Migration of a corporate website in 2025: Complete checklist without traffic loss

Migration of a corporate website is one of the riskiest operations in digital. According to the study Ahrefs, more than 60% of companies lose from 10% to 80% of organic traffic after an incorrect move. The reason is almost always the same: migration is approached as a “file re-upload”, and not as an engineering project.

During 2023–2025, our team carried out more than 40 migrations - from Tilda to Next.js, from WordPress to Bitrix, from self-written PHP solutions to Headless CMS. In each project, we recorded problems and created a checklist, which we share in this article.

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When is migration really necessary?

Moving for the sake of moving is a mistake. Here are the objective technical triggers:

• The platform has stopped supporting — critical security updates are not released (example: Drupal 7 end of life cycle - January 2025).
• Inability to scale — Tilda and the designers do not allow you to integrate CRM, ERP, personal accounts, and loyalty programs.
• Loading speed below 2 sec — if Google PageSpeed consistently shows less than 50 points, and optimizing the current solution is not economically feasible.
• Legal requirements — data storage on Russian servers (FZ-152), FSTEC certification.
• Business model has grown — from a business card you need to grow a marketplace, SaaS or multilingual portal.

According to Clutch.co, 32% of companies update their corporate website every 2–3 years. But only 18% conduct a full pre-migration audit.

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Phase 0: Pre-migration audit (critical)

Before starting any work you need to create "health snapshot" current site:

Technical audit

• Core Web Vitals: LCP, FID/INP, CLS (data from Google PageSpeed Insights)
• Server response (TTFB), HTTP headers, SSL certificates
• Redirect map: all 301/302 chains, canonical tags
• Versions of PHP/Node.js, databases - fixed for compatibility

SEO audit

• Full download of all URLs via Screaming Frog or Netpeak Spider
• Snapshot of positions by semantic core (Topvisor, SE Ranking)
• Export backlinks from Ahrefs / Serpstat
• Indexation: number of pages in Google and Yandex

Integration audit

• Feedback forms, CRM connectors (amoCRM, Bitrix24)
• Payment systems, personal accounts, API connections
• Analytics scripts (Metrica, GA4, GTM), advertising system pixels

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Phase 1: Target Platform Selection

Criterion	WordPress	1C-Bitrix	Next.js / Headless	Tilda
Scalability	Average	High	Very high	Low
SEO out of the box	★★★★☆	★★★★☆	★★★☆☆ (manual setting)	★★☆☆☆
Speed	Average	Average	Very high (SSG/ISR)	Limited
CRM/ERP integration	Plugins	Built-in	API-first	Limited
TCO (3 years, from)	~500K ₽	~1.2M ₽	~800K ₽	~200K ₽
Suitable for	Content sites	Corporations, public sector	Technological B2B/SaaS	Business cards, landing pages

Tip: If you have more than 500 pages of content and an active blog, consider Headless CMS (Strapi, Contentful) + Next.js. If you need integration with 1C - Bitrix remains the best choice.

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Phase 2: Step-by-step secure migration process

Step 1. Backup and fix baseline

- Полный дамп БД (mysqldump / pg_dump)
- Копия файловой системы (/uploads, /media)
- Экспорт .htaccess / nginx.conf
- Снимок DNS-записей

Step 2. Staging environment

Deploy a new website on a staging subdomain (dev.example.com), closed from indexing (X-Robots-Tag: noindex). Never develop in production.

Step 3: Content Migration

• Automation — use WP All Import, Bitrix migration modules or custom CLI scripts (Node.js / Python).
• URL mapping — create a correspondence table: old URL → new URL. This is the basis for 301 redirects.
• Media files - check dimensions (WebP instead of PNG/JPG), alt tags, lazy loading.

Step 4. Critical: 301 redirects

This the only thing that saves SEO. Each old URL should point to a relevant new one:

# Пример для Nginx
location = /old-page/ {
    return 301 /new-page/;
}

For mass redirects use next.config.js (Next.js) or module urlrewrite (Bitrix).

Step 5: Migrate SEO Metadata

• Title, Description, H1 - move one to one
• Canonical URL - update to new addresses
• Schema.org/JSON-LD - rebuild for new structure
• Sitemap.xml - regenerate and send to Google Search Console and Yandex.Webmaster

Step 6. Test before launch

Checklist “Ready for production”:

• ✅ All 301 redirects work (check via curl)
• ✅ Core Web Vitals ≥ 90 on PageSpeed
• ✅ Forms send data to CRM
• ✅ SSL certificate is valid, HSTS is enabled
• ✅ robots.txt opens the necessary sections
• ✅ GA4 / Metrica / GTM installed and shooting events

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Typical migration mistakes (from our practice)

Error	Consequence	How to prevent
No 301 redirects	Loss of 50–90% of traffic in 2 weeks	URL mapping up to start of development
Changing URL structure for no reason	Resetting link weight to zero	Save URL or create full map
Forgot to move meta tags	CTR drop in search	Export → import via Screaming Frog
Search engines were not notified	Slow reindexing	Send sitemap + Request Indexing
Staging remains open	Duplicates in the index	noindex + password before launch

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After launch: first 30 days

1. Days 1–3: Monitoring 404 errors in Search Console and Metrica. Close missed redirects immediately.
2. Days 3–7: Core position tracking - ±5 position fluctuation is acceptable. Panic is inappropriate.
3. Days 7–14: Checking the indexing of new URLs. Are all pages included in the index?
4. Days 14–30: Comparison of traffic with baseline. With correct migration, traffic is restored to its original level in 2–4 weeks.

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Conclusion

Migration is not a disaster if you approach it like an engineering project with a clear plan, checklists and metrics. Key rule: “Audit first, code later”.

If you are planning to migrate a corporate website - NBM-IT team will conduct a pre-migration audit, design a redirect map and provide SEO support at all stages. Leave a request for a consultation — we will evaluate the complexity of the project for free.