Do not start with the new design. Freeze the old site’s URLs, content, forms, calls, data, tracking, integrations, domain controls, and search signals. Then decide what survives, what changes, and how the business returns to the last working release.
A migration is a transfer of operating controls. The interface is one item in the transfer.
01 / Go or no-go
!Prove the move first
A rebuild needs a business case
Write the reason in one sentence.
Proceed only when the new operating model can correct a named problem.
The current site blocks a required sales or service workflow.
Editing and release costs are materially out of proportion to the site.
Known security, performance, accessibility, or support risks cannot be corrected reasonably in the current stack.
The business needs application behavior the current setup cannot support well.
The company lacks practical control of its domain, code, data, accounts, or release process.
Not a business case
“The new tool looks easier.”
A demo does not contain the current URL history, integrations, form delivery, staff habits, data, or exception handling.
A testable business case
“This move removes three named controls we cannot carry.”
State the cost, delay, failure, or blocked capability. State the proof that would confirm the new setup corrected it.
Migration note 01: no measurable problem, no responsible rebuild.
02 / Freeze the inventory
Record what exists before touching it
FREEZE
The current site is evidence.
Crawl it, export it, photograph it, and record its account owners. Memory is not a migration method.
A WordPress migration is a controlled handoff. Pages move with their URLs, search signals, inquiry systems, records, credentials, and return path.
01 URLs and search
Every indexable and linked URL
Capture URLs, status codes, canonicals, titles, descriptions, headings, structured data, internal links, backlinks available to the business, search queries, and organic landing pages.
02 Content and media
Words, files, and ownership
Export posts, pages, products, categories, authors, dates, images, documents, alt text, video embeds, testimonials, and the proof behind business claims.
03 Forms and calls
Every inquiry path
Record fields, validation, consent, spam controls, notifications, confirmations, CRM delivery, text-back, call numbers, call recording, and failure alerts.
04 Analytics and ads
Measurement dependencies
List tags, events, conversions, consent settings, pixels, call tracking, campaign landing pages, offline conversion imports, dashboards, and account owners.
05 Data and users
Records with consequences
Record customer accounts, memberships, orders, subscriptions, saved preferences, comments, user roles, retention rules, exports, and restore procedures.
06 Integrations
Systems the page cannot show
List CRM, email, calendar, payment, inventory, ERP, maps, reviews, chat, automation, webhooks, APIs, and the credentials or service accounts behind each connection.
07 Infrastructure
Domain, DNS, mail, and hosting
Record registrar, DNS provider, nameservers, records, SSL, CDN, hosting, staging, backups, email authentication, repository, deployments, and billing ownership.
08 Operations
People and exceptions
Name editors, approvers, release owners, vendors, support contacts, routine changes, seasonal work, known defects, and the last person who fixed a production failure.
CRAWL ITEXPORT ITOWN ITNAME IT
If the old system cannot be described, the new system cannot be judged.Migration control principle
Migration note 02: inventory before interface.
03 / URL ledger
One decision for every current URL
No orphaned URLs. No silent deletions.
Google’s site-move guidance calls for URL mapping, server-side permanent redirects, updated internal links, and monitoring after the move. A spreadsheet is not glamorous. It is far cheaper than reconstructing lost URLs after launch.
Decision
Use when
Required record
Launch proof
Keep
The URL and purpose remain valid.
Old URL, new URL if host syntax changes, content owner, template, metadata.
Returns 200, canonical is correct, internal links resolve.
Improve
The URL has demand or authority but the answer is weak.
Ownership parityThe business controls production accounts and can reproduce the deployed build from transferred source and instructions.
Webflow also needs an exit test. Its documentation says static export includes HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and assets, while CMS content, ecommerce, user accounts, forms, search, and localization do not transfer as fully functioning exported features.
Migration note 04: test the promised operating behavior, not the beauty of the generated draft.
05 / Launch sequence
One owner, one clock, one return path
Launch in a sequence that can be reversed.
Freeze nonessential changes.
Set a short content and release freeze. Record late exceptions in the ledger so the old and new sites do not drift invisibly.
Take final backups and exports.
Capture the WordPress database, files, configuration, form submissions, analytics annotations, DNS state, and the exact last working production version.
Lower DNS risk before launch.
Review DNS records and time-to-live settings early. Protect email authentication and unrelated subdomains from a broad nameserver change.
Run the preflight on the release candidate.
Crawl it. Test mobile and desktop. Submit every form. Place test calls. Confirm CRM records, emails, consent, events, canonicals, structured data, and redirects.
Change production under a named owner.
Record who changed what, at what time, and how the old state can be restored. Keep vendors and business approvers available during the launch window.
Repeat the tests on the public domain.
Staging success is not public proof. Check the real host, real certificates, real DNS, real form delivery, real analytics, and representative old URLs.
Submit and monitor search surfaces.
Update sitemaps, internal links, canonical references, and search-console configuration. Watch crawl errors, indexing, top landing pages, and redirect behavior.
Migration note 05: “we can fix it forward” is not a rollback plan.
06 / Thirty-day proof
The release is not finished at DNS
Watch the business signals, not just uptime.
Daily, first week
Failure patrol
Forms, calls, email delivery, CRM records, checkout or login, error logs, top redirects, paid landing pages, analytics events, and security alerts.
Twice weekly
Search and URL checks
Crawl errors, indexed URLs, sitemap processing, top landing pages, redirect misses, metadata, canonical behavior, and broken internal links.
Weekly
Inquiry quality
Qualified leads, spam, wrong geography, wrong service, missed calls, response time, sales disposition, and any change that altered the inquiry path.
UP IS NOT ENOUGHFORMS MUST ARRIVELEADS MUST FIT
Keep a dated change ledger. A traffic or lead change without a release record becomes a guessing contest.
Evidence
Record
Owner
Action threshold
Old-URL coverage
Sample and full-crawl redirect results
Migration owner
Any valuable URL without an approved result
Inquiry delivery
Test receipts plus production spot checks
Lead-delivery owner
Missing, delayed, duplicated, or misrouted inquiry
Inquiry quality
Qualified, spam, geography, service, disposition
Sales owner
Material shift with a plausible site or campaign cause
Search entry
Top landing pages, clicks, impressions, indexing
Search owner
Important URL loss outside expected short-term movement
