the database, images and documents, inquiries submitted through forms, orders if the site sells. Before the old server is switched off, the state of the new one is compared against the inventory, and a complete copy of the old site is kept even after the move, because the question "where is that document from the old site" always comes up when you least expect it. And one rule we never skip: after the migration the domain, the hosting and every account are registered to you, not to us and not to the previous vendor.

Staging first, then the switch: the old site runs until the last minute

A site is not moved by switching it off and starting the transfer. The new home is prepared on the side, on a staging address that visitors cannot see and that is closed to search engines, so the site never appears in two copies, not even for an hour. On that address everything that must work afterwards is verified: every page, every form, the SSL certificate, the redirects from the map, the way it renders on a phone.

The switchover itself is then a moment, not a period. A day earlier, the time for which the network remembers the old server address is shortened, so the change reaches visitors in minutes instead of hours. The switch is scheduled for the quietest traffic hours, and the old server stays on for days afterwards: even a visitor caught mid-change gets a working site, just still from the old address. That is exactly how we launched the second version of the site you are reading right now: it was built on the side while the first one ran normally, replaced in a single moment, and a copy of the first version still sits on the server today.

The first week after the switch is part of the job, not an epilogue: 404 errors, form messages and Search Console reports are monitored, because a hole in the map is easiest to catch while it is fresh. If you want someone to keep an eye on the site after that, updates and backups are covered by website maintenance, as a separate service.

From Wix, Squarespace and legacy CMS platforms to a site you own

People leave rented platforms for the same reasons everywhere: a subscription that runs for as long as the site exists, design and SEO limited to what the platform allows, and the discovery that arrives only on the way out, that the site cannot be taken off the platform. With legacy CMS setups the reason is different: a system that has not been updated in years and that nobody in the company knows how to edit any more. In both cases, moving to WordPress or to a custom-built system means the site finally becomes yours: the files, the database, and the freedom to have anyone maintain it, not just one tool.

It is only fair to say what transfers and what does not. Texts, photographs, blog posts, catalogues and everything else that is content transfers. Design never transfers: it is rebuilt on the new platform. Addresses change almost always, because platforms impose their own structures, so a blog post on Wix lives at an address WordPress would never create on its own. That is exactly why, in a platform migration, the redirect map is the most important line of the job, not an add-on at the end.

And you do not have to imagine the destination. We choose WordPress when you edit content yourself and the budget is limited, and a custom system when the site needs to do more than present. You can try our system live on the Demo E-Commerce CMS, a store with a catalogue, cart and admin panel that we built precisely so nobody has to take our word for it; the same foundation powers the online store of footwear manufacturer Planika, a company with a network of more than 30 retail stores.

Merging two sites, and what a migration costs

A merger is the most delicate migration, because one site is shut down on purpose. The first question is which domain stays, and the answer is not always the prettier or newer one: the domain with the longer history, more inbound links and better rankings survives, because that inheritance cannot be transferred by decision. Both sites are then inventoried, and every page of the site being retired gets a destination on the site that remains: where content overlaps, the better version wins, and where it has no counterpart, the page is carried over. The retired domain is not literally switched off either: it is renewed years in advance and keeps serving redirects, because links across other people's sites and customers' habits do not disappear on the same day the site does.

These four scenarios also show why migration has no price-list figure: moving the hosting of a ten-page site and merging two sites with an online store are not the same job in either scope or risk. The price depends on the scope: on the number of pages and email accounts, on whether the platform changes and on whether orders run through the site. That is why the first step is a free review: send your website address through the contact form, tell us where it is moving, and we return a migration plan with a price and a deadline within 24 hours, with no obligation. If the migration turns out to be growing into a new website, indicative prices per site type are on the pricing page, so you make the decision with both figures on the table.