Site moves
A new website, fewer inquiries: what to check first
2026-09-15
A new site often feels like a celebration. Old photos are gone, the menu is clean, and the phone no longer crushes the text. A few weeks later, inquiries fall. Everyone looks at the new design, while the problem may sit underneath it: an old address now leads nowhere.
Google advises mapping old URLs to new ones before a move, using server-side permanent redirects, and monitoring traffic to both versions. This is not a small item to leave for “SEO later.”
A URL has a history
If an old service page appeared in Google, was shared by customers, or received links from other sites, it has value. Changing `/roof-repair` to `/services` without a redirect gives a person an error and leaves Search to work out where the page went.
A permanent 301 or 308 tells people and Google that content moved for good. A temporary 302 says something different. This is not a technical detail for its own sake: the wrong signal can leave an old page in results when the person should reach the new one.
A redesign and a new structure are two jobs
Teams sometimes change design, copy, URLs, domain and form all at once. When inquiries then drop, nobody knows which change mattered. Google also warns that moving a site alongside a major content and URL restructuring makes traffic loss more likely.
Keep the service logic clear when you can. When you cannot, make a sheet: old address, closest new address, checked redirect. Do not send every old page to the homepage. Someone looking for a price or a specific service has been left at the door.
What to check today
Take ten important old URLs from Search Console, an old sitemap or analytics. Open every one in a private window. It should land on a meaningful new page, not a generic homepage or a 404.
Then review indexing errors in Search Console and submit the new sitemap. If you are moving a whole domain, Google’s Change of Address tool comes after redirects and only works at domain or subdomain level. The first goal is not zero red lines. It is making sure a person who finds an old promise reaches the new answer.