Question 1

How long does SEO recovery take after a site migration?

Accepted Answer

With proper planning and complete redirect coverage, most sites stabilize within 2-4 weeks. Expect some ranking fluctuation in the first 7-10 days as Google recrawls and reprocesses redirects. Without proper planning, recovery can take 3-6 months or may never fully happen.

Question 2

Should you migrate all at once or in phases?

Accepted Answer

For most sites, migrate all at once. Phased migrations create a longer period of instability and make it harder to diagnose issues. The exception is very large sites (500K+ pages) where a phased approach reduces risk by validating each section before moving to the next.

Question 3

Do 301 redirects pass full link equity?

Accepted Answer

Google has confirmed that 301 redirects pass full PageRank with no dilution. This was clarified in 2016 and reconfirmed multiple times since. The old claim that redirects lose 15% of link equity is outdated and incorrect.

Site Migrations

SEO Site Migration Checklist: Before, During, and After