Question 1

Full crawl of the old site — export every indexable URL

Accepted Answer

Without the complete URL list you can't build the redirect map. Any forgotten URL = 404 = lost traffic.

Question 2

Google Search Console export: every page with impressions/clicks (16 months)

Accepted Answer

GSC shows which pages bring REAL traffic, including ones you forgot. Those are redirect priority #1.

Question 3

Traffic benchmark saved (GA4: sessions, conversions, top landing pages, 3–6 months)

Accepted Answer

Without a baseline you can't prove to the client whether the launch succeeded or lost traffic.

Question 4

Backlink profile export — the pages with the most backlinks

Accepted Answer

Pages with strong backlinks need a 1:1 redirect, not one to the homepage. Otherwise you lose authority.

Question 5

Full backup of the old site (files + DB) + access kept at least 6 months

Accepted Answer

Fast rollback if something goes wrong + a source for forgotten content.

Question 6

Keyword position inventory (rank tracking running PRE-launch)

Accepted Answer

If you start tracking after launch, you don't know your prior positions. You can't detect a drop.

Question 7

Complete 301 map: each old URL → its new equivalent (1:1, manually reviewed for top pages)

Accepted Answer

A 301 passes authority and sends users where they belong. Missing it = 404 = you lose rankings in days.

Question 8

Zero redirect chains or loops — verified with a crawler on the final map

Accepted Answer

Chains dilute authority and slow crawling; loops kill the page entirely.

Question 9

Redirects are 301 (permanent), NOT 302

Accepted Answer

302 = temporary → Google keeps the old URL indexed and doesn't pass signals.

Question 10

Smart fallback for unmapped URLs (to the parent category, NOT everything to the homepage)

Accepted Answer

Bulk redirects to the homepage are treated by Google as soft-404s.

Question 11

Staging test of the top 50–100 GSC URLs (status code + correct destination)

Accepted Answer

The map on paper ≠ the map implemented. You test before, not after.

Question 12

Correct canonicals on the new site (self-referencing, no canonical to old/staging URLs)

Accepted Answer

A canonical pointing to staging or the old domain = massive deindexing.

Question 13

Trailing slash / www / http→https consolidated (one canonical variant, the rest 301)

Accepted Answer

4 variants of the same URL = authority split four ways.

Question 14

GA4 installed and verified on the NEW site (staging + production) — Realtime confirms events

Accepted Answer

Without working GA4 from minute one, the first days after launch are a black hole exactly when you need data.

Question 15

All key conversions re-tested on the new site (each event fired manually and seen in DebugView)

Accepted Answer

Redesign = new CSS selectors, new IDs, new flows. Old GTM events die silently. Ads campaigns keep spending, optimizing on nothing.

Question 16

Google Ads conversion tracking verified (imported from GA4 or direct tag, tested)

Accepted Answer

Smart Bidding without conversion data = blind bidding = cost/conversion explodes in days.

Question 17

Consent Mode v2 implemented and verified (advertising_storage / analytics_storage correct)

Accepted Answer

Without Consent Mode v2, Google Ads loses measurement in the EEA. Mandatory, not optional.

Question 18

Enhanced Conversions enabled (hashed first-party data sent with conversions)

Accepted Answer

Recovers conversions lost to cookies and improves Smart Bidding on paid traffic.

Question 19

GTM container migrated and audited (old tags checked one by one; dead ones deleted)

Accepted Answer

The old container on the new site = tags that fire wrong or not at all.

Question 20

Meta Pixel + CAPI verified (Events Manager shows events from the new domain, dedup OK)

Accepted Answer

Without CAPI, iOS + adblock eat 20–40% of events; Meta campaigns optimize on fragments.

Question 21

GSC: new site property verified + sitemap submitted on launch day

Accepted Answer

GSC is the only place you see how Google perceives the migration (coverage, 404, indexing).

Question 22

UTMs in active campaigns updated (final links point to new URLs, not through a redirect)

Accepted Answer

A landing page through a redirect = latency + lost parameters + lower Quality Score.

Question 23

GA4 annotation + launch log (exact launch date/time documented)

Accepted Answer

Three months later nobody remembers when it launched. The annotation explains any break in the graphs.

Question 24

noindex REMOVED from production — checked on at least 10 template pages (view-source + crawler)

Accepted Answer

The most common launch disaster: the staging meta noindex goes live. Total deindexing.

Question 25

Correct production robots.txt (doesn't block /, isn't the staging one, references the sitemap)

Accepted Answer

A Disallow: / left over from staging = Google can't crawl anything.

Question 26

New XML sitemap generated, valid, only 200 URLs + submitted to GSC

Accepted Answer

A sitemap with old/404 URLs = mixed signals + wasted crawl budget.

Question 27

Titles & meta descriptions migrated/rewritten on top pages (not the theme default)

Accepted Answer

Titles are the strongest on-page signal; “Home – Site Name” on 50 pages = a CTR collapse.

Question 28

H1–H3 structure preserved/improved on the pages with traffic

Accepted Answer

Redesigns often sacrifice semantic hierarchy for aesthetics. Google reads the hierarchy, not the design.

Question 29

Schema markup migrated + validated (Organization, LocalBusiness, Product, FAQ — Rich Results Test)

Accepted Answer

Losing schema = losing rich results = lower CTR at the same positions.

Question 30

Internal linking audited (no internal links to old URLs that pass through a 301)

Accepted Answer

Internal links through a redirect dilute signals; fix them directly in the content.

Question 31

Correct hreflang (reciprocal pairs, valid codes)

Accepted Answer

Wrong hreflang = language versions cannibalize each other.

