Website Migration Checklist: Keep Enquiries Working Through the Move
A website move can look successful because the homepage loads. Customers may still reach an old link, submit a form that goes nowhere or land on a page missing an important answer. Plan the move around the full enquiry journey, from finding the site to receiving a reply.
Record what the current site does
Make a short inventory of important pages, forms, download links, email destinations, analytics, search visibility and integrations. Note which pages produce useful enquiries and who receives them. Keep a copy of the old site and a record of the current DNS and hosting setup so the team has a clear reference if a change needs reversing.
If you are changing the domain or URL structure, map each useful old URL to the most relevant new page. Google advises using redirects for moved URLs and testing the new destination before the switch. If the URLs stay the same and only the host changes, Google has separate guidance for that kind of move. See Google’s site move guidance.
Test the customer journey before launch
- Open important pages on a phone and a desktop.
- Submit each enquiry form with a test address and confirm the message reaches the right person.
- Check confirmation messages, required fields and any follow-up automation.
- Check links from search results, emails, adverts and profiles that send people to the site.
- Confirm who can edit the site and who can restore it if needed.
A test form submission should reach the team that will actually respond. If an enquiry feeds a CRM or booking system, verify the handoff there too. Keep test data identifiable so it can be removed afterwards.
Give the launch a named owner and rollback route
Agree when the change happens, who approves it, who checks the live journey and who can reverse it. A backup is useful only if the relevant content and configuration can be restored. The NCSC’s small organisation guidance recommends backing up important business data; your own recovery check should cover the parts of the website your business depends on.
After launch, check the same journeys from outside the admin account. Review form delivery, server errors and important redirects. Monitor search and enquiry patterns over the following days; a temporary shift in search crawling can happen after a hosting change, according to Google’s hosting migration guidance.
Which Kilwhiss company handles which part?
Kilwhiss Host can scope the hosting and migration work. Kilwhiss Online is the starting point for page design and conversion journeys. Where an approved enquiry needs to connect to another business system, Kilwhiss Automate can assess that workflow. Tell Kilwhiss Group what is changing if several of these areas need to be coordinated.