Verify a Migration Before You Switch DNS
Step-by-step
- Compare counts — Match published posts, pages, categories and tags between the old site and the Desk; chase every difference.
- Fetch every old URL — Take the old sitemap and request each address from the new site with the host header set. Require 200, or 301 to 200.
- Open ten posts side by side — Check headings, images, code, lists, tables, comments, the oldest and the newest post.
- Check head and feeds — One title, one description, one canonical and BlogPosting schema per post; /feed, /sitemap.xml and /robots.txt answer.
- Switch DNS and watch — Change DNS, re-submit the sitemap in Search Console, and read the Search Console panel daily for two weeks.
On this page
A migration is finished when the old addresses answer correctly from the new site, not when the import says done. This checklist takes under an hour and catches the problems that otherwise show up as lost rankings three weeks later.
Counts
Compare published post, page, category and tag counts between the old site and the Desk. Any difference is a specific thing to find, not a rounding error.
Addresses
Take the old sitemap, fetch every URL against the new site by host header (before DNS changes), and require a 200 or a 301 to a 200. The Desk's Link Audit does this for internal links once the site is live; before that, a short script and the old sitemap is enough.
Content
Open ten posts at random side by side: headings, images, embedded code, lists, tables. Check one with comments. Check the oldest post and the newest. Look for shortcode text that survived.
Head and feeds
Each post carries one title, one description, one canonical and its BlogPosting schema. /feed, /sitemap.xml and /robots.txt all answer. Then switch DNS, re-submit the sitemap in Search Console, and watch the Search Console panel for a fortnight. Start again at part one if you are doing a second site.
