How to Audit a Website After Migration for Hidden Technical SEO Problems

How to Audit a Website After Migration for Hidden Technical SEO ProblemsA migration can appear successful while leaving behind technical SEO problems that are not immediately visible. Hidden issues may include incorrect canonicals, broken internal links, missing metadata, unexpected noindex directives, redirect chains, orphan pages, sitemap errors, and rendering problems. A post-migration audit should systematically compare the new site against the pre-migration baseline.

1. Crawl the Live WebsiteRun a full crawl and compare URL counts, status codes, indexability, canonical tags, titles, headings, internal links, and other technical elements with the pre-migration dataset.

2. Test RedirectsCheck important old URLs and verify that they redirect directly to relevant new destinations. Identify missing redirects, loops, chains, and irrelevant targets.

3. Audit CanonicalsCheck canonical tags across page templates and individual pages. Look for canonicals pointing to old URLs, incorrect domains, redirected pages, or unrelated destinations.

4. Audit XML SitemapsEnsure sitemaps contain the intended canonical URLs and exclude obsolete, redirected, noindex, or duplicate URLs where appropriate.

5. Check Internal LinksFind links pointing to old URLs, redirected URLs, broken pages, or unexpected domains. Important pages should remain discoverable through relevant navigation and contextual links.

6. Check Indexation ControlsReview robots.txt, meta robots directives, HTTP headers, and other mechanisms that can prevent crawling or indexing.

7. Review Structured DataConfirm that structured data survived the migration and still accurately describes the new pages. Check for references to old URLs or missing required properties.

8. Analyze Search ConsoleReview indexing, coverage, impressions, clicks, queries, and crawl errors. Look for changes that are not visible in the crawler dataset.

9. Test Rendering and PerformanceVerify important content and links render correctly and that performance has not deteriorated significantly after the migration.

10. Create a Post-Migration Issue LogDocument each issue, affected URLs, severity, owner, fix, and validation status. Prioritize problems affecting indexation, important URLs, redirects, or significant organic traffic.

Conclusion

A post-migration SEO audit should look beyond whether the website loads correctly. Crawl the site, test redirects, audit canonicals and sitemaps, inspect internal links and indexation controls, validate structured data, review Search Console, and test rendering and performance.