A new website shouldn't cost you the Google traffic the old one earned.
Your old site has pages Google knows, links from other sites, and bookmarks. If those addresses just stop working, people land on an error page. A careful move sends every one of them to the right new page.
Getting found · 2 minute read · Updated October 27, 2026 · Sources
How a careful switch works
- 1List
We list every old page
Every address on your old site, including the ones you forgot about.
- 2Match
Each one gets a new home
The old roof repair page points to the new roof repair page instead of the home page.
- 3Check
We test them before the old site goes
Every old address has to land on its new page before we switch anything off.
What Google tells site owners to do
Expect a short wobble
Even a clean move can shift where you show up for a while. Google says to expect temporary changes, and that a medium-sized site can take a few weeks or more to show the new addresses. [1] A small trade site is usually quicker, but we watch it either way.
Worth asking whoever builds your next site
Do
- Will every old page point to a matching new page?
- Will the old site stay up until that's tested?
- Do I keep the same domain?
Never
- Every old page sent to the home page
- The old site switched off on launch day
- A new domain nobody asked for
What CornerWick does about it
- Lists every page on your old site before we build
- Points each old page to the matching new page with a permanent redirect
- Keeps your domain, and leaves the old site up until the redirects test clean
- Tells Google about the new pages and watches your search numbers after the move
The move is included in the plan. See the plan and prices
Sources
- Google Search Central, "Site moves with URL changes" (updated Aug 20, 2026), checked 2026-10-27.
- Google Search Central, "Redirects and Google Search" (updated Apr 14, 2026), checked 2026-10-27.
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