The Results: A Sudden and Severe Decline in Rankings & Traffic

Within weeks of launching the new site, the numbers told the story.

1. Informational keyword positions plummeted

As shown in their performance report, informational rankings, one of their strongest traffic drivers, fell sharply after the migration.

Before the migration, the site held consistent top-10 rankings. After the launch, those positions dropped week after week, eventually falling off page one entirely.

2. Organic traffic collapsed

Google Search Console showed a dramatic downturn:

• Clicks dropped from ~100/day to nearly 0
• Impressions fell from 7.5K/day to almost nothing within weeks
• CTR and average position declined across almost every keyword category

This wasn’t a seasonal shift. It wasn’t algorithm volatility. It was a direct consequence of a migration executed without SEO safeguards.

What Went Wrong?

Several critical SEO steps were skipped steps that protect a site’s authority during a migration.

1. No redirect mapping

Thousands of URLs were changed, removed, or moved. No 301 redirects were implemented, meaning:

• Google treated the new URLs as brand-new pages
• Existing rankings were lost instantly
• Backlinks pointing to old URLs provided no SEO value
• Users landed on 404s instead of relevant content

This alone can cause a full collapse of organic performance.

2. On-page elements were wiped clean

Title tags, H1s, meta descriptions, and structured content were replaced or removed entirely.

The new site launched with:

• Missing metadata
• Duplicate headings
• Thin content
• Unoptimized page structures

Google had no context for the new pages and no reason to rank them.

3. Technical SEO was overlooked

Additional issues included:

• Missing XML sitemaps
• Broken internal links
• Slow-loading pages
• Incorrect canonical tags
• Untagged images

Together, these created an environment where Google could not properly crawl, index, or trust the new version of the site.

4. No pre-migration benchmarking or backup

Without baseline analytics or a content inventory, the client had no roadmap for recovery. Years of organic equity were essentially reset to zero overnight.

The Impact on the Business

The loss of traffic wasn’t just a number. It affected:

• Lead volume
• Online visibility
• Brand authority
• Customer acquisition
• Revenue

Most importantly, the business had to begin rebuilding from a weakened position something that could have been prevented with the right strategy upfront.

The Lesson: SEO Is Not Optional During a Migration

A website migration without SEO is like moving homes without forwarding your mail, leaving your address unlisted, and throwing away your keys all at the same time.

A proper migration requires:

• Pre-migration SEO mapping
• Content preservation
• Redirect planning
• Technical SEO review
• Post-launch QA
• Continuous monitoring

Your website's design can look beautiful, but if Google cannot interpret, crawl, or connect your new site to your historical authority, rankings will disappear almost instantly.

If You’re Planning a Website Migration, Don’t Risk Your Traffic

At Studio Supermassive, we specialize in SEO-backed migrations that maintain (and often improve) your search visibility.

Whether you're rebuilding, rebranding, or moving platforms, our approach ensures:

• No lost rankings
• No broken links
• No drop in organic visibility
• A clean, search-friendly launch

If your business is preparing for a migration or if you’ve already launched and noticed a drop, we’re here to help you recover and protect your investment.