Question 32

GSC Change of Address from the old domain to the new one submitted

Accepted Answer

Without Change of Address, Google treats the new domain as an unknown site and the signal transfer lags for months.

Question 33

AI crawlers are NOT blocked (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended — a conscious decision)

Accepted Answer

Many themes/firewalls block AI bots by default. Blocked = invisible in AI answers.

Question 34

Content structured for AI citation (direct answers in the first 1–2 sentences, definitions, lists)

Accepted Answer

LLMs cite self-contained, extractable passages. “Artistic” content without direct answers isn't quotable.

Question 35

FAQ pages with FAQPage schema on the main services

Accepted Answer

The question–answer format is AEO's native format.

Question 36

Clear entity: who you are, what you do, where (complete Organization schema + sameAs)

Accepted Answer

AI cites entities it can identify without ambiguity.

Question 37

Functional cookie banner (blocks non-essential tags UNTIL consent, not just a decorative display)

Accepted Answer

A decorative banner = non-compliance + Consent Mode reports wrong.

Question 38

Privacy policy updated (legal entity + the real processors: GA4, Meta, hosting, CRM)

Accepted Answer

The old policy mentions tools no longer on the site and omits the new ones.

Question 39

Cookie policy updated (the real cookie list from the NEW site, scanned)

Accepted Answer

New site = new set of cookies.

Question 40

T&C / company data in the footer (name, VAT ID, trade register, address, consumer bodies for e-commerce)

Accepted Answer

RO legal obligations; frequently missing after a redesign.

Question 41

Valid SSL on all domain variants (apex + www, no mixed content)

Accepted Answer

Mixed content or a partial certificate = browser warning = instant bounce.

Question 42

DNS: TTL lowered 24–48h BEFORE launch (300s), propagation plan, then normal TTL

Accepted Answer

High TTL = hours/days of propagation where half the users see the old site, half the new one.

Question 43

Core Web Vitals green on the main templates (LCP < 2.5s, CLS < 0.1, INP < 200ms — mobile)

Accepted Answer

CWV is a ranking and conversion signal. “Beautiful” redesigns often ship a 5s LCP.

Question 44

Images optimized (next/image or equivalent: WebP/AVIF, lazy loading, correct sizes)

Accepted Answer

Images are the #1 cause of a poor LCP.

Question 45

Transactional emails working from the new domain (valid SPF/DKIM/DMARC)

Accepted Answer

Changing hosting often breaks SPF → forms “work” but emails land in spam. Silently lost leads.

Question 46

SPF/DKIM/DMARC re-issued and verified on the NEW domain + DMARC monitored

Accepted Answer

When the domain changes, email authentication restarts from scratch; without it, everything you send lands in spam.

Question 47

All forms tested end-to-end on production (real submission → email/CRM → confirmation)

Accepted Answer

The form is the conversion. A form that “looks fine” but doesn't send = zero leads, undetected for weeks.

Question 48

No placeholder content (zero lorem ipsum, “TODO”, template stock images)

Accepted Answer

Check with a full-site search. It destroys credibility instantly.

Question 49

OG tags + Twitter cards on the main pages (og:url to the correct domain)

Accepted Answer

Sharing on social with a staging URL/image = embarrassing + lost traffic.

Question 50

Correct contact data everywhere (phone, email, address, hours — header, footer, contact, schema)

Accepted Answer

Redesign = data copied from the template or old versions.

Question 51

Day 1: GSC Coverage + GA4 Realtime checked (indexing starts, events flow, no 404 spike)

Accepted Answer

The first 24h reveal 80% of the migration problems.

Question 52

Day 3–7: 404 report from GSC + logs, new redirects added for what slipped through

Accepted Answer

Google discovers URLs your crawl didn't find (old backlinks, bookmarks).

Question 53

Week 1–2: keyword positions compared with the pre-launch baseline

Accepted Answer

A 1–2 week fluctuation is normal; a sustained drop on top pages = immediate investigation.

Question 54

Week 2–4: organic traffic & conversions vs. benchmark (the before/after report for the client)

Accepted Answer

The business proof of the “Zero Loss” service. That's what you sell.

Question 55

301 redirects for ALL product & category URLs (not just content pages)

Accepted Answer

In a shop, 90% of traffic URLs are products/categories. Forgotten = mass 404s on the pages that sell.

Question 56

E-commerce events re-tested in GA4 DebugView (view_item, add_to_cart, begin_checkout, purchase with value + items)

Accepted Answer

Without them, Ads/Meta bid blind on ROAS and revenue reporting is zero. Redesign = new dataLayer.

Question 57

Product feed updated in Merchant Center (new URLs, zero disapproved products, price=site)

Accepted Answer

A feed with old URLs → Shopping sends to 404/redirect → disapprovals → campaigns stopped.

Question 58

Product + Offer (+ AggregateRating) schema validated (Rich Results Test)

Accepted Answer

Losing price/stock/rating rich snippets = lower CTR at the same positions.

Question 59

Enhanced Conversions / value-based tracking configured (real revenue sent, not flat conversions)

Accepted Answer

Value-based Smart Bidding needs value; without it, it optimizes on “number of orders”, not profit.

Question 60

Cart + checkout tested end-to-end on production (real test order → confirmed → email + event)

Accepted Answer

Checkout is the final conversion; a broken step = zero revenue, undetected until the client calls.

Question 61

Stock & prices synchronized (site = feed = ERP/CRM after migration)

Accepted Answer

Post-migration desync = orders at the wrong price / “phantom” products.

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